RUSS 436 - Sergei Eisenstein’s Film Art: Decadence, Revolution, and the Mechanics of Ecstasy

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the oeuvre of Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), the Soviet film director and theorist widely regarded as one of the most influential creative figures of the twentieth century. Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925) revolutionized cinema as an art form, and his other landmark films-Strike (1925), October (1927), Old and New (1929), ¡Que viva México! (1932), Alexander Nevsky (1938), and Ivan the Terrible (1944-45)-made profound and original contributions to the evolution of film language and aesthetics. As a theorist, Eisenstein articulated the principles of montage editing and investigated the psychological and emotional responses of viewers and readers to art. His intellectual legacy also includes works in sexual theory, psychology, literary analysis, and philosophy, brilliant film scripts, as well as witty and stylistically experimental autobiographical writings. Thousands of his drawings-often ironic and provocatively obscene-explore the intertwined nature of artistic, sexual, and religious ecstasy, which he conceived as a unified phenomenon. We will examine Eisenstein’s work across multiple contexts: cinematic, aesthetic, literary, and political. The course aims to survey and analyze Eisenstein’s body of work-including his films, theoretical writings, prose, and drawings-within the broader cultural, political, and intellectual currents of the twentieth century. Students will investigate his contribution to the development of cinema, refine their skills in cinematic analysis and critical writing, and engage with key debates in film history and theory. Coursework includes regular film screenings, extensive reading, writing assignments, and in-class presentations. All readings and discussions are in English. An additional weekly session will be scheduled for students taking the course for Russian credit.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): For Russian credit: RUSS 212 or equivalent.
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): LIT 465
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).