1. The Introduction, second chapter ("Cultural Roots"),
and last chapter ("Memory and Forgetting") from Benedict
Anderson's book Imagined Communities.
- What
roles does monumentality play in the narratives of
nationhood?
- Compare and contrast the formation of
identity in modern nations and modern persons.
2. Gregory Ulmer's essay "Abject Monumentality", from the
volume of Lusitania entitled "The Abject America."
- How does sacrifice function in
monumentality and how do Ulmer's proposed monuments
recognize sacrifices? Additionally, define Ulmer's use of the
word "abject."
3. Michel Leiris' essay "The Sacred in Everyday Life" from
the book The College of Sociology 1937-39, Denis Hollier,
ed.
- How does the personal sacred differ from the official
sacred?
4. Chapter One, pages 1-16, from Frances Yates' book,
The Art of Memory.
- What were the functions and methods of artificial memory in
Greek society?
5. Sergei Eisenstein's essay, "Word and Image."
- Discuss the principles of montage.
6. Robert Ray's essay "The Culmination of Classical
Hollywood: Casablanca" in the book, Textbook.
-
What are the preferred ideological values in
Casablanca? How are they represented visually?
7. Russell Banks' essay "Bambi: A Boy's Story" from
Textbook.
- How does Banks see Bambi as an allegory about
preferred gender values? How do particular characters come to
represent ideological concepts?
8. Alain Resnais' film, Hiroshima, Mon Amour.
- How do the characters' personal understanding of historical
events differ from the cultural understandings of those same
events?