Course 2025-2026 a.y.

This course offers the student a complex understanding of cinema, its structure and its meaning.

• Analysis of the cinematic language through semiotic analysis and its relation to social theories and consumer culture.
• Theoretical basis of the cultural questions represented through cinema and their relationship to social and individual psychological needs.
• How story structure guides our emotional response and therefore how structuring a story can lead to changing perception in the viewer.
• The vision of key films, scene alaysis or streaming episodes in order to understand their lingustic development and social significance as well as their productive complexities, such as direction, cinematography, acting, production and mis-en-scene.
• The course is based on the vision and subsequent in-class or on-line discussion of specific films, clips or streaming episodes which have attracted the public's attention for various motives. Semiotic analysis and a deeper understanding of social theories offer the student methods for understanding stylistic and narrative elements of a film. The technical choices in pre-production, production and post-production will be discussed in order to render the student capable of visualy analysing scenes, understand underlying story structure and character development, evaluate the commercial and emotional value of a script and have a basic awareness of production.

• Analyze the semiotic elements of any scene in any film.
• Understand the social theories at the basis of a film's narrative and the protagonist's relation to society.
• Identify the cinematographic elements utilzed in a film's narration.
• Understand how story structure is translated into cinematic narration.
• Appreciate various genres of film from various cultures.
• Distinguish the anthropological as well as cultural values expressed in a film's narrative.

• Evaluate the sociological and psychological basis for a films cultural appeal.
• Analyze semiotically production design and visualy analyze all elements in a scene.
• Understand and evaluate the professional roles connected to the production of a film.
• Relate a film's theme to a larger understanding of contemporary culture, historical contextualisation and social theory.
• Recognize a story's potential appeal relating to the psychological and social treatment of the protagonist.

• Lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Practical Exercises
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments
• Interaction/Gamification

• In-class or on-line vision of films or episodes followed by group discussion on the intrinsic connection between technical, cultural and psychological elements in any scene or film .
• In-class or on-line lectures.
• In-class or on-line visual analysis.
• Exercises relating cinematographic themes to social theories. 
• Exercises relating social theories to personal experience.
• Exercises relating semiotics to personal and social meaning.

Attending students will do required reading, exercises in class, class participation, exercises via software (Padlet) con il Department of Psychology, John Jay College of the City University of New York (CLUNY), a mid-term

film analysis and the final exam. Two exercises - 5 points each (10 points total) , exchange with CLUNY 10 points, mid-term analysis 30 points and final exam 50 points. 

Required reading, mid-term film analysis 40 points, and final exam 60 points. 

Class Booklet CINEMA & SOCIAL THEORY cod. 30475 (EGEA) edited by Edward Rozzo 

Introducing Social Theory, Third Edition (POLITY), Pip Jones - Liz Bradbury

Into the Woods, John Yorke (PENGUIN BOOKS)

Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman (PENGUIN BOOKS)

The specific chapters to be studied will be posted on our BlackBoard platform in the course of the lessons.