GERM 3160

December 8^th, 2003

Paige B. Smith

Class Minutes

2:02 – Dr. Reimer passes out attendance

2:05 – Dr. Reimer passes out essays from previous presenters and announces there could          be some holes in the minutes due to students dropping the course.

2:10 – First Presenter – Aiden Fiddy

           Representation of submarine warfare in Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen, 1981) Run

          Silent, Run Deep (Robert Wise, 1958) and U-571 (Jonathan Mostow, 2000.)

                        Das Boot is about a German U-boat sent to Spain

                        Wolfgang Petersen also directed Outbreak and Air Force One

U-571 is about a United States submarine pretending to be a Nazi submarine.

2:16 – First Presenter is finished with presentation.

2:17 – Second Presenter – Sean McCaslan

           The role of music in Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998) (80 minutes long)

                        Two types of music: House Music and Breakbeat Music.

                        -House Music is a lighter tone and was found in the third part of the film.

-Breakbeat Music is very fast, repetitive music with drums and was found in the second part of the film. (made the scene go by quicker)

-The first part of the film was a combination of both House Music and Breakbeat Music.

2:29 – Second Presenter is finished with presentation.

2:30 – Third Presenter – Drew Frost

           Representation of mental illness in Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) and Stroszek

           (1977). Both films were directed by Werner Herzog.

-His slide show presentation consisted of slides summarizing the movies                      and examples of mental illness displayed throughout the films.

-Aguirre, the Wrath of God was about a Spanish conquistador in search of El Dorado.

-Stroszek was a story of a man for whom there is no place in society for.

2:44 – Third Presenter is finished with presentation.

2:45 – Questions and comments about his presentation: What specific mental illnesses    

           were mentioned in the film?   

2:46 – Fourth Presenter – Kirstin Scheidle

           Brechtian elements in Cradle Will Rock (Tim Robbins, 1999).

Purpose: to incite the audience to change society, showing how art and social institutions prostitute themselves through censorship. Uses

Brechtian elements of the epic theater, the alienation effect, and the teaching of a moral lesson to spark social change.

2:54 – Presenter shows a film clip to describe alienation technique.

3:05 – Fourth Presenter is finished with presentation.

3:06 – Fifth Presenter – Robert Schoneman

           Comparison of the effect of two scores on Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).

-Robert compared the 2001 release of Metropolis which had the same music from the 1927 film to the 1984 release (music by Giorgio Moroder).

3:10 – Presenter shows a film clip of the ending scene of Metropolis.

           The first clip was with the classical music at the end. (1927)

           The second clip had a Pat Benetar song at the end. (1984)

Explained how music in both refers to the romance that had been mostly removed from the movie.  Thus the music while pertinent to the film seems to clash with what is being presented on screen.

3:20 – Fifth Presenter is finished with presentation and class is over.