We will study arthouse films that address global audiences while rooted in particular, local, vernacular sources of artistic creation and persuasion. We will contrast the formulaic (echo-chamber) rhetoric of Hollywood with the heuristic rhetoric of Italian Neorealism, the Danish Dogma ’95 and French, Turkish, and Iranian New Wave films. Our focus will be on the concept of physiognomic figuration viewed as the cinematic articulation of enthymemes (rhetorical arguments). This seminar invites a widely interdisciplinary approach.
