2. Who?
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard (born 3 December 1930)
is a Franco-Swiss filmmakerand a leading
member of the "French New Wave” aka
Nouvelle Vague. Known to implement
stylisticinnovations that challenged the
conventions of Hollywood cinema.
His work reflects a knowledge of film history,
a comprehensive understanding of existential
and Marxist philosophy, and a profound
insight into the fragility of human
relationships.
3. Who?
Jean-Pierre
Gorin & The
Dziga Vertov
Group
Jean- Pierre Gorin
Born April 17, 1943, he is a French filmmaker and
professor. Gorin was a radical leftist well before he met
Godard in 1966, and is best known for his work with
Godard on radical films.
Dziga Vertov Group
Godard & Gorin created the Dziga Vertov Group, a
collective named for the groundbreaking Soviet
documentarian that would produce highly didactic,
communally-authored films heavily informed by
Brechtian epic theater and Marxist-Leninist self-
critique, made outside of the conventional avenues of
production for screening outside of
mainstreamtheatrical venues and generally intended as
a politically-committed alternative of cinema.
4. Before analyzing these films, let's brush up on
some key concepts.
Bourgeoisie A sociologically-defined social class,
referring to people with a certain cultural and
financial capital belonging to the upper or middle
class.
Proletariat The proletariat is that class in society
which lives entirely from the sale of its labour power
and does not draw profit from any kind of capital;
whose weal and woe, whose life and death, whose
sole existence depends on the demand for labour.
Capitalism The socio-economic system where social
relations are based on commodities for exchange, in
particular private ownership of the means of
production and on the exploitation of wage labour.
Ideology Broadly understood to refer to the sum
total of a person's values, beliefs, assumptions, and
expectations. Ideology is directly related to the
social structure, economic system of production, and
political structure.
Labor Union An organized association of
workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to
protect and further their rights and interests.
Imperialism The practice of a larger country
or government growing stronger by taking over
poorer or weaker countries that have important
resources.
Marxian Class Theory Marxian class theory asserts
that an individual’s position within a class hierarchy
is determined by their role in the production process,
and argues that political and ideological
consciousness is determined by class position.[1] A
class is those who share common economic interests,
are conscious of those interests, and engage in
collective action which advances those interests.[2]
Within Marxian class theory, the structure of the
production process forms the basis of class
construction.
Socialism An economic system where the means of
production are socially owned. The “means of
production" being the raw materials, factories, and
machines used to make goods. This is as opposed to
capitalism, where the means of production are
privately owned.
5. In Context: Worldwide Struggles in 1968
8 Mar.
The 1968 Polishpolitical
crisisbeganwithstudents
fromthe Universityof
Warsaw whomarchedfor
studentrights and were
beatenwithclubs.
17 Mar.
A demonstration againstthe
Vietnamwaroutside the US
EmbassyinGrosvenor
Square,Londonledtohours
of streetfightingbetween
police anddemonstrators
4 Apr.
Assassinationof Rev.
Martin LutherKingJr in
Memphis.
20 Apr.
Tory MP Enoch Powell
makeshisanti-immigration
"Riversof Blood"speech
23 Apr.
A studentoccupationand
closure of Columbia
University, USA
May–June
A massrevoltandgeneral
strike acrossFrance.
Early August
The Democratic Party's
National Conventionin
Chicagowas disrupted
by thousands protesting
the Vietnam War.
21 Aug.
Russiantroopsinvade
Czechoslovakiatoputan
endto the Prague Spring;
2 Oct. 1968
In Mexico,a student
demonstrationendedina
storm of bulletsinLaPlaza
de las TresCulturasat
Tlatelolco,MexicoCity.
6. What: Mai 1968: Workers and Students
Revolt in France
Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest
occurred throughout France, lasting seven weeks and interspersed
by demonstrations, general strikes, and the occupation of universities and
factories. At the height of these events, France's economy came to a halt.
7.
8. Mai 1968 Aftermath
May passed into June. Workers and students won wage
gains and some changes. The elections swept conservative de
Gaulle and his supporters back into power. The status quo
remained intact.
Godard & Gorin, however, aimed to continue to educate
students & workers who were fired up by transforming
the language of cinema to center around
socialist ideals.
9. Un Film Comme
Les Autres
[A Film Like Any Other]
1968
An analysis of the social upheaval of May
1968 made in the immediate wake of the
workers and student protests. Workers
from a car factory argue with
revolutionary students as they sit in the
tall grass. Images of the '68 uprising play
out on the screen as the students and
workers debate.
10.
11. British Sounds
[See You at Mao]
1969
An analysis of corporate greed, women in capitalist
society, class consciousness, and political organization.
Multiple soundtracks carry doctrine from Nixon, a
women’s liberation group, and the Communist
Manifesto, drowned out by the clangor of machinery on a
car factory assembly line.
12.
13. Vent d'est
[Wind From the
East] 1970
A film about class struggle which draws on images from
westerns but has no plot and is both an experiment in
making a revolutionary film and an interrogation of how
successfully such a film can be revolutionary. The style of
this film subverts the conventional narrative expectations of
cinema and applies Brechtian principles of "epic theatre" in
which the story is retold in a self-conscious manner rather
than in a realistic narrative.
14.
15. Lotte in Italia
1969
The film poses the question of what
constitutes revolutionary struggle,
focusing on the day-to-day life of a
woman militant. Paola is an Italian
student of bourgeois upbringing, but
engaged in progressive ideas and
action. The film shows the struggle
between idealism and Marxism in
the mind and deeds of Paola.
16.
17.
18.
19. Vladimir et
Rosa
1971
Vladimir et Rosa is a satirical response to the trial of the Chicago Eight, the famous
group of radical activists who were tried in connection with the riots and protests at
the 1968 Democratic Convention. Gorin and Godard stage the trial as a symbolic
conflict between the left wing and the bourgeois. The 8 radical activists are staged to
represent common archetypes in radical politics. Only two represent the real figures on
trial (Black Panther Bobby Seale and Abbie Hoffman founder of the Youth
International Party), and the rest are filled in with common archetypes in radical
politics, such as: a women's rights activist, a factory worker, a student revolutionary
and other Marxist thinkers.
20.
21.
22.
23. What do these images tell us?
These five films show how the turmoil of 1968 in France and
beyond inspired Godard and Gorin to challenge the
conventional political ideas and traditional cinematic forms in
the through a revival of Marxist ideas on film.
"The sociological
imagination enables us
to grasp history and
biography and the
relations between
the two within
society.”
― C.Wright Mills
24. Appendix
“1968:a Chronologyof Events in France and Internationally.” Libcom.org,https://libcom.org/history/1968-chronology-events-
France-%26-internationally.
Baggins,Brian, and AndyBlunden.“Marxists InternetArchive Encyclopedia.” Encyclopedia of
Marxism, www.marxists.org/glossary/.
Beardsley,Eleanor.“In France,The Protests Of May 1968 ReverberateToday - And Still Divide The French.” NPR, NPR, 29 May
2018,https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/05/29/613671633/in-france-the-protests-of-may-1968-reverberate-today-and-still-
divide-the-french.
“Brecht, Interruptions and Epic Theatre.” The British Library, The British Library, 4 Sept. 2017, https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-
literature/articles/brecht-interruptions-and-epic-theatre.
Godard,Jean-Lucand Jean-Pierre Gorin,directors. British Sounds,Aka: See You at Mao.Arrow Academy.
“JEAN-LUC GODARD - French New Wave Director.” New Wave Film.com | French New Wave / Nouvelle Vague and
InternationalCinema of the 1950s,60s, and 70s, http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/jean-luc-
godard.shtml.
Godard,Jean-Lucand Jean-Pierre Gorin,directors. Lottein Italia.Arrow Academy.
Reid, Dave,and Alec Thraves.“France 1968 Month of Revolution.” Socialist Party :: France 1968 Month of Revolution,
https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/4089/13-05-2008/france-1968-month-of-revolution.
Godard,Jean Luc and Jean-Pierre Gorin,directors. Un Film Comme Les Autres. Arrow Academy.
Godard,Jean-Lucand Jean-Pierre Gorin,directors. Vent d’Est . Arrow Academy.
Godard,Jean-Lucand Jean-Pierre Gorin,directors. Vladimir Et Rosa.Arrow Academy.
