IBSO4250 – Ibsen on Screen

This course explores audiovisual texts based on the works of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, such as Douglas Sirk’s Pillars of Society (1935), Raphael Bob Waksberg’s BoJack Horseman (2014-20), and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023). By examining screen versions that range from silent cinema to social media—such as sound film, television, and streaming services—the students will learn to analyze and contextualize complex audiovisual artifacts in ways that bring out the political dimension of popular media.

We will discuss questions such as: What is an Ibsen adaptation—and why does it matter? Do these films have distinct characteristics from a textual perspective? In what ways do screen versions of Ibsen shed light on cultural, social, and political issues in the historical moments in which they were made and first seen? How do these texts influence the broader reception of Ibsen’s works?

The course adopts a cultural studies approach and aims to deepen students’ understanding of the relationship between Ibsen as a cultural text and issues of gender, sexuality, national identity, race, ethnicity, and class.

Finally, all screen versions based on Ibsen will be explored in line with Fredric Jameson’s famous cry: "always historicize!"

Upon completion of this course, the students will have mastered the following academic skills:

Knowledge about:

• Ibsen and mass media history
• basic concepts and approaches in film analysis

Skills to:

• analyze and contextualize audiovisual artifacts in relation to socio-political issues and mass media history
• understand mass media as a specific form of text-to-text reception
• create independent thesis statements and write academic papers at an advanced level
• demonstrate knowledge of previous research by referring to it in a film analysis

General competence:

• evaluate the quality of previous research
• identify political (mis)use of audiovisual expressions

The final grade reflects the extent to which the student has attained the course learning outcomes.

To be eligible for this course, you must be enrolled in the following master`s program:

• Ibsen studies online (programme option)

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

This course consists of 10 units, a total of 20 hours. The form of teaching combines video lectures and podcasts with student activites and discussions online. The films on the syllabus will be made available for screening/streaming online.

Compulsory activities:

Each student must submit a 5-page (approximately 2300 characters without spaces per page) paper assigned by the teacher during the course of the seminar. This is the first draft of the term paper.

In addition, we require peer reviews of selected student papers as a part of the qualifying assignment.

This compulsory activity must be approved by the instructor before the student can take the final exam. The approved compulsory activitity is valid the next two times the course is offered.

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.