Images of War: The Politics of Aesthetics in the Work of Werner Herzog

Follow the link below to go to a video recording of a lecture I delivered in June, 2011 for the Melbourne Free University film course 'An Introduction to the Politics of Representation and Aesthetics in Cinema'. In this lecture I tease out some of the responses that have historically been given to the questions: Does cinema actually have a politics? Is there a politics of cinema?

I also analyse two 'non-fiction' war films made by the German filmmaker Werner Herzog. These films are Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984) and Lessons of Darkness (1992). I situate the work of Herzog in terms of the socio-political climate of the 1960s and 70s, the New German Cinema movement, and media spectacle and technology.

I argue that Ballad of the Little Solider and Lessons of Darkness reveal some of the complexities that are involved in thinking about the politics and ethics of war representation. 

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI_EkPw2y6c&feature=youtu.be