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Communication 342
HISTORY OF FILM II
Spring, 2009
Course e-mail address: comm342(at)comm.umass.edu
Prof. Marty Norden
409 Machmer, 545-0598, norden(at)comm.umass.edu
Prof. Norden's home page: people.umass.edu/norden
Dijana Jelaca, Teaching Assistant
E34 Machmer, 545-1311 (leave message), djelaca(at)comm.umass.edu
Jinni Pradhan, Teaching Assistant
E34 Machmer, 545-1311 (leave message), jpradhan(at)comm.umass.edu
COURSE SUMMARY:
This course is designed to provide a survey of significant events and
representative films that mark the history of motion pictures from 1950 to
the present in the United States and other key countries. Although we will
give attention to a variety of styles and functions, our emphasis will be
on the feature-length narrative film and the many factors -- industrial,
aesthetic, social, cultural, and political -- that have shaped it since
1950.
The lecture period at 2:30 to 3:45 on Tuesdays in Herter 231 will be
followed by a screening session (listed as lab) at 4 to 6 p.m. in the same
auditorium. The lecture period on Thursdays, also at 2:30 to 3:45 in Herter
231, will contain a discussion component.
TEXTBOOK:
Gerald Mast and Bruce Kawin, A Short History of the Movies, 10th
abridged ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. This textbook is
available at Amherst Books, 8 Main St., downtown Amherst.
OUTSIDE READINGS:
The required reading for this class includes a number of articles beyond
the Mast & Kawin text. They are not bundled together in a packet;
instead, they are available at no cost through our online syllabus (see
below). To access a particular essay, simply click on its title.
Each reading assignment noted below should be completed
before class on the indicated date to correlate with that
week's lecture material and film(s), and to facilitate discussion.
Additional topics and readings may be assigned at a later date. The
Glossary that starts on p. 463 of the Mast & Kawin book will be helpful
to you at various points in the semester.
OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR ONLINE SYLLABUS:
In addition to the article titles, all film titles and directors' names
listed below on our syllabus are active hyperlinks. If you would like more
information on any film or director, simply click on the appropriate link.
It will take you to the corresponding entry at the Internet Movie Database for that film or
director. Links to some of our films' trailers ("coming attractions")
posted on YouTube are also provided below.
COURSE SYLLABUS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS:
Week #1: Jan. 27-29
Topics: Introduction; End of Hollywood's Golden Era
Screening: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), directed by Don Siegel
Click here to watch this film's trailer
Readings: M&K, pp. 212-232 [9th ed: pp. 226-250]
John Whitehead, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Tale for Our Times"
Week #2: Feb. 3-5
Topic: Race and Family in 1950s American Films
Screening: Imitation of Life (1959), directed by Douglas Sirk
Readings: M&K, pp. 232-235 [9th ed: pp. 250-254]
Stephen Handzo, "Intimations of Lifelessness"
Week #3: Feb. 10-12
Topic: Asian Cinema
Screening: Rashomon (1950), directed by Akira Kurosawa
Readings: M&K, pp. 295-313 [9th ed: pp. 318-336]
Larry VanKampen, "Akira Kurosawa: Passing of the Emperor"
Week #4: Feb. 17-19
Topic: French New Wave
Screening: The 400 Blows [Les quatre cents coups] (1959), directed
by François Truffaut
Click here to watch this film's trailer
Readings: M&K, pp. 251-269 [9th ed: pp. 271-291]
John Conomos, "Truffaut's The 400 Blows"
Week #5: Feb. 24-26
Topics: Post-Neorealism Italian Cinema; British Cinema
Screening: Blow-up (1966), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Click here to watch this film's trailer
Readings: M&K, pp. 245-251, 283-289 [9th ed: pp. 263-271, 303-313]
Colin Gardner, "Antonioni's Blow Up and the Chiasmus of Memory"
Week #6: Mar. 3-5
Topic: Swedish Cinema
Screening: Persona (1966), directed by Ingmar Bergman
Click here to watch this film's trailer
Readings: M&K, pp. 276-283 [9th ed: pp. 296-303]
Susan Sontag, "Persona"
Richard Corliss, "Woman, Man, Death, God"
Week #7: Mar. 10-12
Topic: Hollywood Renaissance
Screening: Bonnie and Clyde (1967), directed by Arthur Penn
Click here to watch this film's trailer
Readings: M&K, pp. 324-340 [9th ed: pp. 344-363]
Alan Vanneman, "Bonnie and Clyde: Together Again"
Week #8 SPRING BREAK
Week #9: Mar. 24-26
***MIDTERM EXAM (IN LECTURE PERIOD) ON TUES., MARCH 24***
***A FILM WILL BE SHOWN AS USUAL AT 4 P.M. ON THE 24TH***
Topic: New German Cinema
Screening: The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975), directed
by Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta
Readings: M&K, pp. 350-357 [9th ed: pp. 373-379]
Amy Taubin, "Honoring Katharina"
Week #10: Mar. 31-Apr. 2
Topic: Third World Cinema
Screening: Xala (1975), directed by Ousmane Sembene
Readings: M&K, pp. 357-363 [9th ed: pp. 379-387]
Cornelius Moore, "Africa Through African Eyes"
Week #11: Apr. 7-9
Topic: Hollywood Renaissance, part II
Screening: Brazil (1985), directed by Terry Gilliam
Readings: M&K, pp. 390-405 [9th ed: pp. 413-429]
Ben Wheeler, "Reality Is What You Can Get Away With" [PDF]
Week #12: Apr. 14-16
Topic: Race and Politics in 1980s American Films
Screening: Do the Right Thing (1989), directed by Spike Lee
Click here to watch a brief "Sesame Street" version of this film
Readings: M&K, pp. 405-414 [9th ed: pp. 429-438]
"Spike Lee: Filmmaker"
Spike Lee, "10 Questions" [PDF]
Week #13: Apr. 23 only (Mon. Schedule on Tues., Apr. 21)
Topic: [To be announced]
Week #14: Apr. 28-30
Topic: Cinema from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada
Screening: The Piano (1992), directed by Jane Campion
Readings: M&K, pp. 363-371 [9th ed: pp. 387-395]
Helen Barlow, Interview with Jane Campion
Week #15: May 5-7
Topic: New International Cinema
Screening: Live Flesh [Carne Trémula] (1997), directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Readings: M&K, pp. 376-381 [9th ed: pp. 401-407]
Pedro Almodóvar, Dustjacket notes for El cine del aislamiento
A. O. Scott, "What Is a Foreign Movie Now?"
Week #16: May 12 only
Topic: American Movies Now
Screening: [To be announced]
Readings: M&K, Chap. 18 and 19
M. Dargis, "The Way We Live Now: The 21st-Century Cinephile"
Lynn Hirschberg, "What Is an American Movie Now?"
Toby Miller, "Global Hollywood 2010" [PDF]
Changes in the above schedule may arise in the form of additional topics and/or the addition or
substitution of other films. Also, we plan to show numerous excerpts from other films throughout the
semester to help illustrate the readings and lecture material.
FILMS ON RESERVE:
We will routinely place video copies of our
main movies on reserve in the "Audio-Visual reserve" section of the Du
Bois library's third floor. The copies are intended for students writing
papers on those films or who unavoidably missed a Tuesday screening. You
should NOT plan to view the course films on a regular basis by
borrowing our video copies. To set up screening times, visit the Reserve
Office or call them at 545-2358. PLEASE NOTE that each film will stay on reserve for only about a week
after its showing in class, so plan accordingly.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
A. TESTS
Two tests will be given in this course: a midterm exam, scheduled for
Tuesday, Mar. 24 during our usual 2:30-3:45 class period in Herter 231;
and a final exam. The final will only cover material studied since the
midterm. The format of the exams will be discussed in class at a later
date. Each test will be worth approximately 25% of your final grade.
Make-up exams will not be given except through special arrangement made in
advance with me.
B. PAPER
One formal paper is required for this course. It will be worth
approximately 25% of your final grade and will focus on a film screened in
class. Click here to learn which film you'll
be writing about and your paper's due date.
Your paper should follow a "purpose/evidence/conclusion" structure and
include a thesis statement that will guide your writing and research.
Your thesis statement, which should appear no later than your paper's
second paragraph, should emerge from a research question that relates to
the history of that particular film. Importantly, your paper must discuss the film within some
historical context -- a paper that simply discusses the film's plot, characters, cinematography, etc.,
without connecting these items to a broader historical framework will not be sufficient.
Here are some basic research questions to get you to start thinking about
your film and how you might approach it:
- What were the major factors (e.g., technological, economic, ideological,
cultural, artistic) that contributed to the creation of the film? How did
they do so?
- What is the film's relationship to its genre at that time?
- How did critics respond to the film when it first appeared, and how has
the critical response changed over time?
- How does the film reflect or attack the socio-cultural context out of
which it emerged?
- What does the film seem to be saying about such issues as race,
ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, age, and/or
ability at the time it was made?
- How is the film similar to, and different from, other films made by the
same director or studio?
- If the film was censored or its content altered in any significant way,
how and why did this action occur?
- If the film features a reasonably well-known star, how does the film
support (or, in some cases, contradict) that actor's "star image"?
I recommend that you take ONE of the above general questions and
customize it to your particular film. If you would like to pursue a
research question that isn't related to any of these general questions,
please see me before you begin working on your paper.
You must include an annotated bibliography at the end of your paper. By
"annotated," I mean that you must write a brief, evaluative paragraph for
each source that you listed in your bibliography. Your bibliography must
consist of at least six sources (books, journal articles, newspaper/magazine articles,
websites, etc.) that were useful to you in your research. Importantly, no
more than half of these sources may originally be web-based. Please do NOT include the following
items in your annotated bibliography in order to reach the six-source minimum: the film itself, our
textbook, and "wiki" sites such as Wikipedia. You are certainly welcome, however, to use these
items as starting places for your research.
The paper should be at least five pages in length (not including the
annotated bibliography) and must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch
margins. Please note that you MUST include citations (either endnotes or
MLA-style parenthetical cites) within the text of your paper -- the
bibliography alone will not be enough. I as the reader of your paper
should not have to guess where your sources
leave off and your own observations begin. Please follow this general
guideline whenever you present a point of information in your paper: if it
is not your own observation and is not general knowledge, you should
provide a citation for it. This guideline applies not only to direct
quotations but also paraphrased material -- i.e., you should give
a citation if you put someone else's observation, factual material, etc.,
into your own words.
If you have never written a paper about a film before (or even if you
have), I recommend that you look over Timothy Corrigan's excellent book A
Short Guide to Writing About Film. You might also
check out the online resources at
Dartmouth College's Writing Program. Its Materials
for Students section contains many helpful links, including
-- drumroll, please -- a unit on Writing
About Film. Finally, I recommend that you make and keep a copy of the paper
(whether a photocopy, a computer print-out, or an electronic document) until you receive the
original back from me.
Do not e-mail your paper under any circumstances. Submit a hard copy
only, please.
As noted above, the paper is due two weeks after the movie's screening.
I will accept late papers but for reduced credit and
only if you have made arrangements with me in advance.
C. WEEKLY RESPONSE PAPERS
Beginning on Feb. 5, you will be required to submit a brief (approximately 1-to-3 paragraph essay
written in class each Thursday. You will write this essay in response to a question or two that
I will pose on the film that we have seen and discussed that week. This series of weekly writing
projects is designed to allow you to articulate your views, if in a highly abbreviated way, on the
films that we see. It will also function as a once-a-week attendance monitor. We will set aside the
last fifteen minutes or so of each Thursday class period to allow you to work on this assignment.
Please submit your essay directly to a Teaching Assistant (one will be assigned to you shortly) before
you leave class each Thursday. Each of these very brief weekly essays will receive a mark (a "+" for
very good, a check mark for average, a "-" for sub-par, or some similar scheme) and together will
account for approximately 25% of your final grade. Importantly, they will help you prepare for the two
exams and the paper.
Please be forewarned that I have a near-pathological aversion to handing out "incompletes." I will
give such non-grades only under the most extreme of circumstances (such as illness or your own death)
and even then grudgingly. Otherwise, any missing work will be averaged into the final grade.
Please contact me if you have any questions about our course requirements.
A STATEMENT ABOUT COPYRIGHT:
Many of the materials created for this course are the intellectual
property of the instructor. This includes, but is not limited to, the
syllabus, lectures, and course notes. Except to the extent not protected
by copyright law, any use, distribution or sale of such materials
requires the permission of the instructor. Please be aware that it is a
violation of university policy to reproduce, for distribution or sale,
class lectures or class notes, unless copyright has been explicitly
waived by the faculty member.
Copyright (c) 2009 Martin F. Norden
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