English 4109-01W: Film as Literature (M-TR 5:00-7:55, HUM 208)

African American Cinema

 

Dr. Joshua Masters, TLC 2244

Phone: 678-839-4862

Email: jmasters@westga.edu, or mastersjosh@yahoo.com

Office Hours: Monday-Thursday, 2-5, and by appointment.

 

Description

In The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin writes, “Color is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality. It exists only in the darkness of our minds.” This course will investigate the politics of race as it has played out, and panned out, in the history of American film. Our focus will be African American cinema—which can be loosely defined as films written and/or directed by African Americans,—but we will also consider the unique contours of its texts against the larger backdrop of Hollywood’s representation of African Americans. The course will begin with a survey of what Toni Morrison calls “the Africanist presence” in films produced, and chiefly consumed, by white Americans, examining the history of representations of black people in American popular culture, primarily through the documentary Ethnic Notions (1986), and also in several of our critical readings. During our second class we will explore the origins of the African American cinematic tradition, viewing Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates (1920). We will then look at Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959) and Stanley Kramer’s Guess Whose Coming to Dinner (1967) as crucial turning points in white-produced images of African Americans, followed by Spike Lee’s Bamboozled (2000), a ferocious satire of white productions of blackness in American popular culture. The remainder of the class will focus on films written, produced, and/or directed by African Americans, beginning with the “Blaxploitation” films of the seventies, with Blacula (1972) serving as our primary example. This will be followed by Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989), John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood (1991), Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991), Marc Levin’s and Saul Williams’ Slam (1998), and Malcolm Lee’s Undercover Brother (2002).

 

Requirements

Students must actively engage the class, maintain an extensive film and film-criticism journal, and submit a final research paper. Students must attend eleven of the thirteen class meetings and turn in ten of thirteen journal assignments on time as minimum requirements to pass the class.

 

Final Grade: To pass the course, students must turn in a final paper, attend eleven of thirteen classes (absolutely no exceptions), and turn in ten of the thirteen journal assignments on time. Your final grade is comprised of the following: Film and film-criticism journal (40%); final paper (30%); attendance and participation (15%); three process-based writing assignments (15%).

 

Final Paper: Your final paper will examine a film (or pairing of films) of your choice within the cultural, historical, and artistic contexts explored in the class. It will be a minimum of ten pages long. Your goal is to produce a well-written, coherent essay whose central argument is both interesting and significant. Your essay will be a thesis-driven, argumentative paper, and your grade will be determined by the complexity of your central argument, the structure of your paragraphs, the logic of your organization, and the strength of your prose (i.e. your writing). Your paper will also be evaluated in terms of its use of secondary sources and the originality of your scholarship.

 

Critical Reading Assignments: All reading assignments will be sent to you as PDF files. The readings must be printed out and marked up significantly with highlighters, asterisks, and marginal notes. Active reading is essential to your success in the course, both of the films and the criticism.

 

Film and Film-Criticism Journal: Your journal will be comprised of thirteen, one-page (minimum), double-spaced entries, formatted according to MLA guidelines, and with citations that rigidly adhere to MLA guidelines. Read carefully and utilize the “MLA Format Template” available on my website at http://www.westga.edu/~jmasters/. See below for the basic journal-entry template. Each entry will be evaluated on a twenty-five point scale. Fifteen of these points are purely quantitative. If you turn in the entry on time, format it correctly, meet the minimum length requirement, and respond to (some of) the questions listed on the template, you will automatically receive fifteen points. The other ten points are qualitative and based on the sophistication of your ideas, your engagement with the text or texts under consideration, and your engagement with the issues being raised in class. If you write all thirteen entries, your lowest entry will be dropped (twelve will count). Each entry must be printed out and turned in at the beginning of the class for which it is due. Late entries will lose five points each day they are late.

 

Journal Template

 

Process-Based Writing Assignments: Your final paper will be written over the course of an intensive, one week period. At the end of the third week, you will turn in a prospectus (an in-depth paper proposal) with an annotated bibliography; at the beginning of the fourth week, you will create a “mountain of notes” (details to follow) and a detailed outline; and on the exam date, July 26th, you will turn in your final paper.

 

Particpation and Attendance: Students are expected to attend every class and arrive on time, prepared, and eager to discuss the day’s reading. Your participation grade is based upon your performance in the class in terms of group work, discussion, and attendance habits. You are expected to demonstrate genuine engagement with the material, actively contribute to discussion topics, show adequate preparation for each class, and respect the ideas of your classmates.

 

Cell Phones and Sleeping: Don’t ever, ever fall asleep in this class, and I never want to see a cell phone. If you fall asleep more than once in a class or use your cell phone during class (such as text-messaging and/or message checking), you will be asked to leave class and considered absent for that day.

 

Tardiness: I will make a note of any student arriving to class more than five minutes late. If you arrive late three times, you will be considered absent for one day of the course.

 

Absences: Because we meet only thirteen times, you should plan to attend every class without fail. If you miss three classes, you will automatically fail the class, no exceptions. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences unless the absence is due to participation in an official University activity (such as band, sports, debate, etc.).

 

My Plagiarism Policy: If a student is caught plagiarizing (and this includes all journal assignments), he or she will automatically fail the course. No exceptions. Please note that Wikipedia is not an acceptable scholarly source. The Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources. The Department expects that students will accurately credit sources in all assignments. An equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the course.

 

Reporting Procedures for Plagiarism:
Each incidence of plagiarism is subject to review and consideration by the instructor, and is subject to a range of penalties including but not limited to failing the assignment, failing the course, and referral to the disciplinary review board (which may ultimately result in the expulsion, suspension, or disciplinary removal of the student from the university). In order to facilitate the prevention and detection of plagiarism the Department of English and the University of West Georgia will maintain records of plagiarized assignments and those who prepare and/or submit them.

 

Course Goals

 

Program Goals

 

Students with disabilities should meet with me at the beginning of the semester, and we will make any necessary arrangements.

 

The film and reading schedule and the assignment due dates are posted on the online syllabus. Slight changes and modifications are always a part of the semester, so plan to consult the syllabus regularly (before each class). All changes will be announced in class well in advance.

 


 

Schedule

 

Week One

 

 

Week Two

 

 

Week Three

 

 

Week Four