Early Film
|
|
| January |
|
| Week 1
|
Introduction |
| 5 |
Introduction to course, policies, etc. |
| Week 2 | Introduction to
Silent Film |
| 10 |
Reading: Berger, "Ways
of
Seeing"
(p.114-24);
Epstein,
"Photogenie and
the Imponderable" (p.252-57) |
| In-class
Screening: Selection of shorts by Lumière
brothers and Edison |
|
| 12 | Silent Narrative Film |
| Reading: Munsterberg, "Why We Go to the
Movies" (p.9-17); Kracauer,
"Basic
Concepts"
(289-299) |
|
| In-class Screening:
Méliès
and Porter |
|
| Week 3 | |
| 17 | Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday - No
Classes [STUDENTS MUST VIEW Easy Street BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY] |
| 19 |
Silent Narrative Masters: From Chaplin to D.W. Griffith |
| Reading: Bazin, "The Ontology of the
Photographic Image; The Evolution of the Language of the Cinema"
(p.309-19); Kracauer, "Inherent Affinities" (p.299-308) |
|
| In-class
Screening: Griffith
blockbusters, Chaplin |
|
| Week 4 |
Russian Formalism and
Film Form |
| 24 |
Reading: Vertov, "Film Directors: A
Revolution" (p.257-62); Eisenstein, "The Dramaturgy of Film Form"
(p.262-79) |
| Screenings:
October (Eisenstein,
1927) [STUDENTS
MUST VIEW October BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY] |
|
| 26 |
Discussion
of October
and "montage" |
| Quiz #1 (Silent Film and Beginnings of Narrative Film to Griffith and Chaplin) | |
| Week 5 |
Early German Cinema to Sound |
| 31 |
Reading: Chion,
"The Acousmȇtre" (p.156-65); Kracauer,
"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (on CourseDen) |
| Screening: M (Lang, 1931) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW M BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY] | |
| February | |
| 2 |
Discussion
of M and
cinematic language |
| Week 6 |
Classical Hollywood |
| 7 |
Readings: Dyer, "Stars" (p.401-416); Bazin, "The Evolution of Editing since the Advent of Sound" (p.319-25); |
| Screening: The Little Foxes, (Wyler, 1941) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW Little Foxes BEFORE WEDNESDAY] | |
| 9 |
Discussion
of The Little
Foxes
and "realism" |
| Week 7 |
|
| 14 |
Special Topic: Race in Classical Hollywood |
| Reading: Dyer, "White" (p.822-39); Rony, "King Kong and the Monster in Ethnographic Cinema"(p.840-59) | |
| Screening: King Kong (1933) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW King Kong BEFORE WEDNESDAY] | |
| Quiz #2 (Russian Formalism, German Silent Cinema, Classical Hollywood) | |
| 16 |
Discussion
of King Kong and race |
| Review for Midterm | |
| Week 8 |
|
| 21 |
MIDTERM EXAM |
| 23 |
The Classical Spectator |
| Reading: Metz,
"Loving
the
Cinema"
(p.17-28);
Mulvey,
"Visual
Pleasure
and
Narrative
Cinema"
(p.
713-25) |
|
| Introduce Paper #1 |
|
Post-War Changes and New Film Movements |
| Week 9 |
|
| 28 |
Post-war Period and Auteurs |
| Readings: Wollen, "The Auteur Theory" (p.361-75); Schatz, "Film Genre and the Genre Film" (p.453-65) | |
| Screening: The Searchers (Ford, 1956) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW The Searchers BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY] | |
| March |
|
| 2 |
Discussion of The Searchers |
| Intro Draft of
Paper #1 Due |
|
| 2nd = LAST DAY to withdraw with grade of W | |
| Week 10 March 7-11 |
Spring Break - NO CLASSES |
| Week 11 |
|
| 14 |
Auterism: The French New Wave |
| Readings: Astruc, "The Birth
of a New Avant-Garde" (p.350-54); Bordwell, "Art Cinema as a Mode of
Film Practice" (p.558-73) |
|
| Screening:
Les
Quatre
Cents
Coup
[400 Blows] (Truffaut, 1959) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW 400 Blows BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY] |
|
| 16 |
Discuss Les Quatre Cents Coup and the "auteur" |
| Week 11 | Documentary Cinema and Postcolonial Documents |
| 21 |
Reading: Grierson, "First Principles of Documentary" (p.657-667); Trinh, "Documentary Is/Not a Name" (p.691-704) |
| Paper #1 Due | |
| 23 |
Reading:
Zavattini, "Some Ideas on the Cinema" (p.915-24); Solanas & Getino,
"Towards a Third Cinema" (p.924-39) |
| Screening:
La
Battaglia
di
Algeri (Pontecorvo, 1965) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW Battle of Algiers BEFORE CLASS ON MONDAY] |
| Week 13 |
|
| 28
|
Discuss La Battaglia di Algeri and "post-colonialism" |
| Quiz #3 (Post-war Hollywood, French New Wave, Post-Colonial Documentary) | |
| 30 |
Honors Convocation - NO CLASSES from 1-4 pm |
| April |
|
| Week 14 |
New American Cinema, Ideology, and Auteurs |
|
4 |
Reading: Wood, "Incoherent
Text" (on CourseDen) |
| Screening: Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW Taxi Drvier BEFORE CLASS ON WED.] | |
| Introduce Paper #2 |
|
| 6 |
Discuss Taxi Driver and "independent"
visions |
New Hollywood, Global Cinemas, and Others |
|
| Week 15 |
Genre,
New
Hollywood Myth, and the Blockbuster Industry |
| 11 |
Reading: Christensen,
"Studio
Authorship,
Corporate
Art"
(p.429-440);
Schatz, "The New Hollywood" (CourseDen) |
| Screening: Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW Star Wars BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY] | |
| 13 |
Discuss Star Wars and genre myth |
| Week 16 |
"World
Cinema": Cinemas East |
| 18 |
Reading: Andrew,
"An
Atlas
of
World
Cinema"
(p.999-1010);
Jameson,
"Postmodernism
and
Consumer
Society"
(p.1031-41) |
|
Screening:
Chungking
Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994) [STUDENTS MUST VIEW Chungking Express BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY] |
|
| Draft of Paper #2 Due | |
| 20 |
Discuss Chungking Express and "postmodernism" |
| Quiz #4 (New American Cinema, Hollywood Blockbusters, Cinemas East) | |
| |
|
| Week 17 | Digital Cinema |
| 25 | Reading:
Jenkins, "Searching for the Origami Unicorn" (p.620-44); Manovich,
"What Is Digital Cinema?" (p.1058-70) |
| 27 |
Last Day of Classes |
| Review for Exam |
|
| Paper #2 DUE | |
| MAY 2nd (Monday) |
FINAL EXAM -
from 11-1 pm |