ENGL 4109-01W: 20^th Century American Literature, TR 2:00-3:15, Pafford 308

“African American Cinema”

Dr. Joshua Masters, TLC 2244

Phone: 678-839-4862

Email: jmasters@westga.edu and mastersjosh@yahoo.com

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 10-1; Wednesday, 1-5; and by appt.

Description

This course will investigate how the imagery, poetics, and politics of race have 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. We will look specifically at D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915), Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959), and Stanley Kramer’s Guess Whose Coming to Dinner (1967), followed by Spike Lee’s Bamboozled (2000), a ferocious satire of white productions of blackness in American popular culture. We will then return to the origins of the African American cinematic tradition with Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates (1920), and then fast-forward to the “Blaxploitation” films of the seventies, with Mario Van Peeble’s Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and the white-produced Blacula (1972) serving as our primary examples. We will then examine the shift towards urban realism in such films as Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep (1977), Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989), and John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood (1991), and conclude by looking at contemporary black cinema, including Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991), Marc Levin’s and Saul Williams’ Slam (1998), Malcolm Lee’s Undercover Brother (2002), and a recent film chosen by the class.

Required Texts

All the films listed above will be on reserve in the library, and a series of critical readings will be on electronic reserve, so you won’t actually have to buy anything for the class. However, students will have to print out all critical readings and bring them to class on the day they are assigned.
 

Requirements

Active participation in class, active note taking, a passing quiz grade, two “keyword” exams, two 1000 word essays, and a final 4000 word research paper. Other requirements include a series of short responses and process-based writing assignments.

Explanation of Course Requirements

Final Grade: To pass the course, students must turn in all written work, have less than five absences, and earn a passing quiz grade. If you average less than 65% on quizzes, you will not pass the course. Your final grade is comprised of the following: Final Paper (30%); Short Essay #1 (5%); Short Essay #2 (15%); Quizzes (15%); Process-Based Writing Assignments and Responses (20%); Keywords tests (15%).  Note: I am always happy to discuss your progress in the class with you and explain my evaluation of your work. You can expect to receive the grade you earn in this class; please refrain from telling me what grade you “need” in the class (for Hope, for athletics, to fulfill a dying relative’s final request, etc.), or what grade you “really want” (presumably an A).

Essays: Your basic task for each paper is to produce a well-written, coherent essay whose central argument is both interesting and significant. Your essays will be thesis-driven, argumentative papers, 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 research paper will also be evaluated in terms of its use of secondary sources and the originality of your scholarship.

Late Essays: I will accept late essays, but always with a penalty. For each weekday that a paper is late, 1/3 of a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade. For instance, if the paper is due on Tuesday and you turn it in on Wednesday, you will lose 1/3 of a grade (i.e. a C+ becomes a C). If you turn it in on Thursday, 2/3 of a grade is deducted (a C+ becomes a C-). Emailed papers will not be accepted, although a student who needs to establish a date and time of completion can send an attachment. I am not responsible for any internet or computer problems.

Viewing Films: Expect to view and study one film per week. I strongly suggest you view each film twice, first as an audience member eager for “entertainment,” and second as a social critic and student aiming to unpack the film’s meaning. Unless otherwise noted on the syllabus, all films should be viewed in time for Tuesday quizzes.

Reading Assignments: Reading assignments will be sent to you as PDFs, and they will also be available on Docutek. All reading will be due on Tuesday.

Quizzes: At the beginning of each Tuesday class, you will take a comprehensive, fact-based quiz on the week’s film and reading assignment. Once the quiz is distributed, the door to the class will close, and you will have about five minutes to complete the quiz. If you arrive late, you will not be allowed to take the quiz, and you must wait outside until the quiz is completed. If you are absent for whatever reason, you will not be allowed to retake a quiz. Under no circumstances will I give make-up quizzes. However, each student can arrange to take one quiz in advance. The quiz policy is absolutely and utterly inflexible. Each quiz is worth 10 points, and at the end of the semester, assuming that you've earned the required 65%, I will then drop your lowest quiz score when determining your quiz average and quiz grade. All quizzes are open note, and you are encouraged to bring notes based on the films and readings to class.

Process-Based Writing Assignments and Responses: At the beginning of each week, I will post Thursday’s writing assignment at the bottom of the online syllabus. All writing in this class submitted for credit must be typed. Your papers for this class will be written over a period of weeks rather than in one, long sleepless night. Expect several Thursday assignments to be fairly involved affairs that take you through the process of writing a thesis-driven, critical essay. These assignments will be graded on a ten or twenty-point scale (depending on how involved they are), and the grade will be based on their level of completeness and the degree to which they follow my directions. Late assignments will be penalized two points for each weekday that they are late.

Discussion and Attendance: Students are expected to attend every class and arrive on time, prepared, and eager to discuss the week’s texts. 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.

Cellphones and Sleeping: Don’t ever, ever fall asleep in this class, and I never want to see a cellphone (or any of its deranged cousins). As soon as you see me, get the thing out of sight. If you fall asleep or use your cellphone in class (such as text-messaging and/or message checking), you will be asked to leave class and considered absent for that day.

Email: All official email correspondence must take place through UWG accounts; however, I will also be establishing a class list using your preferred email address for other forms of communication. Your emails should address me (“Dear Dr. Masters,” rather than “yo”), and they must be signed. Please proofread them and write in full sentences.

Tardiness and Leaving Early: If you arrive to class late or have to leave early, it counts as ½ of an absence. On Tuesdays, after quizzes are collected, the doors will be opened and late arrivals will be allowed to find a seat. If you are more than three minutes late, you will be marked as tardy.

Absences: I understand that illnesses and emergencies are a part of life, and therefore you are allowed to miss one Tuesday class and one Thursday class without penalty (Thursday writing assignments must be sent to me in advance). However, if you miss five 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.). If you add the class after our first class, you will not be counted as absent. However, you are responsible for contacting me and being prepared for the next class.

My Plagiarism Policy: If a student is caught plagiarizing (and this includes short writing assignments) or cheating on a quiz, he or she will automatically fail the course.

Departmental Plagiarism Policy: 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

• Students will learn to view and analyze films as texts.

• Students will gain an enhanced knowledge of the ways in which film employs the aesthetic and cultural techniques of other literary forms.

• Students will become familiar with the medium's distinctive qualities.

• Students will understand that social, political, economic, and historical influences affect the production and consumption of film texts.

• Students will demonstrate in both oral and written work a discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well-supported analysis of related material.

• Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.

• Students will learn to use discipline-specific computer technologies related to the study of language such as listservs, word processing, and internet research.

Program Goals

• This course fulfills one of the departmental requirements for the completion of the English major.

• Students will develop the analytical, oral and written skills to pursue graduate study or careers in teaching, writing, business and a variety of other fields.

• Students will be able to define and pursue independent research agendas.

• This course contributes to the program goal of equipping students with a foundation in literary history and the issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture.

• This course broadens students' desire and ability to take pleasure in their encounter with literature.

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

The reading schedule and 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.

Reading and Assignment Schedule

Jan 8   Introduction to the course.

Jan 13 Jacqueline Stewart, Preface to Migrating to the Movies (1-8).

Jan 15 View D.W. Griffeth’s Birth of a Nation.

Jan 20 J. Stewart, Chapter 7. See online syllabus for writing assignment (10 Points).

Jan 22 Screening of Oscar Michaeux’s Within Our Gates. Read Bernardi's Intro. to The Birth of Whiteness.

Jan 27 Imitation of Life. Introduction and Chapter 5 of Krin Gabbard's Black Magic.

Jan 29 See online syllabus for writing assignment (10 Points).

Feb 3   Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Susan Courtney, Ch 6 of Hollywood Fantasies…

Feb 5    Mountain of notes for Paper #1 due (20 Points).

Feb 10 Bamboozled. Gladstone Yearwood, Black Film as Signifying Practice, Ch. 1.

Feb 12 Outline for Paper #1 due (20 Points).

Feb 17 Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, Intro. and Ch. 3.

Feb 19 Keywords Test #1.

Feb 24 Blacula. Harry M. Benshoff, “Blaxploitation Horror Films.”

Feb 26 Paper #1 due.

Mar 2—Last day to withdraw with a W

Mar 3  Killer of Sheep. Gladstone Yearwood, Ch. 2.

Mar 5  Discuss second paper assignment. 

Mar 10 Boyz N the Hood. Paula Massood, Black City Cinema, Intro. and Ch. 5.

Mar 12   Mountain of notes for Paper #2 due (20 Points). 

Spring Break

Mar 24  Do the Right Thing. Morrison's Playing in the Dark.

Mar 26  Outline for Paper #2 due (20 Points).  

Mar 31 Slam. Excerpts from Slam: The Book (Introduction and Diaries of Levin and Williams).

Apr 2   Paper #2 due.

Apr 7   Daughters of the Dust. Critical Reading TBA.

Apr 9   Keywords test #2. Prospectus for Research Paper due (20 Points).

Apr 14 Undercover Brother. Crtitical Reading TBA.

Apr 16 Mountain of Notes for Research Paper due (20 Points).

Apr 21Annotated Bibliography and Outline due (30 Points).

Apr 23 First three pages of Research Paper due (20 Points).

Apr 28 Rough Draft of Research Paper due, at least eight pages (20 Points).

5/5:   Final Papers due in my office by 5 p.m.

Writing Assignment for Tuesday, January 20th

Next Tuesday please bring to class a typed paragraph that focuses on a what you think is a significant moment or scene from Birth of a Nation. I ask for four things: 1) Make sure you keep it to one paragraph, and that you put some thought into the structure and organization of the paragraph. 2) Open the paragraph with an idea, argument, or interpretive position of your own design. 3) Cite a specific passage from Jacqueline Stewart's Migrating to the Movies (being careful to follow MLA citation and punctuation rules) that you then apply to the analysis of your scene. (Note: your quotation should not be a block quote.) 4. Include a works cited page (which you can print on the back to save paper) that looks just like the one on page five of the "MLA Format Template" found on my Homepage (double-spaced, hanging indents, etc.). There should be two entries: one for Stewart and one for the film.

Please keep you paragraph to less than a page. Keep in mind that I'm much more interested in your ideas, thoughts, and interpretations than in the MLA stuff; however, your actual score on these assignments is quantitative rather than qualitative.

Writing Assignment for Thursday, January 29th

Thursday's assignment is much the same as the first and gives you an opportunity to attend to any small MLA/punctuation issues that I might have pointed out to you. The central difference is that rather than focusing on an entire scene, you are to analyze a specific visual or aural detail (or pairing of details) that you feel is particularly meaningful or significant. I would also like you to cite any one of the critical pieces we've read this semester (Stewart, Morrison, Bernardi, Gabbard), even if it's just for a useful phrase or keyword. Again, keep it to one paragraph that opens with an interesting claim or argument, and create a works cited page with two entries. Keep in mind that Imitation was originally released in 1959 but that Universal re-released our version in 2003 (or, if you got viewed a different version, cite that one).

Outlines are due February 12th

Sample Outline