Schedule

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Week One

3/29
Activity: Course introduction
Screening: A House Divided and Matrimony’s Speed Limit (Alice Guy Blaché , USA, 1913, 13 min. and 14 min.) and The Blot (Lois Weber, USA, 1921, 80 min.)
3/30
Activity: Discuss film form in The Blot and Guy Blaché shorts
Reading:Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 2: “The Significance of Film Form” (55-75) and “Early Cinema” (455-458); Harrison, “Studio Saunterings” (CP 1-5); Guy Blaché, “Woman’s Place in Photoplay Production” (CP 6-8)
Due: Complete online student survey by noon
Note: Presentation assignment available online
4/1
Activity: Discuss The Blot, melodrama as genre, and approaches to group presentation
Reading: Cook, “Melodrama and the Women’s Picture” (CP 9-14); Kaplan, “The Resisting Text” (CP 15-19); Parchesky, “Lois Weber’s The Blot” (CP 20-50)
Due: Response to The Blot due by noon via GoPost

4/4
Screening: Christopher Strong (Dorothy Arzner, USA, 1933, 77 min.)
Note : Clip annotation assignment available online
4/6
Activity: Discuss narrative in Christopher Strong
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 3: “Narrative as a Formal System” (79-104) and “The Development of the Classical Hollywood Cinema” (458-461)
Due: Response to Christopher Strong due by noon via GoPost
4/8
Activity: Discuss Christopher Strong and feminist film theory; introduction to clip annotation
Reading: Johnston, “Dorothy Arzner: Critical Strategies” (CP 51-55); Suter, “Feminine Discourse in Christopher Strong” (CP 56-63); Kaplan, “The ‘Resisting’ Maternal Woman’s Film” (CP 63-71)

4/12
Screening: Danzón (María Novaro, Mexico/Spain, 1991, 122 min.)
4/13
Activity: Discuss mise-en-scene in Danzón
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 4: “The Shot: Mise-en-Scene” (118-159)
Due: Response to Danzón due by noon via GoPost; student presentation (Nina Kenner, Chrissy Love and Miguel Pearson)
4/15
Activity: Discuss Danzón and the cinematic gaze
Reading: Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (CP 72-78); Rashkin, “María Novaro” (CP 79-91)

4/19
Screening: The Piano (Jane Campion, Australia/New Zealand/France, 1993, 121 min.)
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 1, “Film as Art” (16-47)
4/20
Activity: Discuss cinematography in The Piano
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 5, “The Shot: Cinematography” (167-218)
Due: Response to The Piano due by noon via GoPost; student presentation (Alex Emry, Phil Harty, and Amber Inman)
4/22
Activity: Discuss The Piano and Campion as auteur
Reading: McHugh, “Film Feature Narration” and “The Piano” (CP 92-102); Bruzzi, “Tempestuous Petticoats” (CP 103-108); Dyson, “The Return of the Repressed?” (CP 108-113)
4/23
Due: Clip annotation due by 10:00 p.m. via Viddler

4/26
Screening: Marianne and Juliane (Margarethe von Trotta, Germany, 1981, 106 min.)
Note: Essay 1 assignment available online
4/27
Activity: Discuss editing in Marianne and Juliane
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 6: “The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing” (223-265)
Due: Response to Marianne and Juliane due by noon via GoPost; student presentation (Jonathan Armoza, Tracey Hale and Andrew Pritzkau)
4/29
Activity: Discuss history and politics in Marianne and Juliane
Reading: Linville, “Retrieving History” (CP 114-126)

5/3
Screening: Screen Diary for My Children (Márta Mészáros, Hungary, 1984, 106 min.)
5/4
Activity: Discuss history and politics in Diary for My Children
Reading: Portuges, “Re-reading History: The Diary Trilogy” (CP 127-141)
Due: Response to Diary for My Children due by noon via GoPost
5/6
Screening: Beau Travail (Claire Denis, France, 1999, 90 min.)
Activity: Discuss approaches to Essay 1
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, “Writing a Critical Analysis of Film” (443-451)
5/7-5/9
Homework: Screen The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, USA, 2008, 131 min.) on own

5/10
Activity: Discuss sound in Beau Travail
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 7, “Sound in the Cinema” (269-298); Mayne, “Rhythms of the Night” (CP 142-148)
Due: Student presentation (Charlie Armstrong, Jing Feng, and Trevor Walchenbach)
5/11
Activity: DiscussThe Hurt Locker
Reading: Barscay, “Kathryn Bigelow’s Gen(d)re” (CP 149-155); Sklar, “The Hurt Locker [Review]” (CP 156-157); Hunter, “The First Decent Iraq-War Movie” (CP 158-160)
Due: Response to The Hurt Locker due by noon via GoPost; student presentatioon (Daniel Belmore, Scot Forsythe and Molly Spurgeon)
5/13
Screening/Activity: Screen and discuss Sink or Swim (Su Friedrich USA, 1990, 48 min.)
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, “Experimental Film” (366-376); Wees, “No More Giants” (CP 161-164)
5/14
Due: Essay 1 due by 10 p.m. via Collect It

5/17
Screening/Activity: Screen and discuss The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, USA, 1996, 90 min.)
Reading: McHugh, “History and Falsehood in Experimental Autobiographies” (CP 165-172); Sullivan, “Chasing Fae” (CP 173-185)
5/18
Screening: Vagabond (Agnes Varda, France/UK, 1985, 105 min.)
5/20
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 8: “Summary: Style as a Formal System” (312-316); Flitterman-Lewis, “The ‘Impossible Portrait’ of Femininity: Vagabond” (CP 186-201)
Due: Response to Vagabond due by noon via GoPost; student presentation (Danil Artemovich and Steven Dolan)
5/21-5/23
Homework: Screen Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, USA/Japan, 2003, 102 min.) on own

5/24
Screening: Screen Autumn Moon (Clara Law, Hong Kong/Japan, 1992, 108 min.)
Note: Essay 2 assignment available online
5/25
Activity: Discuss Autumn Moon; Essay 2 assignment distributed
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, “Hong Kong Cinema” (482-485); Marchetti, “The Gender of GenerAsian X” (CP 202-210)
Due: Response to Autumn Moon due by noon via GoPost; student presentation (Alison Gorman and Julia Johnson)
5/27
Activity: Discuss Lost in Translation
Reading: Bordwell and Thompson, “The New Hollywood and Independent Filmmaking” (477-482); Haslem, “Neon Gothic” (CP 211-218); Allsop, “More Than This” (CP 219-226); King “Lost in Translation [Review]” (CP 227-230)
Due: Student presentation (Ali Connor, Shane Roberts and Aman Sekhon)
5/28-5/30
Homework: Screen Boys Don't Cry (Kimberly Peirce, USA, 1999, 118 min.) on own

5/31
Memorial Day
6/1
Activity: Discuss Boys Don't Cry and approaches to Essay 2
Reading: Aaron, “Pass/Fail” (CP 231-235); Halberstam, “The Transgender Gaze” (CP 236-240); Henderson, “The Class Character of Boys Don’t Cry” (CP 241-245); Brody, “Boyz Do Cry” (CP 246-251)
Due: Response to Boys Don't Cry due by noon via GoPost; student presentation (Colin Gorenstein, Paul Groff and Sana Hanif)
6/3
Activity: Discuss SIFF films; course evaluation
Due: Extra-credit response to SIFF films due by noon via GoPost