Schedule

Jump to week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Finals

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

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Week Two

  • 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)

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Week Three

  • 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)

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Week Four

  • 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

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Week Five

  • 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)

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Week Six

  • 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

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Week Seven

  • 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

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Week Eight

  • 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

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Week Nine

  • 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

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Week Ten

  • 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

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Finals Week

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