Assignments

English 4810/5810 Film Studies, Spring 2023

11:00-11:50 a.m., Arts & Sciences 366

Film Availability

This chart provides links to our class's required and recommended films that are available through links from JustWatch (a clearinghouse of paid film and television streaming sites), the Internet Archive (free download and streaming), Kanopy (free streaming with your GCSU login), YouTube (free streaming). Films as noted are also available in either GCSU Course Reserves or the GCSU Library video collection.

 

Required Film Availability

2001: A Space Odyssey

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 3-22, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

The Act of Killing

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 4-19, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

YouTube

Casablanca

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 1-25, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

Un Chien Andalou

JustWatch | Archive | GCSU Library

Citizen Kane

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Cléo from 5 to 7

JustWatch | Kanopy | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 2-15, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

Do the Right Thing

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 4-12, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory

YouTube

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

JustWatch

Screening: W, 2-8, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 3-1, 6:00 p.m. A&S 349

The Kiss

Archive

The Kiss in the Tunnel

YouTube

Man with a Movie Camera

JustWatch | Archive | GCSU Reserves

Screening: W, 1-11, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

Modern Times

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 1-18, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

Opera

JustWatch

Screening: W, 3-8, 6:00 p.m. A&S 349

Orlando

JustWatch | GCSU Course Reserves

Screening: W, 4-5, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

Out of the Past

JustWatch

Screening, W, 2-1, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

JustWatch

Screening: W, 3-29, 6:00 p.m. A&S 349

A Trip to the Moon

JustWatch | Archive

Vertigo

JustWatch | Course Reserves

Screening: W, 2-22, 6:00 p.m., A&S 349
Recommended Television Show Availability

The Story of Film: An Odyssey

JustWatch

In Class Activities

1. Article Catchup

Let's catch up on our theoretical discussion by dividing into six groups and cutting to the quick of the last four article's core ideas.

  1. Psychoanalytic Feminist Film Theory 1: What does Modleski (FTC 632-44) say about male identification and female spectatorship?
  2. Psychoanalytic Feminist Film Theory 2: What does Modleski (FTC 632-44) say about masculine fantasy and female bodies?
  3. Genre and Realism: What do Ryan and Lenos (IFA 135-44) suggest about the relationship between genre conventions and expression of reality?
  4. Genre and Art: What does Braudy (FTC 477-94) argue about the relationship among genre conventions and audience expectations, on the one hand, and art and classic canon films on the other hand?
  5. Genre and Inclusivity/Exclusivity: Explain what Altman (FTC 495-514) means by looking at genre as an inclusive list versus an exclusive list.
  6. Genre and the Semantic/Syntactic: Explain what Altman (FTC 495-514) means by looking at genre in terms of semantic meaning versus syntactical rule/structure.

From Stereotypes to Voices

As illustrated by the extremely nuanced and positively contradictory interpretation of Dances with Wolves on page 849, Ella Shohat and Robert Stam's book excerpt makes a complex argument on the relationship between realism, representation, stereotype, and voice. In order for us to chart this complicated theory, let's break up into groups to discuss and report back to the class its individual components. For your group's assigned section, briefly discuss:

  1. the topic
  2. the main idea
  3. a key passage

Here are the group sections:

  1. The Question of Realism (841-4)
  2. The Burden of Representation (844-6)
  3. The Racial Profiles of Casting (846-8)
  4. Writing Hollywood and Race (848-51)
  5. The Limits of Stereotype (851-4)
  6. Cinematic and Cultural Mediations (855-7)
  7. The Orchestration of Discourses (857-9)

Article Summary

Written Summary

You will write an article summary and post it to GeorgiaVIEW two days before we are scheduled to discuss the article so I have time to read your response before class. Sign up here.

 

The article summary, which will summarize a particular theorist's essay, should

Informal Presentation

You will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation. The article summary presentation should introduce the essay by defining key points and terms (without simply reading your written summary) and broaching issues for class discussion.

Due Dates

  1. Your written assignment will be due in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Article Summary two days before we are scheduled to discuss an article. Summaries will be penalized one letter grade for each day, not class period, that they are turned in late. It is your responsibility to check the sign up schedule and complete the assignment on time.
  2. Your brief, informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the essay in class. This date is approximate for we will sometimes fall a day behind. Failing to present the article to the class without providing a valid absence excuse will result in a two letter grade penalty.
  3. I will return your graded assignment to you in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work >Article Summary approximately one week after we discuss the article in class.
  4. For example, we are scheduled to discuss two articles by Baudry on Friday, 1-20. Therefore, someone's summary of one of the Baudry articles of their choice will be due in GeorgiaVIEW on Wednesday, 1-18. In class on Friday, 1-20, that student will informally present the main ideas of their selected Baudry's essay. I will return the graded article summary the following week in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Article Summary. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

Scene Analysis and Presentation

Sign up in pairs to analyze a 2-3 minute scene in a formal 5-6 page paper and formal 7-10 minute presentation which includes screening the scene. Your essay and presentation should 1) incorporate at least three elements of film (such as mise en scène, characterization, cinematography, editing, sound, narrative) from Ryan and Lenos's Film Analysis and our course film analysis handout and 2) interpret how the scene broaches the core conflict and overall theme of the film. Your single, collaboratively written essay should be driven by a thesis that argues the work's theme and logically organized by close reading of the text: unpack the tension and conflict, connotation and diction, idea and theme. Your well-organized presentation should clearly convey your ideas to the class, and each member should speak during the presentation.

Parameters

Genre Paper

While the exam required you to discuss a film theory issue involving realism, representation, and/or ideology as well as film techniques, in the genre essay you will 1) research either a genre or subgenre of film, 2) compose an essay that defines the genre or subgenre's traits, and 3) analyzes an exemplary film of the genre or subgenre and argues how the film not only fits but also redefines the genre or subgenre. You may use any genre or subgenre and any film (as long as you have not written about the film previously in your scene analysis or exam). Your essay must utilize 3-6 sources to help you define the (sub)genre. At least 2 of the sources must be scholarly journal articles or book chapters, and the other sources may include non-academic audience periodicals. Here's how to conduct research at GCSU.

 

Some genres not covered in this class include but are not limited to:

Subgenres of genres covered in this class include but are not limited to:

Parameters

Exam

In the take home exam, undergraduate students will write two thesis-driven comparison/contrast two essays focusing on film theory and film interpretation, respectively. Do not write on articles written about previously in the article summary or films written about previously in the scene analysis paper.

 

Not all works are appropriate for all essays. Choose works which afford adequate material to address the issue at hand. Do not use a work to answer more than one essay.

 

Organize essays by argument and analysis. Have a controlling idea, an interpretation, a thesis that bridges the works. Support your points with textual evidence (quotations) when necessary and warranted; avoid plot summary. Make connections and distinctions among the texts; in other words, compare and contrast the works' key ideas.

Parameters

Research Paper

Undergraduate Students

Research either 1) the meaning of one film or 2) a film issue (thematic, theoretical, technical, or aesthetic) across two or three films (subject to professor approval if any of the films are outside of class), and write an 8-10 page paper that applies 2-3 theoretical articles covered in class and incorporates 3-4 scholarly books, book chapters, and/or journal articles researched specifically for the paper.

 

On Monday, April 17, you will submit 1) a research topic consisting of a paragraph explaining your topic, research question, and theoretical framework (mention the 2-3 in-class theoretical articles your paper will use) and 2) a bibliography of 6 potential scholarly criticisms (3 books or book chapters and 3 scholarly journal articles, researched through library databases). Here's how to conduct research at GCSU.

Graduate Students

You will write a research paper that enters, engages, and advances the scholarly discourse of a film or film issue either discussed in class or selected by you and approved by the professor. First, you will compose a 250 word conference paper proposal following the suggestions by Owl. Your final 12-15 page essay should be worthy of being presented at a conference, integrate at least 4 interpretive sources and apply at least 4 theoretical articles on film. Here's how to conduct research at GCSU. The week before your final paper is due, you will be given 15 minutes to present your paper in progress in class; then you will participate in a question and answer session with the class and can incorporate feedback into your final paper.

Parameters

Theoretical Paper

While the book review requires graduates students to summarize and evaluate a monograph on criticism, the theoretical paper compels them to either compare and contrast two theoretical articles covered in class (what key idea do they share and how does that same idea set them apart) or summarize and evaluate a monograph on film theory by a scholar covered in class (appreciate and interrogate a book).

Parameters

Book Review

While the annotated bibliography and presentation require graduate students to research, evaluate, and teach a film, the book review compels them to read and evaluate an entire book of fim theory or criticism. After consulting with the professor on a suitable book (for instance a book from which our class is reading an excerpt, or another of your choosing), write a 8-10 page essay that summarizes the book's overall theoretical or critical claim and then evaluates the thesis and methodology. Your essay should both appreciate and interrogate the book. The GeorgiaVIEW course packet contains book reviews by Martin Fradley and Allison Frank; and you can find more examples using GALILEO.

Parameters

Annotated Bibliography and Presentation

Graduates students will research a film, compose an annotated bibliography of at least 10 scholarly sources interpreting the work, and teach the film to the class, i.e., lecture and moderate class discussion, with some help from one of the articles on the work. One week before the presentation/teaching demonstration, graduate students must meet with the professor to go over their lesson plan. The citations in the annotated bibliography should be formatted to MLA style, each annotation should be approximately 100 words long. The film muast be Jeanne Dielman, due F, 2-17.

Parameters

 

© Alex E. Blazer 2024