English 368--History
of
Film, Part I:
From the 1890s to World War
II
Fall 2004
English Department
Centenary College of Louisiana
304 Jackson Hall
Tu/Th 2:00-4:30
Instructor: Jefferson Hendricks
Office: 307D Jackson Hall
Office hours: M 1:15--1:50 M/T/TH and by appt.
Office ph.: 869-5086 /5254
Email: jhendric@centenary.edu
Texts:
- Belton, John. American Cinema/American
Culture. 2nd ed.
NY: McGraw Hill, 2005.
- Cook, David. A History of Narrative Film.
4th ed. NY: Norton, 2004.
- on-line
readings
Course Objectives:
Film History I is
designed to enable you:
- to gain a working knowledge of early film
history,
from the silent cinema through the 1930s;
- to develop your cinematic literacy--in
other words,
to teach you to recognize and use the basic technical and critical
vocabulary
of motion pictures;
- to understand how the technology of the
cinema relates
to film art;
- to understand the place of "Hollywood" in
world film
culture;
- to grasp the role of genre in American film
history,
and to recognize how some of the most popular genres express American
social
and cultural tensions;
- to question your own role as a passive
spectator,
and increase your ability to watch films actively and critically.
- to improve your ability to write critically
and analytically about film as art and social practice.
Grading:
| Quizzes/short
exam 20% |
Critical essays
40% |
| Final
Exam
20% |
Work
Ethic
20% |
Here are some models of essays that might help you write about
certain
topics. You are expected to write two out-of-class 1000-word
essays
(about 4-5 typed pages). Your writing should engage with the
conversation of other knowledgeable critics/scholars wrestling with
your
subject. You should consult both printed and online
sources in writing your essays.
- an essay focusing on a
particular
actor: Manohla
Dargis, "Ghost in the Machine," Sight and Sound, July
2000
[on Tom Cruise]
- an essay focusing on a specific
film: José
Arroyo, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Von Trier?", Sight and
Sound,
Sept., 2000 [on Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark]
- an essay focusing on a genre and
several films : Danny
Leigh, "Get Smarter," Sight and Sound, June, 2000
[the contemporary British gangster film]
- an essay focusing on a director and
several films: Philip
Kemp, "Ants in His Pants," Sight and Sound, May, 2000
[on Preston Sturges]
- an essay focusing on a theme in
several films: Slovoj
Zizek, "Camp Comedy," Sight and Sound, April, 2000
[on the "holocaust comedy"]
Study Guide Outlines:
Attendance and class participation:
To be successful in this class
you need to be in
class and prepared to listen and talk intelligently and passionately.
Absences
will seriously hurt your grade. You may make up for absences
and also obtain extra credit by writing 1-page reviews of approved
out-of-class
films.
General On-Line Resources for Film
History Before WWII:
Nota
bene: Not all web sites are created equally. Learn to
evaluate
them as you would more traditional print resources. The following
guide from Cornell University is a good initial step in that
direction:
"How
to Critically Analyze Information Sources."
English
378:
Course Schedule
Week One -- Aug 31-Sept.
2:
"Introduction to
Course:
Reading Classical Hollywood Cinema"
Film:
- Tu Aug 31: Introduction to
Class: The Lumière Brothers;
Georges
Méliès; Thomas Edison
Readings:
- Cook, "Origins," pp. 1-27.
- Belton, "Introduction"; "The
Emergence of the Cinema as An Institution,"
pp. 3-21.
On-Line Resources for Week One:
Week Two -- Sept. 7-9:
"D.W. Griffith and the
Beginnings
of Classical Hollywood Cinema"
Film:
- Th Sept 9: Class
Discussion
Readings:
- Cook, "International
Expansion, 1907-1918,"
pp. 29-50; "D. W. Griffith and the Consummation of Narrative
Form,"
pp. 51-85.
- Belton, "Classical Hollywood
Narration," pp.
22-44; "Silent Film Melodrama,"
pp. 131-149.
On-Line Resources for Week Two:
Week Three -- Sep 14-16:
"German Expressionist
Cinema
of the Twenties"
Film:
Readings:
- Cook, "German Cinema of the
Weimar Period,
1919-1929," pp. 87-111.
On-Line Resources for Week Three:
Week Four -- Sept 21-23:
"Radical Politics,
Modernist
Style: Russian Silent Film"
Film:
Readings:
- Cook, "Soviet Silent Cinema
and the Theory
of Montage, 1917-1931," p. 113-168.
On-Line Resources:
Week Five -- Sept 28-30:
"Hollywood in the Twenties"
Film:
- Tu Sep 28: City
Lights (USA,
1931; Dir. Charlie
Chaplin)
- Th Sep 30: The Crowd
(USA, 1928; Dir. King Vidor)
Readings:
- Cook, "Hollywood in the Twenties,"
pp. 169-204.
On-Line Resources:
Week Six -- Oct. 5-7:
"Genre, Auteurism, and the
American Studio System:
Howard Hawks and Frank
Capra"
Film:
Readings:
- Cook, "The Coming of Sound and
Color, 1926-1935,"
pp. 205-230 and "The Sound System and
the American Studio System," pp. 231-288.
On-Line Resources:
Week Seven -- Oct. 12-14:
Mid-Term
Film
- Tu Oct 12: *** Mid-term
exam
- Th Oct 14:
Fall Break: No Class
Week Eight -- Oct 19-21:
Fall Break
Film:
- Tu Oct 19:
Fall Break: No Class
Week Nine -- Oct 26-28:
"Genre, Auteurism, and the
American Studio System:
Screwball Comedy, Part I:
Preston Sturges"
Film:
Readings:
- Belton, "Classical
Hollywood
Cinema: Style," pp. 41-60; "The Studio
System," pp.
61-82;
"American Comedy," pp. 135-163
On-Line Resources:
Week Ten -- Nov. 2-4:
"Politics in The Thirties:
Representing Class"
Film:
Readings:
On-Line Resources:
Week Eleven -- Nov 9-11:
"Genres in the
Thirties:
The Thriller and the Musical"
Film:
***
Essay #1 due Friday, November 12
by 2:00 pm to Becky Palmer, Humanities Secretary (Jackson Hall 307)
Readings:
- Cook, "Europe in the Thirties,"
pp. 347-391.
On-Line Resources:
Week Twelve -- Nov. 16-18:
"Genre, Auteurism, and the
American Studio System:
Screwball Comedy, Part
III: Howard Hawks"
Film:
Readings:
- Belton, "The
Star System," pp. 83-114.
On-Line Resources:
- "Bringing Up Baby"
-- Tim Dirks, Greatest
Films
- "The Camera
as Romantic Catalyst" (on
Bringing Up Baby) -- Tony Pellum, CultureDose.net
- "The
Glory of Cary Grant and Other Girlish Delights" --
Elizabeth Abele, Images:
A Journal of Film and Popular Culture [on Bringing Up Baby]
- "Bringing Up Baby"
-- James Kendrick,
QNetwork.com
- "His
Girl
Friday" -- Tim Dirks, Greatest Films
- "Mildred
Pierce and His Girl Friday: Portrait of Working Women
in the Pre- and Post-World War Period" -- Robin
Morrison, Queen's U., Canada
- "Keeping
Up With Hawks" -- Lea
Jacobs, Style (on
His Girl Friday)
- "What
Makes a Star? -- Howard Hawks Knew Best of All"
-- Robin Brantley, New
York Times (1978)
- "The Screwball
Heroine Saves the Day" (Bringing
Up Baby, Romancing the Stone, etc.) -- Elizabeth
Abele, Schuylkill
- Home of
the Screwball -- Lisa Jensen, Katie Hamlin, and Dave
Henning, U. of Virginia
- The
Ultimate Cary Grant Pages -- Debbie Dunlap
Week Thirteen -- Nov 23-25:
No Class: Thanksgiving Break
Week Fourteen -- Nov. 30-Dec. 2:
"Genre, Auteurism, and the
American Studio System:
John Ford"
Film:
Readings:
- Belton, "The Making of the West,"
pp. 206-230.
On-Line Resources:
Week Fifteen -- Dec. 7-9:
"Challenging the
Hollywood System: Welles's Kane"
Film:
- Th Dec 9: No Class -- review for
final
Readings:
- Cook, "Orson Welles and the Modern
Sound Film,"
pp. 393-420.
On-Line Resources:
Week Sixteen -- Dec 13-17:
Final Exam Week
Study
Guide for Final Exam
Final Exam: Tuesday, December 14
-- 4 -
7 pm Room 304 Jackson Hall