• Belton, John. American Cinema/American Culture. 2nd ed.  NY: McGraw Hill, 2004. 
  
• study guide for Belton
• Hill, John and Pamela Church Gibson,  eds.   The Oxford Guide to Film Studies.  NY:  Oxford U. Press,  1998.   (FS)
• Nowell-Smith, Geoffry, ed.     The Oxford History of World Cinema.  New edition.   NY:  Oxford U. Press, 1999.    (WC)
• on-line web resources (hyperlinked)  -- these readings are not required and you will not be tested on them unless put in the "reading" category;  if they are in the "web resources" category they are background reading for exams and essays

• gain a working knowledge of film history from World War II to the present, emphasizing Hollywood as the dominant film system but looking also at major international directors and movements;
• develop your cinematic literacy--in other words, to teach you to recognize and use the basic technical and critical vocabulary of motion pictures;
• understand how the technology of the cinema relates to film art;
• grasp the role of genre in American film history, and recognize how some of the most popular genres express American social and cultural tensions;
• develop a more sophisticated conception of "realism" as it relates to motion pictures;
• question your own role as a passive spectator, and increase your ability to watch films actively and critically.

Grading:

Study Guide Outlines for Exams:

• Belton's American Cinema/American Culture

Essays:

You are required to write two essays this semester:  1) a 2000 word essay (about 4 typed pages) and 2) a 4000 word essay (about 8 typed pages).    You will be expected in these essays to use both print and on-line sources to support your arguments.  You should cite at least five different sources in the first essay, and at least ten different sources in the second essay, mixing equally both print and on-line sources.

Essay #1 is due Friday, February 17 by 2:00 pm in Jackson Hall 307.
Essay #2 is due Monday, April 25 by 2:00 pm in Jackson Hall 307.
 

How to Write About Film: 

• Guidelines for Writing Critical Analyses  --  Timothy R. Quigley,  The New School   (pdf)
• Suggestions on How to Read a Film  --  Michael Goldberg,  U. of Washington, Bothell
• Reading a Film Sequence  --  Ronald Bergan,  Florida International U. 
• Writing an Analysis of an Ad or a Short Sequence From Film or Television  --  Julia Lesage, U. of Oregon
• Writing to be Read: A Rhetoric For Writing in the Post-Digital Era  --  Martin Irvine, Georgetown U.

Sample Essays from Sight and Sound  (these essays are professional ones, but at least give you a model for which to strive):

• 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, September, 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"]
  

Attendance and class participation:

In order to do well in this class, you need to be in class and prepared to view and talk intelligently and passionately.  In-class work missed cannot be made up.   Since this class meets only once a week, more than one absence will seriously hurt your grade.  A/B students generally miss no classes.   

General On-Line Resources for Film History from WWII to the Present:

(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." )

• Internet Movie Database  
• The Movie Review Query Engine
• The Greatest Films  --  Tim Dirks
• All Movie Guide
• Cinema History  --  Robert Yahnke, U. of Minnesota
  
• The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture
• The Palace--A Site for Classic Films
• The Literature & Culture of the American 1950s  --  Al Filreis,  U. of Pennsylvania
• Film Analysis Guide  --  Yale Film Studies
• All Movie Guide essays on film genres and types

• Ables, Tessy
• Clampit, Leslie
• Crockett, Dani
• Davies, Seth
  
• Downes, Elizabeth
• Drexler, Lizzie
  
• Dufour, Peyton
• Frezel, Naana
  
• Kay, Jason
• Kersting, Dan
  
• Loer, Jenni
• McKoin, Mindy
  
• Mahoney, Maggie
• Mulkey, Lacy
• Robinson, Ryan
  
• Rossi, LeAnn
• Tomsula, Elizabeth
  
• Thomas, Steen
• Scarlato, Stephen
  
• Youngblood, Curt

Tu Jan 9:

• Film:     Casablanca    (USA, 1942;  Dir. Michael Curtiz.  Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre. Sidney Greenstreet)

• Reading before class:   
• Belton:
• "Classical Hollywood Narration," pp. 22-44
• "Classical Hollywood Cinema:  Style," pp. 45-65
• "War and Cinema," pp. 200-224 
• WC:  
• Thomas Schatz,  "Hollywood:  The Triumph of the Studio System,"  pp. 220-234
• David Gardner,  "Ingrid Bergman,"  pp.  230-231
• FS:  
• Richard Dyer, "Introduction to Film Studies,"  pp. 3-10
• Robert Kolker, "The Film Text and Film Form," pp. 11-23
• E. Ann Kaplan, "Classical Hollywood Film and Melodrama," pp. 272-282
• Richard Maltby, "Casablanca," from Harmless Entertainment:  Hollywood and the Ideology of Consensus, pp. 283-286
• Rick Altman, "Casablanca," from "Dickens, Griffith, and Film Theory Today," pp. 287-288
  
• Reading after class:   
• Casablanca  --  Roger Ebert,  Chicago Sun-Times
• Casablanca  --  J. Hoberman,  Village Voice
• Casablanca  --  John Baxter,  Film Reference.com
  

• Web Resources:
• Casablanca  --  Tim Dirks, The Greatest Films
• Casablanca  --  Sparknotes
• "Play it again, Sigmund:  Psychoanalysis and the Classical Hollywood Text"  --  Krin and Glen Gabbard
• Casablanca  --  Bowsley Crowther,  New York Times
  
• Casablanca  --  Aljean Harmetz
  
• Casablanca  --  Charles Champlin
• Casablanca  --  Tony McRae,  Concordia College
• "Casablanca, or The Clichés Are Having a Ball"  --  Umberto Eco
  
• Vincent's Casablanca Page
• War Movies and War Propaganda: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library
• American Cultural History, 1940-1949  --  Kingwood College Library

Tu Jan 16:

• Film:         Out of the Past  (USA, 1947.  Dir. Jacques Tourneur.  Cast:  Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer.)

• Reading before class:    
• Belton:  
•  "The Studio System," pp. 66-90
•  "The Star System," pp. 91-130  
• WC:  
• Richard Maltby, "Censorship and Self-Regulation,"  pp. 235-247
• Richard Maltby, "Will Hays," p. 238 
• "Don'ts and Be Carefuls"  (Hollywood's First Self-Regulating Code),  p. 239
• Phil Hardy, "Crime Movies," pp. 304-311
  
• FS:  
• John Belton, "American Cinema and Film History,"  pp. 227-237
• Duncan Petrie, "History and Cinema Technology," pp. 238-244
• Douglas Gomery, "Hollywood as Industry," pp. 245-254
• "Film Noir"  --  Eddie Muller,  Green Cine
• "What is This Thing Called Noir?" (lecture notes)  --  Nancy West,  U. of Missouri
• Jacques Tourneur  --  DeWitt Bodeen,  Film Reference.com
  
• Reading after class:  
• Out of the Past  --  Roger Ebert,  Chicago Sun-Times
• Out of the Past  --  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
• Out of the Past  --  Leland Poague,  Film Reference.com
  

• Web Resources:
• Out of the Past  --  Tim Dirks,  The Greatest Films
• Out of the Past --  All Movie Guide
• Out of the Past  -- Michael Mills
• Out of the Past  --  Bob Stephens, San Francisco Examiner
• Film Noir  --  Tim Dirks,  The Greatest Films
• Film Noir  --  Bruce Eder,  All Movie Guide
• "1946:  Hollywood and the Great Directors"  --  Michael Mills
• "High Heels on Wet Pavement:  Film Noir and the Femme Fatale"  --  Michael Mills
• "Introduction" to the Film Noir Reader  --  Alain Silver
  
• "What is This Thing Called 'Noir'?"  --  Alain Silver & Linda Brookover,  from The Film Noir Reader
• "Film noir: 'You Sure You Don't See What You Hear?'" --  Raffaele Caputo,  Continuum:  The Australian Journal of Media & Culture
• "No Place for a Woman: The Family in Film Noir and Other Essays"  --  John Blaser  (wonderfully informative and detailed site)
• Twists, Slugs and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang
• Film Noir:  A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library

Tu Jan 23:

• Film:        The Bicycle Thief  [Ladri di Biciclette]   (Italy, 1948.  Dir. Vittorio De Sica.  Cast:  Lamberto Maggiorani,  Enzo Staiola)

• Reading before class: 
• WC:  
• Morando Morandini, "Italy From Fascism to Neo-Realism," pp. 353-361
• Morando Morandini, "Vittorio De Sica," p. 360
• Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, "Roberto Rossellini,"  p. 438
• Morando Morandini, "Federico Fellini," p. 587
  
• FS:  
• Anthony Easthope, "Classic Film Theory and Semiotics," pp 51-57
  
• Chuck Kleinhans,  "Marxism and Film,"  pp. 106-116
• Simona Monticelli, "Italian Post-War Cinema and Neo-Realism," pp. 455-460.
• Italian Neo-Realism  --  Megan Ratner,  Green Cine
• Italian Neo-Realism  (lecture notes)  --  Nancy West,  U. of Missouri
• Italian Neo-Realism  --  Wikipedia
• Vittorio De Sica  --  Joel Kanoff,  Film Reference.com
• Cesare Zavatini  --  Hal Erickson,  All Movie Guide

• Reading after class:  
  
• The Bicycle Thief    --  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• The Bicycle Thief  --  Joel Kanoff,  Film Reference.com
  
• "A Noble Ruin:  Remembering De Sica"  --  Dan Harper,  Senses of Cinema

• Web Resources:
• a study guide for Bicycle Thieves  --  Richard Barsam
• a study guide for Bicycle Thieves  --  Nancy West,  U. of Missouri
• notes on De Sica and Bicycle Thief and Umberto D  --  Acquarello,  Strictly Film School
• Italian Masters of Neo-Realism  (including a bio on de Sica)
  
• "André Bazin - Divining the Real"  --  Peter Matthews,  Sight and Sound
• Notes on Italian NeoRealism  -- Georgia Perimeter College
• In Black and White  --  Italian Neo-Realism
• Neoweb:  The Italian Neorealism Web page
• profile of Vittorio De Sica
• Vittorio De Sica  --  Jason Ankeny,  All Movie Guide
• "Black Independent Cinema and The Influence of Neo-Realism"  -- Chris Norton,  Images Journal
• Bibliography on Vittorio de Sica  --  U. California,  Berkeley Library
• Italian Cinema:  A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library

Tu Feb 6:  

• Film:    The Searchers  (USA, 1956;  Dir. John Ford.  Cast: John Wayne,  Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood)
  

• Reading before class:  
• Belton,  "The Making of the West," pp. 248-276.
• WC:  
• Rick Altman, "Cinema and Genre," pp. 276-285
• Edward Buscombe, "The Western," pp. 286-294
• Edward Buscombe, "John Ford," pp. 288-289
• Edward Buscombe, "John Wayne," p. 290
  
• FS:  
• Barbara Creed, "Film and Psychoanalysis, " pp. 77-90
• Robyn Wiegman, "Race, Ethnicity, and Film," pp. 158-168
• Stephen Crofts,  "Authorship and Hollywood," pp. 310-324
• Peter Wollen, "John Ford,"  from Signs and Meaning in the Cinema, pp. 325-326
• Tom Ryall, "Genre and Hollywood," pp. 327-338
• "Westerns"  --  Craig Phillips,  Green Cine
  
• John Ford  -- Richard Franklin,  Senses of Cinema
• John Ford  --  John Baxter,  Film Reference.com
  
• John Wayne  --  Robin Wood and John McCarty,  Film Reference.com
  
• Reading after class:
  
• The Searchers  -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• The Searchers  --  Grant Tracey,  Images 
• The Searchers  --  Danel Griffin,  Film As Art
• The Searchers  --  Ed Lowrey,  Film Reference.com
  

• Web Resources:
• "The Western:  An Overview"  --  Gary Johnson,  Images  
  
• The Western --  Bruce Eder,  All Movie Guide
• The Western -- Tim Dirks,  The Greatest Films
  
• The Silent Western -- Early Movie Myths of the American Myth
• The Searchers --  Tim Dirks,  The Greatest Films
  
• John Ford  --  All Movie Guide
• John Wayne  --   All Movie Guide
• John Ford:   A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library
• The Searchers:  A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library

Fr Feb 17:   ***** 1st essay (1000 words) to be turned in to Becky Palmer, Humanities Secretary, by 2:00 pm on Friday, February 17

Tu Feb 20:      Mardi-Gras Break  --  No Class

Tu  Feb 27:  

• Film:    Shoot the Piano Player    (France, 1960.  Dir. François Truffaut.  Cast:  Charles Aznavour)

• Reading before class: 
• WC:  
• Peter Graham, "New Directions in French Cinema," pp. 576-586
• Phillip Drummond, "Jean-Luc Godard," pp. 752-753
  
• FS:  
• Stephen Crofts, "Concepts of National Cinema," pp. 385-394
• Jill Forbes, "The French Nouvelle Vague," pp. 461-465   
• Francois Truffaut   --  Gerald Mast,  Film Reference.com
• Francois Truffaut  --  Juan Carlos González,  Senses of Cinema
• French New Wave  --  Craig Phillips,  Green Cine
  
• Reading after class:  
• Shoot the Piano Player  --  Dudley Andrew,  Film Reference.com
• Shoot the Piano Player  -- Carter B. Horsely
• Shoot the Piano Player  --  Tom Hudleston,  Not Coming to a Theater Near You

• Web Resources:
• Francois Truffaut  --  Baseline Encyclopedia of Film
• Shoot the Piano Player -- filmsdefrance.com
• Shoot the Piano Player  -- David Perry
• The French New Wave  -- Stephen Nottingham
• "The French New Wave and the Face"  -- Iain Morrisson,  Images Film Journal
• "The French New Wave Paved the Way" -- Phillip Williams,  Moviemaker Magazine
• an interview with Truffaut -- Charles Thomas Samuels
• André Bazin site  (see especially the Bazin and Truffaut page)
• François Truffaut:  A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library  (includes list of articles on Shoot the Piano Player)
  
• French Cinema:  A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library

Tu Mar 13:  NO CLASS

Tu Apr 10:

• Film:  All About My Mother  (Spain, 1999.  Dir.  Pedro Almodóvar.  Cast:  Cecelia Roth,  Penélope Cruz)

• Reading before class: 
• WC:  
• Marsha Kinder, "Spain After Franco," pp. 596-603
• Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, "New Concepts of Cinema,"  pp.  750-759
  
• FS:  
• José Arroyo, "Pedro Almodóvar," pp. 491-494
• Anneke Smelik, "Gay and Lesbian Criticism," pp. 135-147
• Alexander Doty, "Queer Theory," pp. 148-152
  
• Pedro Almodóvar  --  Wikipedia
• Pedro Almodóvar  --  Steven Marsh,  Senses of Cinema
• Pedro Almodóvar  --   José Arroyo and Robert J. Pardi,  Film Reference.com
• interview with Pedro Almodóvar and Penelope Cruz  --  Guardian Online
• "Acceptance -- One Reel at at Time"  --  Jumana Farouky,  Time 
• interview with Pedro Almodóvar  --  Guardian Online
• Reading after class:    
• All About My Mother  --  Roger Ebert,  Chicago Sun-Times
• All About My Mother  --  j. serpico,  Pop Matters
• All About My Mother  --  Jonathan Beller,  Pop Matters
  
• All About My Mother  --  Wikipedia
  

• Web Resources:
• interview with Pedro Almodóvar, Penelope Cruz, and Carmen Maura  (on Volver)  --  Karin Luisa Badt,  Bright Lights Film Journal
• Pedro Almodóvar: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library
• Spanish Cinema:  A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library

• Film:  Y Tu Mamá También  (Mexico, 2001.  Dir. Alfonso Cuarón.  Cast:  Ana López Mercado, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal)

• Reading before class: 
• WC:  
• Linda Williams, "Sex and Sensation," pp. 490-496
• Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, "The Resurgence of Cinema," pp. 759-766
• FS:  
• Rey Chow, "Film and Cultural Identity," pp. 169-175
  
• Alfonso Cuarón  --  Wikipedia
• interview with Alfonso Cuarón  --  Sean Axmaker,  Green Cine
• interview with Gael Garcia Bernal  --  Guardian Online
  
• Reading after class: 
• Y Tu Mamá También  --  Wikipedia
• Y Tu Mamá También   --  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• Y Tu Mamá También  --  Charles Taylor,  Salon
• Y Tu Mamá También   --  J. Hoberman,  Village Voice
• Y Tu Mamá También     -- Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillec, Pop Matters

• Web Resources:
• "Road Movies Mapping the Nation:  Y Tu Mamá También"  --  Jessie Gibbs, U. of Manchester   (pdf file)
• "From Mexico to Hollywood and Back Writer-Director Alfonso Cuarón discusses Y Tu Mama Tambien"  --  Phillip Williams,  Moviemaker
• interview with  Alfonso Cuarón (on Children of Men) --  Kulturblog
• interview with Alfonso Cuarón  (on Harry Potter....)  --  Horror.com
• Y Tu Mama Tambien  --  Jeffrey Overstreet,  Looking Closer 
• "First Steps in Latin  [on Latin-American cinema]"  --  Xan Brooks,  Guradian Unlimited
  
• The Mexican Film Resource Page  --  David Wilt
• Mexican, Caribbean, and Latin American Cinema:  A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library

Tu Apr 24:

• Film:    Turtles Can Fly   (Iran/Iraq/France, 2004.  Dir. Bahman Ghobadi.    Cast:  Soran Ebrahim,  Avaz Latif,  Saddam Hossein Feysal )

• Reading before class: 
• WC:  
• Hamid Naficy, "Iranian Cinema," pp. 672-678
• Roy Armes, "The Arab World," pp. 661-667
• FS:  
• Wimal Dissanayake, "Issues in World Cinema," pp. 527-534
• "Iranian New Wave"  --  Jeffrey M. Anderson, Green Cine
•  "The Iranian Cinema"  -- Godfrey Cheshire
• "Iranian Cinema"  --  Stephen Nottingham
• "Great Iranian Cinema"  --  Jeffrey Overstreet
• “'Caught Between Poetry and Censorship'”: The Influence of State Regulation and Sufi Poeticism on Contemporary Iranian Cinema"  --  Rosa Holman,  Senses of Cinema
• Reading after class: 
• Turtles Can Fly  --  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• Turtles Can Fly  --  Jessica Winter,  The Village Voice
• Turtles Can Fly  --  Maria Garcia,  Film Journal International
• Turtles Can Fly  --  Vicente Rodriguez-Ortega,  Reverse Shot 
• "Message in a Bottle:  Bahman Ghobadi's "Turtles Can Fly"  --  Michael Koresky,  Indiewire

• Web Resources:
• Cinema Iran
• "Iranian Cinema: Before the Revolution"  -- Shahin Parhami
• An Introduction to Iranian Film  --  recommendations from Negar Mottahedeh,  Duke U.  
• Movies,  Iranian Style:  A Survey of Directors and Films  --  Mike Hertenstein,  Flickerings Film Showcase
• "After the Revolution: The Cinema Will Carry Us - Cinema Flourishes in Iran"  --  Mamad Haghighat  --  UNESCO Courier
• Middle Eastern Cinema:  A Selected Bibliography/Videography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library

• Final Review;  Evaluations

• instructions to be given in class