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Film Theory and
Criticism Sean Latham |
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ENGL
2283 |
Office:
Zink 342 |
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sean-latham@utulsa.edu |
Hours:
Tu 2-4; Th 10:30-12:30 |
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Course Description
A broad introduction to the major theories of the cinema,
this course will ask how we are able to make sense of the weird, wonderful, and
often shocking images that flicker before us on the movie screen. Topics to be considered include genre
theory, the psychology of spectatorship, the studio and star systems of
Hollywood, the politics of the cinema, theories of the gaze, and the languages
of film.
Grading and Assignments
Short Papers (30%)
Over the course of the semester you will write two one-page
essays examining one of the films we screen in class. These papers should have a well developed thesis that uses the
work of one theorist to analyze a film not discussed by that theorist. Though you may single-space the papers, they
must not exceed one page. The goal is
to achieve brevity and clarity in your analysis. Late papers penalized 10% per day.
Mid-Term Exam (35%)
A take-home exam due on February 28th by
5:00pm. The exam will consist of essay
and short answer questions designed to test your knowledge of the material we
have covered.
Final Exam (35%)
A final exam to be administered during the course’s scheduled
exam period. This comprehensive exam
will include multiple-choice, short-answer, and essay questions.
Attendance Policy
Roll will be taken regularly at the start of each
class. If you miss more than one course
without consulting me your grade will drop 10%. If you miss more than two courses without consulting me, you will
receive a failing grade for the course.
This course will regularly run from 6:00-9:15pm, so please schedule
accordingly.
Required Texts
Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, Film Theory and Criticism
(5th ed.)
Edward Buscombe, The Searchers (BFI)
S.E. Hinton, Rumble Fish
Ernest Larsen, The Usual Suspects (BFI)
Dana Polan, Pulp Fiction (BFI)
Richard Taylor, October (BFI)
Peter Wollen, Singin in the Rain (BFI)
What is Cinema?
Week One (1/14)
Screenings:
Louis and August Lumière, Leaving the Factory (1895), Arrival of a Train (1895), The Spinkler Sprinkled (1895)
George
Méliès, Trip to the Moon (1902)
Edwin
S. Porter, The Great Train Robbery (1903)
D.W.
Griffith, A Corner in Wheat (1909)
Dziga
Vertov, Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
Week Two (1/21)
Readings:
Kracauer, Theory of Film (FTC 171-182)
Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction” (FTC)
Sarris,
“Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962” (FTC 515-518)
Hitchock, “Rear Window” (X)
Screening:
Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window (1954)
The Language of
Film
Week Three (1/28)
Readings:
Taylor, October (BFI)
Pudovkin,
Film Technique (15-24)
Eisenstein, Film Form (FTC 25-42)
Screening:
Sergei Eisenstein, October (1927)
Film and Narrative
Week Four (2/4)
Readings:
Bazin, What Is Cinema? (FTC 43-56; 195-202)
Wollen,
Signs and Meaning in the Cinema (FTC 519-535)
Cavell,
The World Viewed (FTC 334-344)
Screening:
Orson Welles, Touch of Evil (1958)
February 7—Paper Due by 5:00pm
Psychology and
Spectatorship---The Gaze
Week Five (2/11)
Readings:
Freud, “Medusa’s Head” (X)
Lacan,
“The Mirror Stage” (X)
Mulvey,
“Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema” (FTC 833-844)
Silverman,
Subject of Semiotics (FTC 137-146)
Screening:
Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho (1960)
Psychology and
Spectatorship—The Star
Week Six (2/18)
Readings:
Schatz,
“The Genius of the System” (FTC 602-606)
Barthes,
“The Face of Garbo” (FTC 536-538)
Ellis,
Visible Fictions (FTC 539-546)
Screening:
Rouben Mamoulian, Queen Christina (1933)
Film Genres
Week Seven (2/25)
Readings:
Doane, “Film and Masquerade” (X)
Kawin, “The Mummy’s Pool” (FTC 679-690)
Modleski,
“The Terror of Pleasure” (FTC 691-700)
Screening:
Brian De Palma, Carrie (1976)
Week Eight (3/4)
Readings:
Braudy, The World in a Frame (FTC 613-629)
Turim,
“Gentleman Consume Blondes” (X)
Wood,
“Ideology, Genre, Auteur” (FTC 668-678)
Screening:
Howard Hawks, Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953)
March 7—Mid-Term Exam Due by 5:00pm
Week Nine (3/11)
Readings:
Schatz, Hollywood Genres (FTC 642-653)
Wollen,
Singin in the Rain (BFI)
Screening:
Gene Kelley and Stanley Donen, Singin’ in the Rain
(1951)
Week Ten (3/25)
Readings:
Warshow, “Movie Chronicle: The Westerner” (FTC654-667)
Buscombe,
The Searchers (BFI)
Screening:
John Ford, The Searchers (1956)
From Page to
Screen
Week Eleven (4/1)
Readings:
Chatman, What Novels Can Do that Films Can’t (FTC
435-451)
Andrew,
Concepts in Film Theory (FTC 452-460)
S.E.
Hinton, Rumble Fish
Screening:
Francis Ford Coppola, Rumble Fish (1983)
Film and Mass
Culture
Week Twelve (4/8)
Readings:
Diawara, “Black Spectatorship” (FTC845-854)
hooks,
“Pulp Fiction” (X)
Polan,
Pulp Fiction (BFI)
Screening:
Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction (1994)
April 11—Paper Due by 5:00pm
Week Thirteen (4/15)
Readings:
Larsen, The Usual Suspects (BFI)
Screening:
Bryan Singer, The Usual Suspects (1995)
Post-Modernism
Week Fourteen (4/22)
Readings:
Metz,
The Imaginary Signifier (FTC 800-817)
Giroux,
“Private Satisfactions and Public Disorders” (on-line)
Jameson,
“Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (X)
Screening:
David Fincher, Fight Club (1999)
Final Exam: Monday May 5, 6:00pm to 8:25pm