260.232 World Film: Politics and Nation
Time: MW 12:30-1:50, 206C
Dr. Hollis Robbins
hrobbins@jhu.edu Graduate Assistant: Gina Peck
I. Course Objectives:
You will be exposed to (and with work begin to understand) the basics of film: form, content, production values, cinematic language, genre, cinematography, acting, editing, sound, lighting, theory, meaning. Our focus is “World Film.” With the exception of Stagecoach, all have been made in countries other than the United States and will be subtitled. One of the goals of this course is to make familiar the language of film even when you do not understand the language of the dialogue. Moreover, we will discuss the broad idea of “nation” and “national art.”
II. Course Requirements:
Attendance/Class/Blog participation www.worldfilmblog.blogspot.com
1 Oral Presentation (10 minutes)
Final exam
Two analytical papers (4-6 pages, 6-8 pages)
You will be required to watch closely and be prepared to discuss all of the films. The schedule below indicates the date on which a film will be shown in class; however, if you are presenting on the film, you should watch it prior to the class. You will be required to lead class discussion by giving a substantial presentation on a film once in the course of the semester.
You will be required to write a midterm paper and a longer final paper. I do not accept late papers unless there is a compelling reason for missing the deadline.
Attendance for this class is critical. Much of what you will learn in this course will be the result of class exercises and discussion. Discussion and debate are crucial to the learning process. You are expected not only to attend but also to participate. Three absences (excused or not) will begin to push your final grade downward.
Grade: Your grade will be calculated as follows:
Class Participation: includes attendance, presentations, possible quizzes, contributions to class discussion, blog posts at www.worldfilmblog.blogspot.com: 20%
Presentation: 15%.
Two papers: Midterm paper (20%), final paper (30%) Total: 50%.
Final Exam: 15%
Writing Policy:
All papers should be double-spaced, numbered, with your name on every page. Neatness and excellence in punctuation, spelling, and grammar should always be a goal.
All written work should be your own. This means that either: A) you are telling me what you think, or B) you are telling me what you think about what someone else thinks—which means you will tell me where you found this person’s opinion, when and where he/she expressed it, and how it is related to your own opinion. You may embrace someone else’s opinion, but you cannot pass it off as your own. This is called plagiarism and it is wrong.
A note about my grading on papers and essays:
A grade of A means you have produced a paper exemplary in almost every way. You have presented your thesis coherently, you have organized your thoughts effectively, and you have supported your argument meticulously. An A paper is also one that is excellent in style and voice or tone. And in an A paper, attention to form (spelling, punctuation, grammar, documentation) is as rigorous as it is to the content. Your work on the paper is superior.
A grade of B means you have gone beyond the minimum requirements of the assignment and have successfully balanced description with analysis. You express yourself more clearly, meaningfully, and imaginatively than in a C paper. Your work on the paper is good.
A grade of C means you have successfully completed the minimum requirements of an assignment. Your paper has no major problems of any kind, but there is still much for you to do to better your grade. Your work on the paper is fair.
A grade of D means your work is seriously deficient in some way.
A grade of F means your work has failed to meet the minimum requirements.
III. Required Texts:
Book: Film Theory and Criticism. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen
Films: Battleship Potemkin (1925) Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 75 mins
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Germany, 71 mins
Triumph of the Will (1935) Leni Riefenstahl, Germany, 114 mins
Rules of the Game (1939) Jean Renoir, France 106 mins
Stagecoach (1939) John Ford USA, 96 mins.
The Bicycle Thief (1948), Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 93 mins
The Third Man, (1949) Carol Reed, UK, 1949, 104 mins
Rashomon, (1951)Akira Kurosawa Japan 1951 88 mins.
Seventh Seal, Bergman (1957) Swedish, 92 mins
Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) Jacques Demy, France, 92 mins
The Fireman’s Ball (1967) Czech, Milos Forman, 73 mins
IV. Schedule and Reading
Week 1 Intro & backgrounds
W Sept 2 Intro: Terms, Responsibilities, Blog. How to Watch a Film.
Reading: “Film Language”
Week 2 Film: Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin (1925)
M Sept 7 No Class – Labor Day
W Sept 9 Begin screening Battleship Potemkin
Reading: Sergei Eisenstein, “Beyond the Shot” and “The Dramaturgy of Film Form”
Week 3 Films: Potemkin and Ford, Stagecoach (1939)
M Sept 14 Finish and discuss Potemkin
W Sept 16 Begin Stagecoach
Reading: Nick Browne “The Spectator-in-the Text: the Rhetoric of Stagecoach”
Week 4 Films: Stagecoach and Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
M Sept 21 Finish Stagecoach
W Sept 23 Begin Cabinet
Reading: “Film and Reality” and Erwin Panofky “Style and Medium in the Motion Pictures”
Week 5 Film: Cabinet and Triumph of the Will (1935)
M Sept 28 Finish and discuss Cabinet
W Sept 30 Presentations on first three films
Reading: Siegfried Kracauer, “Basic Concepts” and “From Caligari to Hitler.”
Week 6 Film: Triumph of the Will (1935)
M Oct 5 Finish presentations on the first three films
W Oct 7 Screen Triumph of the Will
Reading: David Hinton (handout)
Week 7 Film:
M Oct 12 No Class – Fall Break
W Oct 14 Finish and discuss Triumph of the Will
Hinton: “Triumph of the Will: Document or Artifice?”
Midterm Paper on Triumph of the Will. DUE Oct 16: Read David B. Hinton’s article “Triumph of the Will: Document or Artifice?” (handout). Your assignment is to answer the question: is Triumph of the Will primarily an historical documentary or a fictional film? Select one or two particular technical feature(s) of the film and consider the nature and the implications of these features for the greater meaning of the film. Think about this feature in isolation as well as an essential aspect of film. Make an argument about these features; support your argument with evidence. Pay attention to questions of coherence and essential deception: all filmmaking is a matter of deception, coherence, and the tradition of deceiving audiences into seeing coherently. Remember: THE FILM KNOWS YOU’RE THERE, WATCHING. How does it succeed in fooling you? Use the Braudy/Cohen book but also draw on any outside source you think necessary to defend your argument. Film is a way of producing reality (for the filmmaker) and a way of experiencing reality (for the viewer). How do we know what we know? How do we see what we see? How do we empathize and sympathize the way we do?
Specifics: 5-6 pages, double spaced, 12-pt type, 1-inch margins, name on each page. List works cited and note page numbers parenthetically (roughly MLA style). Due: Friday, October 16 on turnitin.com
Friday OCT 16– FIRST PAPER DUE
Week 8 Kurosawa, Rashomon (1951)
M Oct 19 Screen Rashomon
W Oct 21 Finish Rashomon
Reading: Andre Bazin, from What is Cinema: “The ontology of the photographic image.”
Reading: Siefgried Kracauer “The Establishment of physical existence”
Week 9 Film: Renoir, Rules of the Game (1939)
M Oct 26 Screen Rules of the Game
W Oct 28 Finish and discuss Rules of the Game
Reading: Andre Bazin, from What is Cinema: “The myth of total cinema.”
Week 10 Film: De Sica, Bicycle Thief (1948)
M Nov 2 Screen Bicycle Thief
W Nov 4 Finish and discuss Bicycle Thief
Reading: Andre Bazin, from What is Cinema: “De Sica: Metteur-en Scene.”
Week 11 Film: Reed, The Third Man (1949)
M Nov 9 Screen The Third Man
W Nov 11 Finish and discuss The Third Man
Reading: Jerrold Levinson “Film Music and Narrative Agency”
FINAL PAPER: WORLD FILM (see full assignment below), 6-8 pages, due Dec 18 .
Consider one of the films we watched after Triumph of the Will (1935): Rules of the Game (1939), Bicycle Thief (1948) The Third Man (1949), and Fireman’s Ball (1967). How does the film you’ve chosen engage in the concept of nation? Could it have been made anywhere? What, besides the language and scenery, make it “of” one nation or another? How does it represent the idea of nation to itself?
Week 12 Film: Bergman, Seventh Seal (1957)
M Nov 16 Screen Seventh Seal
W Nov 18 Finish and discuss Seventh Seal
Reading: Bela Balasz, From Theory of the Film: “The Close-up,” “The Face of Man”
Week 13 Film: TBA
M Nov 23 Presentations
W Nov 25 No Class – Thanksgiving
Week 14 Film: Forman, Fireman’s Ball (1967)
M Nov 30 Screen Fireman’s Ball
W Dec 2 Finish and discuss Fireman’s Ball
Reading: Laura Mulvey: “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
Week 15 Film: Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
M Dec 7 Screen Umbrellas of Cherbourg
W Dec 9 Finish and discuss Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Reading: Film Genres
Week 16
M Dec 14 Final exam
FULL ASSIGNMENT:
FINAL PAPER: WORLD FILM, 6-8 pages, due Dec 18 on turnitin.com
Consider one of the films we watched after Triumph of the Will (1935): Rules of the Game (1939), Bicycle Thief (1948) The Third Man (1949), and Fireman’s Ball (1967). How does the film you’ve chosen engage in the concept of nation? Could it have been made anywhere? What, besides the language and scenery, make it “of” one nation or another? How does it represent the idea of nation to itself? Please draw upon the essays in the textbook to support your argument.
A good paper will reflect your capacity to think logically and reflectively, to analyze critically and constructively. Please pay particular attention to the technical aspects of film as well as the story being told. Note particular scenes and consider at them in detail.
Your paper should also reflect your newfound ability to understand and appreciate film from technical and formal perspectives; to make a carefully considered, well-reasoned analysis; and to put forward a well-written critique of the film genre. Finally, a good paper is one which expresses your thoughts and feelings coherently and persuasively
REMINDER: All written work should be your own. This means that either: A) you are telling me what you think, or B) you are telling me what you think about what someone else thinks—which means you will tell me where you found this person’s opinion, when and where he/she expressed it, and how it is related to your own opinion. You may embrace someone else’s opinion, but you may not pass it off as your own. This is called plagiarism and it is wrong.
