Fall
2007 Fall
2007
FLM/AMS 130.001
Introduction to American Film
Monday-Wednesday 12:00-1:15
*viewing and reading schedule/hyperlink list*
Online support for American Cinema/American Culture
FLM
130.001 Fall 2007 Course Calendar and Schedule of Assignments
Schedule
might be modified to suit the needs of the class.
A
quiz will be held after every scheduled viewing of a film.
Date
Coursework
Aug. 27
Information-Gathering Session
Essential Film Terms
Introduction to Active Viewing
For next class: Review Syllabus and Schedule; prepare questions;
read Chapter 1, The Emergence of Cinema as an Institution
Aug. 29
Syllabus Question and Answer Session
Introduction to Text
Discussion and Practice: Active Viewing
For next class: Read Chapter 6, Silent Film
Melodrama
Watch Modern
Times (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1936) (83 minutes)
Sep. 3
Labor Day—no class
Sep. 5
The pastoral ideal; home and family; encroaching industrialization
The impact of Griffith and Birth of a Nation (1915)
Early silent films, including Edison and Griffith
For next class: Read Chapters 2 and 3, Classical Hollywood Cinema:
Narration and Style
Sep. 10
The Great Depression and film; Chaplin
For next class: Read Chapter 4, The Studio System
Sep. 12
The 20s; the talkies; pre-Code films; the Classical Hollywood Style
Discussion
Watch The
Wizard of Oz (dir. Victor Fleming, 1939) (101 minutes)
Sep. 17
The Great Depression and film
How would contemporary directors approach The Wizard of Oz?
The Golden Age of Cinema; clips from Gone with the Wind (dir.
Victor Fleming, 1939)
For next class: Read Chapter 8, American Comedy
Watch His
Girl Friday (dir. Howard Hawks, 1940) (92 minutes)
Sep. 19
Discussion
Screwball comedy; sound in film
Prepare for Exam #1
Sep. 24
Exam #1 on all films (viewed both in class and before class) and all
chapters to date
Sep. 26
Comparative film: Classical Hollywood style, Expressionism,
anti-Hollywood, et al.
For next class: Read Chapter 5, The Star System
Watch Citizen
Kane (dir. Orson Welles, 1941) (119 minutes)
Oct. 1
Highlights from CK; Welles as auteur
Oct. 3
Introduction to Film Noir
For next class: Read Chapter 10, Film Noir:
Somewhere in the Night
Watch Notorious
(dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) (102 minutes)
Oct. 8
Deconstructing Notorious
Oct. 10
Continue discussion
For next class: Read Chapter 12,
Watch On
the Waterfront (dir. Elia Kazan, 1954) (108 minutes)
Oct. 15
Discussion: The Hays Code; the Red Scare in
Scenes from The Majestic (dir. Frank Darabont, 2001)
Oct. 17
Documentary:
The Blacklist and why
For next class: Read Chapter 7, The Musical
Watch West
Side Story (dir. Robert Wise, 1961) (152 minutes)
Oct. 22
Discussion: analysis of WSS (expressionism, color palette,
stereotyping)
Bernstein as composer of both OTW and WSS
Various modes of integration in the American musical
Oct. 24
Continue discussion: similarities between OTW and WSS
The 1950s: rise of the teenager
as consumer
Prepare for exam
Oct. 29
Exam #2 on all films (viewed both in class and before class) and all
chapters to date
For next class: Read Chapter 11, The Making of the West
Watch The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (dir. John Ford, 1962) (123
minutes)
Oct. 31
Discussion
Various portraits of the American west
Nov. 5
Continue the western
For next class: Read Chapter 14, The Counterculture Srikes
Back
Watch The
Graduate (dir. Mike Nichols, 1967) (105 minutes)
Nov. 7
Counterculture
For next class: Read Chapter 9, War and Cinema
Watch The
Deer Hunter (dir. Michael Cimino, 1978) (183 minutes)
Nov. 12
The Deer Hunter: open forum, immediate feedback quiz
Nov. 14
War in film: American perspectives vs. non-American
Watch I
Love You to Death (dir. Lawrence Kasdan, 1990) (97 minutes)
Nov. 19
Discussion
For next class: Read Chapter 15, The Film School Generation
Nov. 21
Movie Brats discussion
Watch Lost
in Translation (dir. Sofia Coppola, 2003) (102 minutes)
Nov. 26
Discussion: Americans abroad
Final Projects Due starting today
Nov. 28
Continue Final Projects
For next class: Read Chapter 16, Into the Twenty-First Century
Watch Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir. Michel Gondry, 2004)
(108 minutes)
Dec. 3
Continue Final Projects
Discussion: American cinema at millennium’s beginning
Dec.
5
Finish Final Projects
Final exam review
Dec. 12
Final Exam on all films (viewed both in class and before class)
and all
chapters to date
12:30-2:30pm, HUM 112
Other dates to note:
FLM
130.400 Fall 2007 Course Calendar and Schedule of Assignments
Schedule
might be modified to suit the needs of the class.
Date
Coursework
August 27
Information-Gathering Session
The Importance of Questioning in the Classroom Environment
Introduction to Active Viewing
This is Not a Literature Course
Introduction to Text
Discussion and Practice: Active Viewing—early silent films, including
Edison and Griffith
For next class: Read Chapter 1, The Emergence of
Cinema as an Institution, and
Chapter 6, Silent Film Melodrama
Watch Modern
Times (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1936) (83 minutes)
Sept.
3
Labor Day—No Class
Sept. 10
Quiz and discussion: The emergence of sound
The pastoral ideal; home and family; encroaching industrialization;
overview of films of
the 1920s; talkies
For next class: Read
Chapter 2, Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narration and Chapter 3,
Classical Hollywood Cinema: Style
Watch The
Wizard of Oz (dir. Victor Fleming, 1939) (101 minutes)
Sept. 17
Quiz and discussion: The emergence of color; The Great Depression and
film
How would contemporary directors approach The Wizard of Oz?
The Golden Age of Cinema; clips from Gone with the Wind (dir. King
Vidor, 1939)
For next class: Read Chapter 4, The Studio System and Chapter 5,
The Star System
Watch Citizen
Kane (dir. Orson Welles, 1941) (119 minutes)
Sept. 24
Quiz and discussion: Why was Welles’ project groundbreaking?
Comparative film: Classical Hollywood style vs. other styles
For next class: Read Chapter 10, Film Noir: Somewhere in the Night
Watch Notorious
(dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) (102 minutes)
Oct. 1
Exam #1 on all course materials up to and including Citizen
Kane
Quiz and discussion
Documentary: Film Noir
For next class: Read Chapter 12,
Watch On
the Waterfront (dir. Elia Kazan, 1954) (108 minutes)
Oct. 8
Quiz and discussion
Discussion: The Hays Code
Scenes from The Majestic (dir. Frank Darabont, 2001)
Documentary:
The Blacklist and why
For next class: Read Chapter 7, The Musical
Watch West
Side Story (dir. Robert Wise, 1961) (152 minutes)
Oct. 15
Quiz and discussion: Bernstein as composer of both OTW and WSS
Various modes of integration in the American musical
Continue discussion
For next class: Read Chapter 11, The Making of the West
Watch The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (dir. John Ford, 1962) (123 minutes)
Oct. 22
Quiz and discussion
Various portraits of the American west
For next class: Read Chapter 14, The Counterculture Srikes
Back
Watch The
Graduate (dir. Mike Nichols, 1967) (105 minutes)
Oct. 29
Quiz and discussion on the counterculture
Exam #2 on all course materials up to and including The
Graduate
For next class: Read Chapter 8, American Comedy
Watch Some
Like It Hot (dir. Billy Wilder, 1959) (120 minutes)
Nov. 5
Quiz and discussion
Gender bending as a vehicle for comedy
Introduce gender bending project
For next class: Read Chapter 9, War and Cinema
Watch The
Deer Hunter (dir. Michael Cimino, 1978) (183 minutes)
Nov. 12
Gender bending PPT presentations due
The Deer Hunter: open forum, immediate feedback quiz
For next class: Read Chapter 15, The Film School Generation
Watch Raising
Arizona (dir. Joel Cohen, 1987) (94 minutes)
Nov. 19
In-class film (TBA)
For next class: Read Chapter 16, Into the Twenty-First Century
Watch Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir. Michel Gondry, 2004) (108
minutes)
Nov. 26
Quiz and discussion: American cinema at millennium’s end/millennium’s
beginning
Final Projects Due starting today!
For next class: Watch Little
Miss Sunshine (dir.
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris,
2006) (103 minutes)
Dec. 3
Quiz and discussion
Finish final projects and review for final exam
Dec. 10
Final exam 6:30-8:30pm
Other dates to note:
November 16 is the last date to withdraw with a “W” grade