University Curriculum Committee
Course Proposal Form
for Courses Numbered 0001 – 4999
(Faculty Senate Resolution #04–18, April 2004)
(editorially revised 02-21-07)
Note: Before completing this form, please carefully read the accompanying instructions.
ENGL 39011. Course Prefix and Number:
March 19, 20082. Date:
3. Requested Action (check only one box):
X / New CourseRevision of Active Course
Revision & Unbanking of a Banked Course
Renumbering of Existing Course from: / # / to / #
4. Justification for new course or course revision or renumbering:
ENGL 3901 bases its study of film in the commercial, aesthetic, political, ideological, and social development of the medium. ENGL 3901 completes the second half of the International and American film history course sequence, covering the 1940s to the present. Students will develop the research methodology to trace how major world events shape cinema and to assess the impact of cinema on American and international popular culture over time. Current enrollment in existing film courses and increasing numbers of petitioned film minors suggest that students will be interested in this integral course sequence, which will serve as one of the core courses for the interdisciplinary film studies minor, currently under development. This course promotes the intended educational outcomes for the English B.A. by sharpening students’ analytical and critical thinking skills as well as broadening their historical and cultural perspective.5. Course description exactly as it should appear in the next catalog:
3901. American and International Film History Part II (3) (S) 3 lecture and 2 lab hours per week. P: ENGL 2900 or consent of instructor. Social, industrial and aesthetic history of the major films, genres, regulatory bodies and economic structures that shaped cinema from World War II to the present.6. If this is a course revision, briefly describe the requested change:
7. Page Number from current undergraduate catalog:
No8. The Writing Across the Curriculum Committee must approve Writing Intensive (WI) Credit for all courses prior to their consideration by the UCC. If WI credit is requested, has this course been approved for Writing Intensive (WI) credit (yes/no)?
If Yes, will all sections be Writing Intensive (yes/no)?
X / English (EN) / Science (SC)Humanities (HU) / Social Science (SO)
Fine Arts (FA) / Mathematics (MA)
Health (HL) / Exercise (EX)
9. The Academic Standards Committee must approve Foundations Curriculum Credit for all courses prior to their consideration by the UCC. If FC credit has been approved by the ASC, then check the appropriate box (check at most one):
10. Course Credit:
Lecture Hours / 3 / Weekly / or / Per Term / Credit Hours / 3 / s.h.Lab / ~2 / Weekly / or / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Studio / Weekly / or / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Practicum / Weekly / or / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Internship / Weekly / or / Per Term / Credit Hours / s.h.
Other (e.g., independent study):
Total Credit Hours / 3 / s.h.
30
11. Anticipated yearly student enrollment:
12. Affected Degrees or Academic Programs:
Degree(s)/Course(s) / Catalog Page / Change in Degree HoursEnglish and interdisciplinary film minor (under development)
13. Overlapping or Duplication with Affected Units or Programs:
X / Not ApplicableApplicable (Notification and/or Response from Units Attached)
14. Approval by the Council for Teacher Education (required for courses affecting teacher education programs):
X / Not ApplicableApplicable (CTE has given their approval)
15. Statements of Support:
X / Current staff is adequateAdditional Staff is needed (describe needs in the box below):
X / Current facilities are adequate
Additional Facilities are needed (describe needs in the box below):
X / Initial library resources are adequate
Initial resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and estimate for cost of acquisition of required resources):
X / Unit computer resources are adequate
Additional unit computer resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and an estimate for the cost of acquisition):
X / ITCS Resources are not needed
Following ITCS resources are needed (put a check beside each need):
Mainframe computer system
Statistical services
Network connections
Computer lab for students
Describe any computer or networking requirements of this program that are not currently fully supported for existing programs (Includes use of classroom, laboratory, or other facilities that are not currently used in the capacity being requested).
Approval from the Director of ITCS attached
16. Syllabus – please insert course syllabus below. Do not submit course syllabus as a separate file. You must include (a) the name of the textbook chosen for the course, (b) the course objectives, (c) the course content outline, and (d) the course assignments and grading plan.
American and International Film History Part II:
History of Film from World War II to the Present
Brief Description
ENGL 3901: American and International Film History Part II
Course description:
This course is a broad survey of the major films, genres, regulatory bodies, and economic structures that define American and international cinema from World War II through the present. The course addresses the cultural, industrial, and aesthetic history of these films, tracking the development of US cinema and international through the disintegration of the studio system and Hays Code to rise of both independent and corporate blockbuster film. While the major concern of this course is to understand these films in terms of their historical context, we will also be addressing specific formal, narrative and rhetorical choices made by the individual films and filmmakers.
Course objectives:
-students will identify key milestones in the latter half of film history
-students will trace how the language of cinema was developed and refined over time
-students will be able to analyze the discourse of cinema within the context of major events in political, social, and cultural history
-students will evaluate the ways in which films document and reflect major historical events
-students will understand the impact of the developments of television and digital cinema on film history
-students will identify and describe the impact of the development and incorporation of cinema into media conglomerates
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Primary Text:
Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film History: An Introduction. 2nd Ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003.
Plus course packet:
Belton, John. “Digital Cinema: A False Revolution.” Film Theory and Criticism, 6th Ed. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshal Cohen. London: Oxford UP, 2004. 901-913.
John G. Cawelti, “Notes toward an Aesthetic of Popular Culture,” The Journal of
Popular Culture 5.2 (1971): 255–268.
Hubert I. Cohen. “Wyatt Earp at the O. K. Corral: Six Versions.” The Journal of
American Culture 26.2 (2003): 204–223.
Clover, Carol J, “Dancin' in the Rain.” Critical Inquiry 21.4 (1995): 722-747.
Cripps, Thomas and David Culbert. “The Negro Soldier (1944): Film Propaganda in Black and White.” Hollywood as Historian: American Film in Cultural Context. Ed. Peter C. Rollins. Lexington: U of Kentucky P, 1998. 109-33.
Foote, Thelma Wills. “Happy Birthday, Nola Darling! An Essay Commemorating the
Twentieth Anniversary of Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 35.1/2 (2007): 212-24.
Foster, Thomas. “Cynical Nationalism” in The Selling of 9/11: How a National Tragedy
Became a Commodity. Ed. Dana Heller. New York: Palgrave, 2005. 254-87.
Friedberg, Anne. “The End of Cinema: Multimedia and Technological Change.” Film Theory and Criticism, 6th Ed. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshal Cohen. London: Oxford UP, 2004. 914-26.
Hartmann, Jon. “The trope of Blaxploitation in critical responses to Sweetback.” Film History. 6:3 (1994): 382-404.
Haskell, Molly, “Female Stars of the 1940s.” 1973. From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies. New York: Penguin, 1987.
Hellman, John. “Vietnam and the Hollywood Genre Film: Inversions of American Mythology in The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now.” Inventing Vietnam: The War in Film and Television. Ed. Michael Anderegg. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1991. 56-80.
Jeffords, Susan. “Hard Bodies: The Reagan Heroes.” Hard Bodies: Hollywood
Masculinity in the Reagan Era. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1994. 24-63.
Assignments and Grade Breakdowns
Class Participation/Screening Notes: 100 points
Exam 1: 100 points
Exam 2: 100 points
Critical Essay: 100 points
Final Exam: 125 points
A=473-525 B=420=472 C=368-419 D=315-367 F=314 and below
Reading and Screening Schedule:
Week 1:World War II: Powerful Women, Global War and the OWI
Screening: Why We Fight: War Comes to America (Frank Capra, 1945), scenes from So Proudly We Hail (Marc Sandrich,1943), They Were Expendable (John Ford, 1945)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: “Wartime Documentaries,” pp. 313-317. Molly, Haskell, “Female Stars of the 1940s”
Week 2: Race and Racism in the “Good War”
Screening: The Negro Soldier (Stuart Heisler, 1944), clips from Bataan (Tay Garnett, 1943), Sands of Iwo Jima (Alan Dwan, 1949)
Reading: Thomas Cripps and David Culbert, “The Negro Soldier (1944): Film Propaganda in Black and White”
Post-war Anxiety: Film Noir, the HUAC, and the Cold War
Screening: Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945), I Love Lucy (youtube clips), clips from Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: Chapter 15, pp. 325-33
Week 3: The Rise of the Auteur
Screening: The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957), scenes from Wild Strawberries (Bergman, 1957), Persona (Bergman, 1966), Shame (Bergman, 1968), Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: Chapter 19, pp. 415-38
Week 4: New Waves and Young Cinema
Screening: La Battaglia di Algeri (Gillo Pontecorvo,1966), scenes from A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964), For a Few Dollars More (Leone, 1965), The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (Leone, 1966)
Reading: from Film History, An Introduction: Chapter 20, pp. 451-75
Week 5: Cold War Paranoia
Screening: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956), The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951), or Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964), Memorias del Subdesarrolo (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: Chapter 21, pp. 477-508
Week 6: Hollywood Renaissance and the Cult of Youth
Screening: Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) or Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969); Clips from Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971) and The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
Reading: From Film History: An Introduction: Chapter 20, pp. 439-508, Ch 22, pp. 509-33
Week 7: Avant-Guarde and Experimental Cinema
Screening: Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1963), scenes from Kiss (Andy Warhol, 1963), La Verifica Incerta (Gianfranco Baruchello and Alberto Grifi, 1964)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: Chapter 21, pp. 489-508
Week 8: The Decline of Hollywood Cinema
Screening: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich 1962)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: Chapter 22, pp. 509-22
Week 9: 1970s Blaxploitation
Screening: Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971), clips from Coffy (Jack Hill, 1973) and Shaft (Gordon Parks, 1971)
Reading: Jon Hartmann, “The trope of Blaxploitation in critical responses to Sweetback”
Week 10: Vietnam and Cinema
Screening: Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979), clips from The Green Berets (Ray Kellogg and John Wayne, 1968), Hearts and Minds (Peter Davis, 1974), In the Year of the Pig Emile de Antinio, 1969), Batalla de Chile: La Insurrección de la Burguesía (Patricio Guzmán)
Reading: John Hellman, “Vietnam and the Hollywood Genre Film: Inversions of American Mythology in The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now”, John G Cawelti, “Notes toward an Aesthetic of Popular Culture,” The Journal of Popular Culture 5.2 (1971): 255–268.
Week 11: The Rise of the Movie Brats and Reaganite Cinema
Screening: Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975), clips from The Conversation (Coppola, 1974), Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981), Top Gun (Tony Scott, 1986)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: Ch. 22, pp. 522-34, Susan Jeffords, “Hard Bodies: The Reagan Heroes”
Week 11: Independent Films in the 80s
Screening: She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee, 1986), clips from School Daze (Lee, 1988), Do The Right Thing (Lee, 1989), Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: ch. 27, pp. 679-704; Thelma Wills Foote, “Happy Birthday, Nola Darling! An Essay Commemorating the Twentieth Anniversary of Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It”
Week 11: Bollywood Begins
Screening: Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair, 2001), scenes from Mississippi Masala (Nair, 1991) and Kama Sutra—A Tale of Love (Nair, 1997), The Guru (Daisy von Scherler Mayer, 2002)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: chapter 26, pp. 633-76
Week 14: Postmodernity
Screening: Miller’s Crossing (Cohen Brothers, 1990), clips from Fargo (Cohen Brothers, 1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Cohen Brothers, 2000), and Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson1996)
Reading: from Film History: An Introduction: ch. 28, pp. 705-23.
Week 13: The Return of the Documentary
Screening: Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, 2004), clips from March of the Penguins q(Luc Jacquet, 2005), An Inconvenient Truth (Al Gore, 2006), Why We Fight (Eugene Jarecki, 2005)
Reading: Steven Mintz, "Michael Moore and the Re-Birth of the Documentary,” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 35.2 (2005) 10-11 (online); Ken Nolley, “Fahrenheit 9/11: Documentary, Truth-telling, and Politics,” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 35.2 (2005) 12-16. (online); Robert Brent Toplin, “The Long Battle Over Fahrenheit 9/11: A Matter of Politics, Not Aesthetics.”
Week 15: Cinema Post 9-11
Screening: Osama (Siddiq Barmak, 2003), clips from United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006), War of the Worlds (Spielberg, 2005), 9/11 (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2002), Land of the Dead (George A. Romero, 2005), Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
Reading: Thomas Foster, “Cynical Nationalism,” John. Belton, “Digital Cinema: A False Revolution.”