Film Theory

Text

Leo Braudy & Marshall Cohen, eds., Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, 5th edition.

Course Aims

The central premise of this course is that film theory ought to be understood more as an activity than as a stable and transmissible body of knowledge. Theory understood this way does not lend itself to the presentation of a buffet of methods (if it's week 12, this must be semiotics!) to be adopted or imitated or even ranked against each other for the purposes of final selection. Rather, theory can be understood as a dynamic and ongoing process of critical thinking about film in all its registers guided mainly by one's purpose, the demands and complexities of the object of study, and self-reflection on the implications of one's own work. In other words, expect to do rather than to receive.

Policies and Procedures

Attendance: miss more than six and you No Entry the course.

 

Lateness: attendance will only be taken at the beginning of class. See above.

 

Readings: completed and considered before the class for which they are assigned. Bring annotated texts to class and be prepared to refer to them.

 

Viewings: held in Mudd 456 Sunday afternoons from 2:00-4:00 p.m. If at all possible, schedule this time throughout the semester so that you don't have to scramble and pray that a film is available when you want it. There are supposed to be DVD or VHS copies of all the movies on Reserve, as well as a non-circulating copy at AV, on the 4th floor of Mudd. Seeing the films more than once will elevate your thinking about them considerably.

 

Participation: encouraged and rewarded with a higher grade. Quality outweighs quantity. Contributions that build off of, or respond to, the ideas of other students are especially appreciated as they demonstrate an ability to listen and a concern for the group's learning process.

Assignments

Presentations: dates are outlined on syllabus. In small groups of three or four, you are responsible for a presentation centered on the assigned film and readings of the week. (You may, with sufficient notice, vary the assignments to, say, include a recommended film and/or a different reading.) These presentations should take no more than 15 minutes and be designed to provoke discussion and reflection for the class as a whole. One week afterward, members of the group are to develop the issues and ideas of the presentation into a reflective report covering the genesis of the presentation idea, the content and form of the actual presentation, and the resulting discussion. These reports should be approximately 1250-1500 words.

 

Prep papers: preliminary reflections on the issues to be discussed in class that day, 5 of these are due on any Monday of the semester which you choose, although you must submit 2 of them before Spring Break. These are speculative exercises of about 300-500 words; while they need not reflect your most polished prose, they should reflect energetic thought. They must deal with material to be considered that day, not previous days. None are accepted late. I will give you a single grade for these at the end of the semester.

 

Final Essay: 2500-3000 words, due at the end of Reading Period. Proposals of about 300 words will be due Friday, April 21. You have the option of submitting a rough draft on Monday, May 1.

Grades

Your Final Essay counts for half your grade. Presentation, Preps and participation for the other half.

Schedule

Week 1

2/7	Introduction and procedures
2/9	David Bordwell, "Contemporary Film Studies and the Vicissitudes of Grand Theory," Reserve
2/11	Lecture: Theory on Film: What is the question?

Week 2

Sunday Screening: Broken Blossoms (1919, dir. D.W. Griffith) and from Intolerance (1916, dir. . D.W. Griffith).

 

Recommended Screening: Intolerance (1916, dir. . D.W. Griffith).

2/14	Eisenstein, "Dickens, Griffith and Ourselves," FTC 426-434.
2/16	Gunning, "An Aesthetic of Astonishment: Early Film and the (In)Credulous Spectator," FTC 818-832.
2/18	Lecture: Spectaculars, Unlimited.

Week 3

Sunday Screening: The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, dir. Carl Dreyer)

 

Recommended Screening: The Student of Prague (1926, dir. Henrik Galeen

2/21	Balasz, "The Close-Up" and "The Face of Man", FTC, 304-311.
2/23	Kracauer, from From Caligari to Hitler, FTC, 183-194; Presentation #
2/25	Lecture

Week 4

Sunday Screening: The Diary of a Country Priest (1951, dir. Robert Bresson).

 

Recommended Screening: Curse of the Cat People (1944, dir. Robert Wise).

2/28	Bazin, "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema," FTC, 43-56
3/1	Michael Bird, "Film as Hierophany," Reserve; Presentation #2
3/3	Lecture

Week 5

Sunday Screening: The Night of the Hunter (1955, dir. Charles Laughton.)

 

Recommended Screening: The Next Voice You Hear (1951 dir. William Wellman).

3/6	Warshow, "Movie Chronicle: The Westerner," FTC, 654-667.
3/8	Rick Altman, "A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre," FTC 630-641; Presentation #3
3/10	Lecture

Week 6

Sunday Screening: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964, dir. Sergei Paradjanov)

3/13	David Cook, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: Film as Religious Art," Reserve
3/15	André Bazin, "The Ontology of the Photographic Image" and "They Myth of Total Cinema," FTC 195-202; Presentation #4
3/18	Lecture

Week 7

Sunday Screening: The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini)

3/20	David Bordwell, "The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice," FTC 716-24
3/22	Presentation #5
3/24	Lecture

Week 8

SPRING BREAK

Week 9

Sunday Screening: The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ (1988, dir. Martin Scorcese)

4/3	P. Adams Sitney, "Cinematic Election and Theological Vanity," Reserve
4/5	Bart Testa, "Theologically Straight, " Reserve; Presentation #6
4/7	Lecture

Week 10

Sunday Screening: Jesus of Montreal (1989, dir. Denys Arcand)

4/10	Stanley Cavell, from The World Viewed, in FTC 334-344
4/12	Jean-Louis Baudry, "Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus," FTC 345-355; Presentation #7
4/14	Lecture

Week 11

Sunday Screening: Household Saints (1993, dir. Nancy Savoca)

 

Recommended Screening: The New Age (1994, dir. Michael Tolkin)

4/17	Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," FTC 833-844
4/19	Presentation #8
4/21	Lecture; Final Project Proposal Due

Week 12

Sunday Screening: Photographing Fairies (1998, dir. Nick Willing)

 

Recommended Screening: The Navigator (1984, dir. Vincent Ward)

4/24	Kristin Thompson, "The Concept of Cinematic Excess," FTC 487-498
4/26	Judith Wilt, "Acts of God: Film, Religion, and "FX"," Reserve
4/28	Lecture

Week 13

Sunday Screening: The Rapture (1991, dir. Michael Tolkin)

 

Recommended Screening: The Apostle (1997, dir. Robert Duvall)

5/1	Linda Williams, "Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess," FTC 701-715; Optional Rough Draft of Final Project Due
5/3
5/5	Lecture

Week 14

Sunday Screening: Breaking the Waves (1996, dir. Lars von Trier)

5/8	Stephen Heath, "God, Faith and Film: Breaking the Waves," Reserve
5/10 5/12
5/16	Final Essay Due