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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
This course traces the history of the American cinema from the earliest screenings in vaudeville theaters through the birth of the feature film to movies in the age of video. The course examines both the contributions of individual filmmakers as well as the determining contexts of modes of production, distribution, and exhibition. The course aims to provide an understanding of the continuing evolution of the American cinema, in its internal development, in its incorporation of new technologies, and in its responses to other national cinemas. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
This course examines the history of film culture and the film industry in the United States since the end of the classical Hollywood studio system. It pays special attention to the period of auteur-centered filmmaking in the 1970s. During this time, the end of the production code, the financial crisis of the industry, the unparalleled influence of European New Wave and Art films, and the introduction of the first generation of film school graduates (the so-called "movie brats") all combined amidst the tumultuous cultural politics of such movements as the counterculture, civil rights, and second-wave feminism to form a film-historical moment often called the Hollywood Renaissance. This brief period was soon followed by a newly reinvigorated Hollywood industry focused on the high-concept blockbuster. Such rapid transformations in the practice and nature of American film not only continue to influence commercial filmmaking today but also continue to shape our understanding of the role of authorship, genre, and ideology within Hollywood. The course consider films of the New Hollywood in the context of tensions between radicalism and populism, progressivism and nihilism, entertainment and ideology, artistic and commercial success. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
Like many other Anglophone and Francophone countries, Ireland only even started to develop a robust national cinema in the 1970s. As in, for instance, Australia and New Zealand, growth had previously been blocked by the dominance of local screens by films from, on the one hand, the overbearing "imperial" power, Britain, and, on the other, Hollywood, center of an even stronger cultural imperialism. Increased national self-assertion coincided with the weakening of the grip of those two cinemas in the post-classical period. A major focus of the class is on some of the key works of the filmmakers who established themselves in the 1980s, notably Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan. But, as the title indicates-not simply Irish Cinema-it deals with more than this. Like Ireland itself, Irish cinema is deeply marked by, and preoccupied with, the political and cultural struggles of the past, and recent cinema is illuminated by seeing it in the context of earlier films: Hollywood and British versions of Ireland, whether shot on location or in the studio, as well as the isolated earlier landmarks of an indigenous Irish cinema. We also look at the rich topic of the representation of Irish immigrants in Hollywood films. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
The course surveys the history of cinema as it developed in nations other than the United States. Beginning with the initially dominant film producing nations of Western Europe, this course considers the development of various national cinemas in Europe, Asia, and Third World countries. The course seeks to develop an understanding of each individual film both as an expression of a national culture as well as a possible response to international movements in other art forms. Throughout, the course considers how various national cinemas sought ways of dealing with the pervasiveness of Hollywood films, developing their own distinctive styles, which could in turn influence American cinema itself. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
Across a century of extreme nationalism, Cold War imperialism, and increased globalization, moving image culture remains deeply tied to the evolution of global economics, shifting notions of local identity, and human migration. Recent changes in the dynamic of international economics and cultural flow have led to new critical approaches that reassess international cinema as being constructed by relationships that transcend national borders. This course examines multiple ways in which cinema works "transnationally," focusing on recent theories of modernism, globalization, and borderless cultures. Exploring a range of contexts from American domination of the early international market, to the recent evolution of Chinese blockbuster action films, to contemporary Palestinian video art, this course looks at the way in which material developments, narrative and aesthetic conventions, and film professionals have circulated over the past century. We also look at how new technologies of production, distribution, and exhibition challenge traditional notions of cultural borders. Required screenings and in-class textual analysis are used to complement industrial studies of how transnational flows have come to define contemporary audiovisual media practices. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
Emerging in American films most forcefully during the 1940s, film noir is a cycle of films associated with a distinctive visual style and a cynical worldview. In this course, we explore the sexual politics of film noir as a distinctive vision of American sexual relations every bit as identifiable as the form's stylized lighting and circuitous storytelling. We explore how and why sexual paranoia and perversion seem to animate this genre and why these movies continue to influence "neo-noir" filmmaking into the 21st century, even as film noir's representation of gender and sexuality is inseparable from its literary antecedents, most notably, the so-called "hard-boiled" school of writing. We read examples from this literature by Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Cornell Woolrich, and discuss these novels and short stories in the context of other artistic and cultural influences on gendered power relations and film noir. We also explore the relationship of these films to censorship and to changing post-World War II cultural values. Films screened in complete prints or in excerpts likely include many of the following: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Murder My Sweet, Phantom Lady, Strangers on a Train, The Big Sleep, The Killers, Mildred Pierce, The High Wall, Sudden Fear, The Big Combo, Laura, The Glass Key, The Big Heat, Kiss Me Deadly, The Crimson Kimono, Touch of Evil, Alphaville, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Devil in a Blue Dress, The Bad Lieutenant, and Memento. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
This course is a survey of the interdisciplinary field of cultural and media studies. Through a focus on television and new media, it analyzes current theoretical ideas and debates about culture. Main topics include the relationship between new technologies and everyday life and popular culture; analysis of media messages and images; how media help construct new identities and mark differences between groups; analysis of the globalization of the production and circulation of media culture; the rise of multimedia cultural industries; and the role of the audience. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
This course traces the history of electronic media as they have become the dominant source for entertainment and information in contemporary culture, starting with over-the-air broadcasting of radio and television through to cable and the "narrowcasting" achieved by digital technologies. While some attention is paid to other national industries, the chief focus of the course is on electronic media in the United States to determine, in part, the transformative role they have played in the cultural life of the nation. The course explores the relationship of the electronic media industries to the American film industry, determining how their interactions with the film industry helped mutually shape the productions of both film and electronic media. Required screenings.
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3.00 Credits
Writers explore the various elements, structures, and styles used in crafting a motion picture screenplay. They experience this process as they conceive, develop, and execute the first act of a feature-length script. Writers create a screenplay story, present an outline for class discussion and analysis, then craft Act One. Writers are encouraged to consult with the instructor at various stages: concept, outline, character and scene development, and dialogue execution. While the students fashion their screenwriting independently, the class also explores the general elements of theme, genre, and voice. A more specific examination of mechanics, the nuts-and-bolts of story construction, plotting, pacing, etc. follows to support the ongoing writing process. In-class exercises aid the writer in sharpening skills and discovering new approaches to form and content. Writers' work is shared and discussed regularly in class. Screening of film scenes and sequences provides students with concrete examples of how dramatic screenwriting evolves once it leaves the writer's hands.
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3.00 Credits
This class focuses on all the factors that go into preparing and writing an episode for a network TV series (dramas only). Students begin with a "pitch" (verbally or in short outline form) for an idea for a show currently on a network schedule. Once the "pitch" is accepted, the student then completes a "beat sheet," and ultimately a spec script that can run from 62 to 75 pages. Two drafts of the script are required. During the course of this process, students also learn how to research their narrative premises by contacting legal, medical, and law enforcement experts in order to guarantee the accuracy of their scripts. In addition to learning the actual writing process, students are expected to watch several television shows and to read books, scripts, and industry trade papers as they pertain to the craft and business of television writing. Finally, students also meet agents, producers, directors, and other television industry professionals in order to gain their insights into the scriptwriting process and to gain a more global view of the steps involved in bringing their ideas to the screen.
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