Baylor University ● Department of Communication ● Fall 2013

Screening: Wednesday 7:00–11:00 p.m., Castellaw 101 Seminar: Thursday 2:00–4:45 p.m., Castellaw 138 Professor: Dr. James Kendrick Office: Castellaw 119 Office Hours: By appointment Phone: 710-6061 E-Mail: james_kendrick@baylor.edu Web Site: http://blogs.baylor.edu/james_kendrick COURSE DESCRIPTION

This seminar will cover the major issues and concepts that have been taken up by contemporary film theorists in the years following World War II, with particular concentration in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. While theory during the first half of the 20th century (often referred to as “classical” film theory) was mostly concerned with questions of ontology, aesthetics, and realism, contemporary film theory has been heavily influenced by cultural studies and ideological criticism, particularly as formulated from Marxist and psychoanalytical perspectives, and has therefore delved into previously ignored questions of race, gender, politics, and spectatorship. However, in recent years, with the advent of digital cinema and the profound impact it is having on everything from production to reception, film theory has started to circle back into questions of technology and ontology.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Timothy Corrigan, Patricia White, & Meta Mazaj, eds. Critical Visions in Film Theory: Classic and

Contemporary Readings, 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. All other readings available on Blackboard (http://my.baylor.edu)

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Theorist Overview Paper / Presentation (30%)—Each student will select one important

theorist/critic (either classical or contemporary) who we are not reading as part of the course and research his or her contributions to film theory. This will require that you read a substantial amount of this theorist/critic’s theoretical writings (i.e., you should not rely heavily on secondary interpretations of his or her works, but rather form your own opinions). You will then write an 8- to 10-page paper summarizing and critiquing the most important elements of this theorist’s work and also present your findings to the rest of the class (one or two students will present during each class meeting starting on Oct. 3). The paper should be type-written and double-spaced, use MLA style, and include a complete bibliography. On or before September 19 you must e-mail me the name of the person you wish to write about/present on and briefly justify his or her importance to film studies. The final paper is due by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 23. You must submit a hard copy to me and you must also submit an electronic copy via Turnitin on Blackboard.

• Critical Theory Paper (50%)—On the last day of the semester you will submit a 20- to 25-page

critical paper (including a complete bibliography) that uses film theory to interrogate a pertinent question regarding any of the issues we have raised in class. The paper should demonstrate a strong understanding of the theory or theories you are utilizing to illuminate a film or body of films. It should be type-written and double-spaced using MLA style. On or before Wednesday, October 16 you must submit a two-page proposal for your paper to be approved by me. This proposal should outline (1) why your topic is interesting, (2) how your thesis relates to the theoretical issues we have been discussing in class, and (3) how your paper will be organized. It should also include a representative bibliography with at least 10 sources. The final paper is due to me in my office no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 9, and before submitting the hard copy you must also submit an electronic copy via Turnitin on Blackboard.

• Class Discussion Leader and Participation (20%)—Your participation grade is based on regular

attendance and your active involvement in class discussions. As this is a discussion-based seminar, it is imperative that you participate regularly in every class session, which invigorates our discussion of the topic with multiple points of view and also illustrates to me that you have adequately prepared for class by carefully and studiously reading everything that was assigned. In addition, each week one student will be assigned as an “expert” for each reading, which means you should come to class prepared to lead discussion and be armed with thought-provoking questions and additional background material to illuminate the assigned reading. Also, the night before you are to present you must e-mail me an outline of the reading for which you are responsible and a list of questions/issues you plan to raise in class the next day.

GRADING SCALE

A = 93–100 B- = 80–82 D = 60–67 A- = 90–92 C+ = 78–79 F = 0–59 B+ = 88–89 C = 73–77 B = 83–87 C- = 70–72

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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

In this class, there is an absolute zero tolerance policy on cheating in any form, including plagiarism. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the university’s policies and what constitutes plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty in the Baylor Student Handbook (http://www.baylor.edu/student_policies). If you are caught cheating in any way, at the minimum you will receive a zero for that assignment, although the penalty may be more severe, depending on the circumstances. All instances of cheating will be reported to the university’s Honor Council. STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

If you have any special learning needs, please see me during the first week of class so we can be sure you get the proper accommodations. However, before seeing me you must first register with the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation (OALA) (http://www.baylor.edu/oala).

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COURSE SCHEDULE

Week 1 (Aug. 28–29): Issues in Contemporary Film Theory

Wednesday Screening: Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Read for Thursday:

• Andrew, “The ‘Three Ages’ of Cinema Studies and the Age to Come” [Blackboard]

• Rodowick, The Virtual Life of Film Part I [Blackboard] • Ravetto-Biagioli, “Vertigo and the Vertiginous History of

Film Theory” [Blackboard]

Week 2 (Sept. 4–5): Revisiting Classical Film Theory Part I: Formalism and Expressionism

Wednesday Screening: In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000) Read for Thursday:

• Kracauer, “Basic Concepts” and “Inherent Affinities” in Critical Visions (289–308)

• Balázs, “The Creative Camera,” “The Close-Up,” “The Face of Man” in Critical Visions (125–135)

• Eisenstein, “The Dramaturgy of Film Form” in Critical Visions (262–279)

Week 3 (Sept. 11–12): Revisiting Classical Theory Part II: Questions of Realism

Wednesday Screening: Letter Never Sent (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1959) Read for Thursday:

• Bazin, “The Ontology of the Photographic Image” and “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema” in Critical Visions (309–325)

• Arnheim, “Film and Reality” in Critical Visions (279–288) • Deren, “Cinematography: The Creative Use of Reality

in Critical Visions (144–156)

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Week 4 (Sept. 18–19): The Troubles With Auteurism

Wednesday Screening: Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012) Read for Thursday:

• Sarris, “The Auteur Theory Revisited” in Critical Visions (354–360)

• Wollen, “The Auteur Theory” in Critical Visions (361–375) • Barthes, “The Death of the Author” in Critical Visions

(345–350) • Corrigan, “The Commerce of Auteurism” in Critical Visions

(416–429)

If you’re not familiar with Michael Haneke’s previous work, please read his profile at Sense of Cinema (http:// sensesofcinema.com/2010/great-directors/michael-haneke) and view at least one of his other films on your own time, preferable Funny Games (1997), Cache (2005), or The White Ribbon (2009). Reminder! By Thursday, Sept. 19 you must e-mail me the name of the theorist/critic you will be writing about/presenting on and briefly justify his or her importance to film studies.) Week 5 (Sept. 25–26): Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, and Identification

Wednesday Screening: Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1959) Read for Thursday:

• Friedberg, “A Denial of Difference: Theories of Cinematic Identification” [Blackboard]

• Christian Metz, “From the Imaginary Signifier” in Critical Visions (17–34)

Week 6 (Oct. 2–3): The Ideological Turn

Wednesday Screening: 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967) Read for Thursday:

• Baudry, “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus” in Critical Visions (34–43)

• Hall, “The Problem of Ideology: Marxism Without Guarantees” [Blackboard]

• Comolli and Narboni, “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism” in Critical Visions (478–487)

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Week 7 (Oct. 9–10): Gender and the Feminist Turn

Wednesday Screening: The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) Read for Thursday:

• Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in Critical Visions (713–725)

• Mulvey, “Afterthoughts on ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’” [Blackboard]

• Freeland, “Feminist Frameworks for Horror Films” [Blackboard]

Week 8 (Oct. 16–17): No Class or Screening

By 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 16 you need to submit your two-page critical theory paper proposal, which I will return to you in class next week. You may either leave the proposal in my mailbox or slide it under my office door. Week 9 (Oct. 23–24): Postmodernism and Simulacra

Wednesday Screening: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001) Read for Thursday:

• Huyssen, “Mapping the Postmodern” [Blackboard] • Baudrillard, “The Precession of Simulacra” [Blackboard] • Jameson, “Postmodernism, and Consumer Society” in

Critical Visions (1031–1041)

Reminder! Theorist Overview Paper due by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

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Week 10 (Oct. 30–31): Cinema in the Digital Age

Wednesday Screening: King Kong (Peter Jackson, 2005) Read for Thursday:

• Manovich, “What is Digital Cinema?” in Critical Visions (1058–1070)

• Allen, “The Impact of Digital Technologies on Film Aesthetics” [Blackboard]

• Whissel, “Tales of Upward Mobility: The New Verticality and Digital Special Effects” [Blackboard]

Week 11 (Nov. 6–7): The Future and/or End of Cinema

Wednesday Screening: Sin City (Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez, 2005) Read for Thursday:

• Jenkins, “The Work of Theory in the Age of Digital Transformations” (http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/ henry3/pub/digitaltheory.htm)

• Friedberg, “The End of Cinema: Multimedia and Technological Change” [Blackboard]

• Niessen, “Lives of Cinema: Against Its Death” [Blackboard]

Week 12 (Nov. 14–15): Critical Race Theory

Special Wednesday Screening / Discussion with Professor Charles Ramírez Berg: El Mariachi (Robert Rodriguez, 1992) Read for Thursday:

• Shohat and Stam, “Stereotype, Realism, and the Struggle Over Representation” in Critical Visions (800–822)

• López, “Are All Latins From Manhattan?” in Critical Visions (859–871)

• hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators” [Blackboard]

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Week 13 (Nov. 21–22): Student Paper Presentations No Wednesday Screening Critical Theory paper presentations on Thursday Week 14 (Nov. 28–29) No screening or class—Happy Thanksgiving! Week 15 (Dec. 4–5): Student Paper Presentations continued No Wednesday Screening Critical Theory paper presentations on Thursday Critical Theory Paper due to me in my office Monday, December 9 by 5:00 p.m.

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Screening List

Aug. 28 Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock 1958 128 min. Sept. 4 In the Mood for Love Wong Kar-Wai 2000 98 min. Sept. 11 Letter Never Sent Mikhail Kalatozov 1959 96 min. Sept. 18 Amour Michael Haneke 2012 124 min. Sept. 25 Peeping Tom Michael Powell 1960 101 min. Oct. 2 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her Jean-Luc Godard 1967 87 min. Oct. 9 The Silence of the Lambs Jonathan Demme 1991 118 min. Oct. 16 No screening Oct. 23 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Steven Spielberg 2001 146 min. Oct. 31 King Kong Peter Jackson 2005 187 min. Nov. 7 Sin City Frank Miller & 2005 124 min. Robert Rodriguez Nov. 14 El Mariachi Robert Rodriguez 1992 81 min. Nov. 21 No screening—Paper presentations Nov. 27 No screening—Happy Thanksgiving! Dec. 4 No screening—Paper presentations

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Course Readings on Blackboard

Allen, Michael. “The Impact of Digital Technologies on Film Aesthetics.” The New Media Book, ed.

Dan Harris. London: BFI Publishing, 2002.109–119. Andrew, J. Dudley. “The ‘Three Ages’ of Cinema Studies and the Age to Come.” PMLA 115, no. 3

(May 2000): 341–351. Baudrillard, Jean. “The Precession of Simulacra.” Simulacra and Simulation, trans. Sheila Faria Galser.

Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1994. 1–42. Baudry, Jean Louis. “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus.” Narrative,

Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Reader, ed. Phil Rosen. New York: Columbia UP, 1986. 286–298. Freeland, Cynthia A. “Feminist Frameworks for Horror Films.” Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film

Studies, eds. David Bordwell and Noel Carroll. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1996. Friedberg, Ann. “A Denial of Difference: Theories of Cinematic Identification.” Psychoanalysis &

Cinema, ed. E. Ann Kaplan. New York: Routledge, 1990. 36–45. Hall, Stuart. “The Problem of Ideology: Marxism Without Guarantees.” Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues

in Cultural Studies, ed. David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen. New York: Routledge, 1996. 25–46. hooks, bell. “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators.” Black Looks: Race and Representation.

Boston: South End Press, 1992. 115–131. Huyssen, Andreas. “Mapping the Postmodern.” New German Critique no. 33 (Autumn 1984): 5–52. Jenkins, Henry. “The Work of Theory in the Age of Digital Transformations.” A Companion to Film

Theory, eds. Toby Miller & Robert Stam. London: Blackwell, 2004. 234–261. Mulvey, Laura. “Afterthoughts on ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ Inspired by Duel in the Sun.”

Psychoanalysis and Cinema, ed. E. Ann Kaplan. New York: Routledge, 1990. 24–33. Niessen, Niels. “Lives of Cinema: Against Its Death.” Screen 52, no. 3 (Autumn 2011): 307–326. Ravetto-Biagioli, Kriss. “Vertigo and the Vertiginous History of Film Theory.” Camera Obscure 25, no.

3 (2011): 101–140. Rodowick, D. N. “Part I: The Virtual Life of Film.” The Virtual Life of Film. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

UP, 2007. 1–22. Whissel, Kristen. “Tales of Upward Mobility: The ‘New Verticality’ and Digital Special Effects.” Film

Quarterly 59.4 (June 2006): 23–24.