INT 255 American Movie Masters: The Coen Brothers Boles
Meeting Time/Place: 6-9:25 TR; Bush 120 My Office: Carnegie 106 Office: 2216 My e-mail: [email protected] Home: 407 648-8514 (no calls after 8 pm) My AOL IM handle: Vladigogo
Some context for the class:
With the release of Blood Simple (1984), Ethan and Joel Coen were hailed as leaders of a new generation of independent filmmakers. And with the exception of one or two blips (The Hudsucker Proxy, The Ladykillers), the Coens have consistently produced offbeat, quirky, odd, genre-bending “independent” films that have (for the most part) received critical acclaim. Barton Fink won, at the time, an unprecedented three awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Fargo won two Oscars for screenplay and best actress and we all know about the ruckus No Country for Old Men caused at the Academy Awards this past March. And yet despite their successes, Coen Brothers films do not mean box office mega dollars (take No Country for Old Men which grossed $74 million over 22 weeks of release vs. three days of release for Iron Man at $98 million) and seem to only rate a “cult” following among college students and film buffs. And it is precisely this aspect of their films that provokes the questions that will entertain us over the next six weeks: What is it about the Coen Brothers’ films? Why are they critical darlings but largely unattractive to the public? Why do their films not attract a large audience? Are they too slick for their own good? Are they giggling schoolboys posing as artists? Or do their films transgress and redefine the nature of film and its various genres? Are we, as moviegoers, too passive and therefore do their films make us work too hard? And on the same topic, how do their films work? The Coens are known for their unwillingness to repeat themselves, but can we find themes recurring? Essentially, over the next six weeks we aim to address these questions (and more) and hopefully by the end of June we will have formed ideas about their films and perhaps even decided whether they are worthy of a course entirely dedicated to their output.
Required Textbooks:
The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Bros. Film by Robertson/Cooke—This book you will read on your own. Have it finished by the time we get to The Big Lebowski.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (have completed by the time we watch No Country for Old Men)
The Brothers Grim by Erica Rowell
The Coen Brothers: Interviews Edited by William Rodney Allen
The reading listed on the dates below should be completed for class.
THE SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 20
Introduction; How to watch film; An exercise in film; A word from Kevin Smith
Thursday, May 22
Watch Blood Simple; Discussion
READ: Ch. 1 Brothers Grim; pp. 3-16 Interviews
Tuesday, May 27
Watch Raising Arizona; Discussion
READ: Ch. 2 Brothers Grim; pp. 17-35 Interviews
Thursday, May 29
Watch Miller’s Crossing; Discussion
READ: Ch. 3 Brothers Grim; pp. 36-45 Interviews
DUE: 3-4 Pages on Blood Simple and/or Raising Arizona
Tuesday, June 3
Watch Barton Fink; Discussion
READ: Ch. 4 Brothers Grim; pp. 46-61 Interviews
Thursday, June 5
Watch The Hudsucker Proxy; Discussion
READ: Ch. 5 Brothers Grim; pp. 62-71 Interviews
DUE: 3-4 Pages on Miller’s Crossing and/or Barton Fink
Tuesday, June 10
Watch Fargo; Discussion
READ: Ch. 6 Brothers Grim; pp. 72-83 Interviews
Thursday, June 12
Watch The Big Lebowski; Discussion
READ: The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film Ch. 7 Brothers Grim; pp. 84-118 Interviews
DUE: 3-4 Pages on The Hudsucker Proxy and/or Fargo
Tuesday, June 17
Watch O Brother, Where Art Thou; Discussion
Read: Ch. 8 Brothers Grim; pp. 127-48 Interviews
Thursday, June 19
Watch The Man Who Wasn’t There; Discussion
Read: Ch. 9 Brothers Grim; pp. 149-93 Interviews
DUE: 3-4 Pages on O, Brother, Where Art Thou and/or The Man Who Wasn’t There
Tuesday, June 24
Watch No Country for Old Men; Discussion
READ: No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Thursday, June 26
Final Exam
REQUIREMENTS:
1. Over the course of the term you will be writing four short papers. In the papers you are not to review the film. Instead, you are to engage with the film as a text. Make sure your response has an engaging title. Suggestions will be provided about what to explore. Note: Since it is the summer, there is room for experimentation with the style of the writing and the expression of ideas. However, that does not mean the grammatical rules of writing are to be discarded. Clarity, a sense of voice and powerful command of the language are still expected.
Some clarification: The topics for your papers are up to you. In most cases, I imagine students will write about the film we have just seen and discussed in the previous class. (For example, the first four-page paper will more than likely be about Blood Simple and/or Raising Arizona, but there may be those students interested in watching some more film noir and then doing a comparison. In fact, there are a lot of possibilities of looking at other films and comparing them with the Coens. Their films are full of intertextualizations with other films.) Since the paper is written after our discussion of the film, you need to be careful not to regurgitate what we said in class. Instead, you are free to use topics discussed in class and take them in new directions or offer to clarify unfinished business in the class discussion.
A warning: these writing assignments are not that long but be careful about what you want to cover in those few pages. Choosing the right sized topic is part of the challenge of the assignment.
While I am not going to assign you a specific topic to write about, I will be more than happy to provide suggestions for topics over the course of the class.
Realizing that this is a summer course and some of you are working full-time, I have some flexibility on due dates for the papers, but please let me know in advance if you are going to have a problem meeting a response due date.
NO PLAGIARISM WILL BE TOLERATED. YES, THERE IS A LOT OF MATERIAL ON THE WEB ON THE COEN BROTHERS. THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO COPY IT. USE YOUR OWN IDEAS. IF YOU TAKE MATERIAL FROM THE WEB, MAKE SURE YOU CITE IT. IF YOU TAKE MATERIAL FROM ANY BOOKS ON THE COENS AND THERE ARE A LOT OF THEM, THEN CITE THEM. PLAGIARISM RESULTS IN THE STUDENT BEING REFERED TO THE HONOR COUNCIL. ALL WRITTEN WORK MUST HAVE “AHC” FOLLOWED BY YOUR SIGNATURE, MEANING YOU ABIDE BY THE HONOR CODE.
2. Class Participation is an essential and required component of this professor's classroom dynamic. This requirement does not just entail the ability of the student to belch out a response that resonates of last night’s Surf and Turf meal from Outback Steakhouse. Instead, students will be evaluated based on the quality, insightfulness and perceptiveness of their comments, not the number of times they open their mouths.
Exemplary attendance and limited participation will equal a C. Exemplary attendance and occasional thought provoking remarks or well-framed questions will constitute a B. Exemplary attendance and excellent observations, analysis and comments will receive an A.
The teacher reserves the right to bestow variations upon a grade, for instance A-, C+, etc.
3. Class Attendance, like Class Participation, is a big element of the class. While many students may have seen the films before, it is important that we watch them collectively. We can learn a great deal about each other’s reaction to what is being seen on screen if we view the film together. So, students are not allowed to watch the film on their own and then show up for the discussion. Class simply doesn’t work that way.
Since we only meet 12 times, you are only allowed to miss one class meeting with no penalty. If you miss 2 or 3 meetings, then your final grade will drop a letter grade, respectively. Miss a 4th meeting and, simply put, you fail.
4. Finally, the final exam will consist of two parts: short answer, true/false, multiple choice questions; and long essays. And yes, it will be comprehensive.
Grade Breakdown:
Papers: 50% Class Participation: 25% Final Exam: 25%