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AESTHETICS OF HOLLYWOOD CINEMA Syllabus

COURSE DESCRIPTION Hollywood makes the most widely successful pleasure-giving artworks the world has ever known. The American film industry works on the assumption that pleasurable aesthetic experiences, among huge populations, translate into box office success. With that goal in mind, Hollywood has systematized the delivery of aesthetic pleasure, packaging and selling it on a massive scale.

This course studies the chief attraction of Hollywood cinema worldwide: its entertainment value. We will examine a range of films that span Hollywood history in order to understand American commercial cinema’s aesthetic design. Many people dismiss Hollywood cinema as mere entertainment and leave it at that. In this course, we will explore how Hollywood creates, for massive numbers of people, some of their most exhilarating experiences of art.

TEXTBOOK Todd Berliner, Hollywood Aesthetic: Pleasure in American Cinema (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017). The book is available in print and as an e-book; the e-book includes direct links to film clips.

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO HOLLYWOOD AESTHETICS

Week 1 Screening: (1931, 87 min., Charles Chaplin) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Preface and Introduction (pp. ix-11)

Week 2 Screening: His Girl Friday (1940, 92 min, Howard Hawks) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 1 (pp. 13-32)

Week 3 Screening: Double Indemnity (1944, 107 min., Billy Wilder) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 2 (pp. 33-47)

Additional films: Speedy (1928), Psycho (1960)

PART II: NARRATIVE

Week 4 Screening: The Big Sleep (1946, 114 min, Howard Hawks) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 3 (pp. 49-71)

Week 5 Screening: Red River (1948, 127 min, Howard Hawks) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 4 (pp. 73-81)

Additional films: (1941), And Then There Were None (1945), The Killing (1956), Vertigo (1958), The Sixth Sense (1999), Mulholland Drive (2001)

PART III: STYLE

Week 6 Screening: Frankenstein (1931, 71 min., James Whale) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 5 (pp. 83-100)

Week 7 Screening: Leave Her to Heaven (1945, 110 min, John M. Stahl) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 5 (pp. 100-113)

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Week 8 Screening: Raging Bull (1980, 129 min, ) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 6 (pp. 115-129)

Additional films: Sunrise (1927), Tarzan and His Mate (1934), Touch of Evil (1958), North by Northwest (1959), (1971), (1976), Brazil (1985), (1989), (1990), Clueless (1995), Stranger than Fiction (2006), Chi-Raq (2015)

PART IV: IDEOLOGY

Week 9 Screening: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 80 min, Don Siegel) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 7 (pp. 131-155)

Week 10 Screening: The Asphalt Jungle (1950, 112 min., John Huston) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 8 (pp. 157-168)

Week 11 Screening: Starship Troopers (1997, 129 min., Paul Verhoeven) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 9 (pp. 169-182)

Additional films: Casablanca (1942), Detour (1945), White Heat (1949), Pickup on South Street (1953), Die Hard (1988), The Last Temptation o f Christ (1988), The Dark Knight (2008)

PART V: GENRE

Week 12 Screening: Star Wars (1977, 121 min., George Lucas) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 10 (pp. 183-201)

Week 13 Screening: Singin’ in the Rain (1952, 103 min., Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 11 (pp. 203-218)

Week 14 Screening: (1992, 131 min., Clint Eastwood) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Chapter 12 (pp. 219-236)

Additional films: The Jazz Singer (1927), Hallelujah! (1929), Cimarron (1931), Love Me Tonight (1932), Top Hat (1935), The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938), Union Pacific (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Stagecoach (1939), Winchester ’73 (1950), (1956), Little Big Man (1970), Malone (1976), All That Jazz (1979), III (1982), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Gosford Park (2001)

PART VI: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER NARRATIVE • STYLE • IDEOLOGY • GENRE

Week 15 Screening: Get Out (2017, 104 min, Jordan Peele) Reading: Hollywood Aesthetic, Conclusion (pp. 237-240)

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