1 UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH COLLEGE OF ARTS SCHOOL OF ENGLISH AND THEATRE STUDIES

COURSE TITLE: Print Culture and Cinema COURSE CODE: ENGL 2330 SEMESTER: LECTURE:

INSTRUCTOR OFFICE: PHONE: EMAIL: OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE WEBSITE: Access via: http://courselink.uoguelph.ca using your central login and password.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Print Culture and Cinema Two important cultural developments happened in the US, hot on the heels of each other, in the late nineteenth century: the explosion of cheap mass literature around 1860 and the onset of moving pictures around 1890. This course explores how print forms both fed and responded to the beginnings of cinema—by developing characters who were adopted by cinema, by representing the experience of cinema, and by creating texts which were adapted for the screen. Lectures will trace the beginnings of motion pictures—many of which we will watch, discuss and write about in class—up to the end of the silent era. Through lectures, readings, in-class discussion and written assignments, we will trace the impact of print forms on those cinematic developments—through a dime novel which shaped film-makers’ interests; a theatrical melodrama which became what is sometimes called the first film western; and a novel which represents the experience of these early cinematic forms. Critical essays will help us to understand the cultural impact of new entertainment technologies, new forms of spectatorship, and the politics of performance and cinematic genres. Finally, we will explore adaptations of two early-twentieth-century best-selling novels for the silent screen.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: This is a reading-intensive course. By the end of the course, students will

• be able to analyze the formal, aesthetic, and ideological effects of both literary and filmic texts, individually and in relation to each other. • be able to analyse the relationship of these print and cinematic forms to their historical and cultural contexts. • have read, discussed and applied selected critical-theoretical works from print 2 culture studies and cinema studies. • have reflected on the impact of late-19th- and early-20th-century U.S. culture on literary and cinematic representation—then and now. • have further developed skills in writing and argumentation, especially in terms of the relationship between print culture and cinema. • have further developed organizational and time management skills by following the class preparation, assignment, and deadlines structure.

TEXTS: Literary readings (available in UG and Co-op book stores and on reserve in UG Library): Ned Buntline, Buffalo Bill, The King of Border Men; or, The Wildest and Truest Tale I’ve Ever Told (1869-70). Scott Marble, The Great Train Robbery (playscript, 1896; shooting script, 1903)—online UG Lib. Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust (1939). , (1902). Gertrude Atherton, Black Oxen (1923).

Critical readings (available online via UG Library): Philip J. Deloria (Dakota), “Representation: Indian Wars, The Movie,” Indians in Unexpected Places (2004), 52 – 108, 248 – 60. Tom Gunning, “The Cinema of Attraction[s]: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant- Garde,” The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded, ed. Wanda Strauven (2006), 381 – 88. Miriam Hansen, “1. A Cinema in Search of a Spectator: Film-Viewer Relations before Hollywood,” Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film (1991), 23 – 59, 301 – 10.

Silent films Short films (in-class viewing): Buffalo Bill's Wild West Parade (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1902) http://www.loc.gov/item/00694397/ Buffalo Dance (Edison Manufacturing Co., 1894) http://www.loc.gov/item/00694114/ Burn Your Village To The Ground, A Tribe Called Red (Neon Natives Remix Video, 2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNi__fnadTM Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (Thomas A. Edison, 1902) https://www.loc.gov/item/00694324 The Great Train Robbery, dir. Edwin S. Porter (Thomas A. Edison, 1903) https://www.loc.gov/item/00694220/ A Film Johnnie, dir. George Nichols (Keystone Studios, 1914) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDohPrPvnz4 Princess Rajah Dance (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company,1904) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi- bin/query/h?ammem/varstg:@field(NUMBER+@band(varsmp+1821)) The Gay Shoe Clerk (Thomas A. Edison, 1903) https://www.loc.gov/item/00694213/ 3

Feature films (out-of-class viewing): The Virginian, dir. Cecil B. DeMille (1914). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkOMa_XXQEA Black Oxen, dir. Frank Lloyd (1923). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xQodc5Wl2I (additional fragments at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiVPVXfCKds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOg3fTmpq6Y )

EVALUATION: ● In-class written responses (to films and readings), revised into three 500-word reading journals, each worth 20% of final grade. (For more details, see course website.) ● Online curation exercise (combining literary, critical, and film excerpts, with 500-word commentary), worth 20% of final grade. (For more details, see course website.) ● Take-home exam, worth 20% of final grade. (For more details, see course website.)

COURSE SCHEDULE, READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS:

Week 1 Introduction

Weeks 2-3 PART ONE: Indigenous beginnings, from dime novels to early moving pictures

Week 2 Lectures: dime novels and William F. Cody

Reading: Ned Buntline, Buffalo Bill, The King of Border Men; or, The Wildest and Truest Tale I’ve Ever Told (1869-70)

Film: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Parade, American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1902)

Week 3 Lectures: through Indigenous eyes, from wild west shows to early moving pictures

Reading: Philip J. Deloria (Dakota), “Representation: Indian Wars, The Movie,” Indians in Unexpected Places (2004).

Film: Buffalo Dance, Edison Manufacturing Co. (1894)

Video: A Tribe Called Red - Burn Your Village to the Ground (Neon Natives Remix Video), 2015

Assignment: 1st reading journal due in course dropbox by 11.59 p.m.

Weeks 4-6 PART TWO: Early motion pictures—technologies, spaces, cultures

4 Week 4 Lectures: Technologies of representation

Reading: Tom Gunning, “The Cinema of Attraction[s]: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant- Garde,” The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded, ed. Wanda Strauven (2006), 381 – 88.

Film: Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (Thomas A. Edison, 1902)

Reading: Scott Marble, The Great Train Robbery, play (1896) and shooting script (1903)

Film: The Great Train Robbery, dir. Edwin S. Porter (Thomas A. Edison, 1903)

Week 5 Lectures: Kinetoscope, nickelodeon, movie palaces

Reading: Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust (1939)

Film: A Film Johnnie, dir. George Nichols (Keystone Studios, 1914)

Week 6 Lectures: Spectatorship

Reading: Miriam Hansen, “1. A Cinema in Search of a Spectator: Film- Viewer Relations before Hollywood,” Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film (1991), 23 – 59, 301 – 10.

Films: Princess Rajah Dance (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1904). The Gay Shoe Clerk (Thomas A. Edison, 1903).

Assignment: 2nd reading journal due in course dropbox by 11.59 p.m.

Weeks 7-12 PART THREE: novel-to-film adaptations

Week 7 Lectures: Adaptation, intertitles, genre, and gender

Weeks 8-9 Reading and Film: Owen Wister, The Virginian (1902). Cecil B. DeMille, dir., The Virginian (1914).

Weeks 10-11 Reading and Film: Gertrude Atherton, Black Oxen (1923). Frank Lloyd, dir., Black Oxen (1923).

Assignment: 3rd reading journal due in course dropbox by 11.59 p.m.

Week 12 Review Assignment: online curation due in course dropbox by 11.59 p.m.

Final exam: take-home exam available online 5

COURSE POLICIES: Please note that I do not accept late assignments unless they are accompanied by appropriate documentation.

DEPARTMENT OR SCHOOL POLICIES: Regular attendance is required in all classes

COLLEGE OF ARTS POLICIES: For College of Arts Statement on general academic information see course website.