ANS 372 Bollywood & Society © gautami shah Unique # 32274 Note: Since this course is a repeatable course, in order to factor the background of the participants in the course, the full syllabus for the course shall be uploaded only after the first week of classes. This document is only reflective of the first two classes and course requirements in terms of work load and grading policy and other class policies. ! Spring 2020 gautami shah (she/her/hers) Topic Title: Bollywood: Shaker, Maker or Breaker of Society? FLAG: This course carries the Global Cultures Flag. Course Description: This course explores the dual role of Bollywood in society, viz., that as an agent of social change on the one hand, and as a mirror of social reality on the other. By examining the representations of South Asian society in Bollywood over the years, as well as the influence of Bollywood cinema on society at various points in South Asian history, this course begs us to critically reevaluate the role of cinema and popular culture as mere entertainment in society. Topics explored will include the relationship between Hindi cinema and the concept of “nation”; notions and representations of “self” and “other”Hindi cinema and representations, roles and perceptions of gender; Hindi cinema and the diaspora; notions of tradition and modernity; centers and margins of society; the role of caste, religion and class in shaping HIndi cinema and vice-versa. Students who have had no prior experience with South Asian literature and cinema will get an exposure to a new world-view. Students who have already been exposed to South Asian literature and cinema will find and articulate new ways of approaching and interpreting the material. Course Materials: All assignments, including names of films to be viewed, as well as reading materials will be available on the course CANVAS site (https://utexas.instructure.com/). Films are an integral part of the course. All students are expected to see the assigned film before the class period when it will be discussed. One copy of each film shall be available on reserve at the PCL and Fine Arts libraries. Please be considerate of other class-students if you checkout the films from the library, in that please return them as soon as you have finished viewing it. Students may watch the film on their own or in groups. If you so desire, you may also use the CANVAS announcement page to post inform others of when you will be viewing the film, so that they may join you. Many of the films are also available online for purchase at a nominal fee through various sites like NETFLIX, YOUTUBE, AMAZON VIDEO, etc. Please be aware that the contents of some of the films may be disturbing to some students. Organization of the Course: Students will take turns in leading classroom discussions on the assigned readings. Each student shall be responsible to lead at least one classroom discussion on at least two of the assigned texts and all assigned audio-visual materials being discussed that week. The schedule for leading the classroom discussion shall be posted on CANVAS. All students are expected to complete the reading assignments and view all assigned audio- visual materials before coming to class, and to actively participate in classroom discussions. Classroom participation will weigh heavily on the final grade. Classes and classroom discussions will all be conducted in English. All films are subtitled in English. Assignments: Written: (i) Weekly BLOGs: Students will be required to contribute to weekly BLOG posts at the course CANVAS site at least once a week as follows: a minimum of 7 original BLOG posts over the course of the semester, and comments on at least one BLOG each week. For an original BLOG post to be counted towards credit in a particular week it must be posted by 11am Wednesday of that week. Only one original BLOG per week per student shall be counted. Additionally, each week only the first 10 original BLOG posts shall be counted towards “the 7 original BLOG credit”. So please be mindful and do not plan to do all original BLOG posts at the end of semester -- it just won’t work. Besides, your BLOGs can be used to bounce off ideas for your first essay and help you formulate your thesis for the same. So the early you start posting original BLOGs, the better off you are as it will then feed into your first essay. BLOGs should be around 200-300 words long and comments should be around 50-100 words - however, quality is more important than quantity, so I would not worry too much about exact word count as long as the BLOG and comment are well thought out and substantial. Original BLOGs should be reflective commentaries on the film and readings being discussed the upcoming week. They can and will naturally build on previous BLOGs and class discussions from previous weeks but you must tie them in with the upcoming week’s film and readings. BLOG posts and comments on BLOGs can include statements, questions, critique of the film and/or readings in the case of an original post, and the BLOG itself in the case of a comment, specifics quotes from the readings that raise interesting points, agreements/disagreements with points made/raised in the readings and/or BLOGs as supported or disproved by the film, etc. (ii) One review/critique of materials related to the discussion the student leads [see (i) of “Oral Presentation” below]. The review should be around 500-1000 words long. (iii) Two essays over the course of the semester. Each essay should be around 2500-3500 words long, typed and double spaced. (a) 1st essay: The aim of the first paper is for students to develop their own thesis and to argue for it with evidence from the course readings, films, class discussion and/or media articles. Students will be required to support their arguments by drawing on at least four of the course readings and two films. They will be required to include a bibliography at the end of the paper. (b) 2nd essay: For the second paper students will be required to choose at least one film of their choice that we have not viewed or discussed in class, and critically examine the role of that film in shaping social consciousness and vice-versa. Students will be required to give a historical context and support their arguments by drawing on at least four written sources. Students can also include additional written and/or multimedia sources if desired. At least two of the four written sources have to be from class readings done over the semester. Oral presentation: (i) Each student will be required to lead a classroom discussion at least once during the course of the semester. Guidelines shall be discussed in class. Students will submit a 500-1000 word review/critique of materials related to the discussion they lead. For the discussions students will be required to have a teaching plan ready and prepare "thought questions" to elicit discussion on the readings and film. (ii) At the end of the semester, students will be required to give a brief in-class presentation of their 2nd paper mentioned above. Grading: - Class Participation 20% - BLOGs and weekly comments on BLOGs 15% - Original BLOGs should be posted y 11am Wednesdays. - Leading class discussion 10% - Written review/critique of class discussion led - 10% -Due Sunday before the relevant class discussion - Essay 1 - 15% - Due Wednesday, March 11th - no exceptions - Essay 2 - 15% - Due Friday, May 8th - no exceptions - Oral presentation of Essay 2 - 15% - and Wednesday April 29th and Wednesday May 6th. Note: All assignments must be turned in on time for full credit. Also, although attendance per se is not used to determine the grade, please be mindful that class participation is not possible without attending the class. Active participation includes meaningful participation. The cutoffs for the final grade shall be based on the +/- grading scale recommended by the Department of Asian Studies: 92-100 A 89-91 A- 86-88 B+ 82-85 B 79-81 B- 76-78 C+ 72-75 C 69-71 C- 66-68 D+ 62-65 D 59-61 D- 0-58 F Academic Integrity: Students are expected to abide by the University of Texas Honor Code. Plagiarism and academic dishonesty including cheating is is considered to be acts of academic dishonesty and taken seriously. Schedule for weeks 1 &2: week 1: Framing Bollywood: Is it an Experience or can it be Understood?? Introduction, popular perceptions, beliefs, notions and understanding of what is “Bollywood” Film to be viewed for week 2: “Amar, Akbar, Anthony”, Directed by Manmohan Desai, 1997, 185mins week 2: Situating Bollywood Discussion of: Film:“Amar, Akbar, Anthony”, Directed by Manmohan Desai, 1997, 185mins Readings: (i) Kabir, Nasreen Munni, “Bollywood Basics” chp 1, pgs. 1-23 in Bollywood: The Indian Cinema Story, (2001) (ii) Vasudevan, Ravi S., “Addressing the spectator of a ‘third world’ national cinema: the Bombay ‘social’ film of the 1940s and the 1950s”, Screen 36:4 (Winter 1995):305-324 (iii) Thomas, Rosie, “Indian Cinema: Pleasure and Popularity”, Screen 26 (May-August 1985): 116-131 The rest of the weekly schedule shall be updated after feedback received from students during the 1st day of class. Note: Since this course is repeatable for credit, to ensure that students taking the course are exposed to new materials, concepts and ideas, the rest of the schedule shall be put up on CANVAS after the second week of classes as the instructor needs to factor all student responses to the initial questionnaire before preparing the full schedule.