Dr. Todd Boyd

CTCS 469: Cinema of the Streets

Spring 2013 Wednesdays, 1-5:50, SCA 108

Dr. Boyd’s Office Hours: Wednesdays 12:00-12:45pm and Thursdays 12:30-1:30pm Please note that appointments for Dr. Boyd’s office hours must be made in advance through the Critical Studies Office (213.740.3334) located on the third floor of the SCA, Room 320.

Teaching Assistants Luci Marzola ([email protected]), Office Hours: Wednesdays 10:30-11:30, Critical Studies TA Office (in University Village between Magic Machine and the ICON office) Megan Lynn ([email protected]), Office Hours: Thursdays, 11:00-12:00, SCA Courtyard

Course Description Much of Hollywood history through the 1960s involved films being shot within the constructed confines of studio space. Sets, sound stages, and other forms of the built studio environment were the locations used for most film shoots. In the late 1960s this began to change. As the influence of documentary filmmaking—particularly genres/styles like cinéma vérité and direct cinema—and post-war European cinema—Italian Neo-Realism, for example—began to influence filmmakers in Hollywood, noticeable changes in location would occur. By the 1970s, a number of cutting edge films were being shot on location in actual urban environments. In many cases, the location itself would be akin to another character in the film. Filmmakers were now literally “taking it to the streets.”

This shift coincided with a change in representation relative to urban space in American culture. Massive protests such as the events defining the Civil Rights movement and mobilization against the Vietnam War had largely taken place in the streets. The March on Washington and the protests outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago are both exemplary in this regard. Concurrently, Richard Nixon, elected President in 1968, had run a coded campaign focusing on issues of “law and order.” He would later institute the “War of Drugs.” The location that we now know as “the streets” owes much of its meaning to the changes taking place during these times.

The phrase “the streets” is a cultural construction that speaks to a specific set of images and ideas contained within an urban environment. When set against other location specific metaphors— the home, the school, the office, the suburbs, the country, for example— “the streets” suggests a gritty alternative sense of realism relative to spaces normally assumed safer and more mainstream. Though many would define “the streets” as a space of lawless, moral decay and social anarchy, the same metaphor, depending on the perspective, can also suggest a sense of authenticity for those who have “survived” and in some cases even prospered, by their ability to successfully navigate these same “streets.” In Hollywood, “the streets” have often been represented as the launching pad for the most dramatic representation of the “rags to riches” narrative that often informs discussions of the “American Dream.”

This course will focus on representations of “the streets" in Hollywood, independent, and foreign cinema—e.g. France, Brazil, Italy—beginning in the 1970s and moving through the contemporary era. Specifically, the course will analyze films set in various urban environments, where topics such as drugs, violence, sex, creative expression and “law and order” converge. With each film serving as a case study, the course will engage the history, politics, and style that surround these films, highlighting issues of race and class, while exploring the large role that notions of "the streets" have played in music, literature, television, and other forms of popular culture.

Course Requirements Midterm Exam (March 13th) – 50% Final Exam (May 8th)– 50% No make-up exams Attendance is mandatory and will be recorded every class session.

Required Readings All course readings can be found in the CTCS 469 course reader (Available at the Magic Machine in the University Village)

Disability Services and Programs (DSP) Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to your TA as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

Course Exam Retention Policy It is the responsibility of all students in Critical Studies courses to retrieve all papers, projects, assignments and/or exams within one academic year of completion of a course. These records may be essential in resolving grade disputes and incompletes as well as assist in verifying that course requirements have been met. The Critical Studies Division will dispose of all records from the previous academic year in May of the current academic year. No exceptions. Please be in contact with your TAs about collecting these documents while you are taking the course.

Reading and Screening Schedule

January 16th

Screening: The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)

Readings: “The French Connection,” Budd Wilkins, SLANT Magazine, September 11, 2011 “The French Connection,” Roger Greenspun, New York Times, October 8, 1971 “Before Bourne… There was Popeye Doyle,” J. Hoberman, Village Voice, August 21, 2007 “The French Connection,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, January 1, 1971

January 23rd

Screening: Super Fly (Gordon Parks Jr., 1972)

Readings: “Superfly,” Roger Greenspun, New York Times, August 5, 1972 “Blaxploitation, Without Apology (Superfly),” Dr. Todd Boyd, from The Notorious Ph.D’s Guide to the SuperFly 70s,” 2007, Harlem Moon Broadway Publishing “Blaxxxploitation’s Baadasssss History,” Dr. Todd Boyd, TheRoot.com, April 2, 2011 “Blackploitation Cinema: Pimps and Pushers in Film,” Gregory Day, Soundonsight.org, November 4, 2012

January 30th

Screening: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)

Readings: “Taxi Driver,” Rob Humanick, SLANT Magazine, March 11, 2011 “35 Years Later, Taxi Driver Still Runs,” J. Hoberman, Village Voice, March 16, 2011 “Taxi Driver,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, January 1, 1976 “Taxi Driver,” Vincent Canby, New York Times, February 8, 1976

February 6th

Screening: Wild Style (Charlie Aheam, 1983) Style Wars (Henry Chalfant, 1983)

Readings: “Zulus on a Time Bomb”, “1982: Rapture in Reagan’s America”, and “End of Innocence: The Fall of the Old School,” Jeff Chang, from Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, 2005, St. Martin’s Press “Grafitti in its own words,” Dimitri Erlich, New York Magazine, June 25, 2006 “Rapping and Painting Grafitti,” Vincent Canby, New York Times, March 18, 1983 “Wild Style,” Sasha Frere-Jones, The Village Voice, September 16, 2003

February 13th

Screening: The King of New York (Abel Ferrara, 1990)

Readings: “King of New York,” Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times, December 7, 1990 “Drug Lord Reigns Supreme,” Janet Maslin, New York Times, September 22, 1990 “King of New York,” J. Hoberman, Village Voice, October 6, 1990

February 20th

Screening: Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

Readings: “Pulp Fiction,” Alan A. Stone, Boston Review, May 1995 “Quentin Tarantino’s Wild Ride on Life’s Dangerous Road,” Janet Maslin, New York Times, September 23, 1994 “Pulp Fiction,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, October 14, 1994

February 27th

Screening: La Haine (Matheiu Kassovitz, 1997)

Readings: “The Film that Predicted the French Riots,” Matt Freeny, Slate.com, November 11, 2005 “It’s Hard Not to Cheer on the Rioters,” Mathieu Kassovitz, The Guardian.com, November 9, 2005 “Hundreds Gather for Screening of La Haine at Broadwater Farm,” Alexandra Topping, The Guardian.com, May 3, 2012 “Hate (La Haine),” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, April 19, 1996 “Crime, Violence and Pessimism,” Caryn James, New York Times, Oct. 12, 1995

March 6th

Screening: Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 1997)

Readings: “Donnie Brasco,” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, February 28, 1997 “Downsizing the Mob,” David Edelstein, Slate.com, March 5, 1997 “A Guy Who’s Not Wise,” Janet Maslin, New York Times, February 28, 1997 “Donnie Brasco,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, February 27, 1997 March 13th

MIDTERM EXAM

No Screening or Readings

March 20th – NO CLASS – Spring Break

March 27th

Screening: American Pimp (Albert and Allen Hughes, 1999)

Readings: “The Pimp Phenomenon,” Lisa Richardson, Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2000 “The Hustle—The Story of Robert Beck aka Iceberg Slim,” Mark Skillz, Wax Poetics, Issue 38, 2009 “The Film File: American Pimp,” Hilton Als, The New Yorker, July 10, 2000

April 3rd

Screening: Training Day (Antoine Fuqua, 2001)

Readings: “This is not a Mentoring Program to Emulate,” Elvis Mitchell, New York Times, October 5, 2001 “Police State,” Peter Rainer, New York Magazine, October 15, 2001 “Training Day,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, October 5, 2001

April 10th

Screening: City of God (Fernando Meirelles, with Kàtia Lund, 2002)

Readings: “City of God,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, January 24, 2003 “Boys Soldiering in an Army of Crime,” Stephen Holden, New York Times, January 17, 2003 “City of God,” Paul Julian Smith, Sight & Sound, 2002

April 17th

Screening: Miami Vice (Michael Mann, 2006)

Readings: “Miami Vice,” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, July 28, 2006 “Miami Vice,” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.com, August 3, 2006 “The Film File: Miami Vice,” David Denby, The New Yorker, August 7, 2006 “Operatic Passions, Yet Cool in the Heat,” A.O. Scott, New York Times, July 28, 2006

April 24th

Screening: Gomorrah (Matteo Garonne, 2008)

Readings: “Exposing the Hidden Soul of the Gangster Movie,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun- Times, February 25, 2009 “Gritty Cities,” Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, February 23, 2009 “Lesser-Known Mobsters, as Brutal as the Old Ones,” Manohla Dargis, New York Times, February 12, 2009

May 1st

Screening: Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, 2010)

Readings: None

Wednesday, May 8th, 2:00-4:00pm

FINAL EXAM