ICINE-UT 12L01 British Cinema

NYU London: Fall 2019

Instructor Information ● Dr Emre Çağlayan ● +447502080289 (only emergencies, please) ● Office Hours: Thursdays, 12noon-1pm, Room 301 ● Email: [email protected]

Course Information ● Thursdays, 1-2pm (lecture), 2-4pm (screening), 5-7pm (seminar discussion) ○ All activities take place in Room 301, main building. ● No formal prerequisites, though on taking a serious approach to understanding film form, style and history, students are encouraged to consult David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson’s Film Art: An Introduction (any recent edition).

Course Overview and Goals This course introduces key themes and issues in the understanding of British cinema in its social, cultural and artistic context. The course will navigate through British film history, interrogating questions of realism, national cinema and cultural identity. We will be looking at landmark periods in British film history and explore a host of trends, traditions and genres, including documentary, comedy, spy thriller, kitchen sink dramas, historical films, horror and art cinema. The films and readings are chosen in order to investigate a wide range of representations of British society, and indeed the notion of Britishness will be explored through varying, sometimes conflicting, approaches.

The course will proceed by means of a weekly lecture and film screening, followed by a seminar discussion, during which students are expected to respond to the film and the key readings (available via NYU classes). The precise times of each activity may vary depending on the subject matter (and the length of the films).

Upon Completion of this Course, students will be able to: • Understand some of the major features of the broad relationships between cinema and society • Understand some of the major features of the cinematic institution in the United Kingdom; • Understand some of the major theoretical and critical paradigms for academic study of the cinema; • Understand some of the key analytic skills involved in understanding and analyzing film texts.

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Course Requirements

Grading of Assignments The grade for this course will be determined according to these assessment components: % of Assignments/ Description of Assignment Final Due Activities Grade

Compile a 1,000-word report following your visit to the British Film Institute and the London Film Festival. Your report will comprise what you’ve learnt from the BFI’s vast resources on film and your Field Trip Report impressions from an event or a film you’ve 15% October 17 attended at the festival. The focus of your report should be around the place of cinema in British culture and the kind of institutional support available to the serious study and appreciation of cinema.

Produce a 2,000-word case study of one film from the ‘see also’ sections of the syllabus. Your case study should include relevant production data (director, producer, cinematographer, screenwriter, production designer, editor, genre, duration, main cast, year of release), a brief plot synopsis, and a detailed commentary, focusing on the film’s Film Case Study & production history, reception, content and 30% November 25 Textual Analysis stylistic approach (see the entries in the World Cinema Directory for examples). You should also add to your case study a paragraph on how the film relates to the topics explored on that week and focus on the ways in which the subject matter is treated in comparison to the screening film. You are also encouraged to analyze a sequence or scene from the film in detail, focusing on form and style.

You will be given a set of questions covering the whole syllabus, to which you Research Essay will respond with a 3,000-word academic 40% December 12 essay. Your essay must include a bibliography and reflect independent research. The argument of your essay

Page 2 % of Assignments/ Description of Assignment Final Due Activities Grade should be illustrated in reference to one film from the course and another film of your choice (preferably not in syllabus).

All students are expected to attend all sessions and participate in the Class Participation discussions, which means speaking out or 15% N/A responding to a study question at least twice during each seminar discussion.

Failure to submit or fulfill any required course component results in failure of the class

Grades Letter grades for the entire course will be assigned as follows: Letter Percent Description Grade Grade A will be awarded to work that demonstrates AN OUTSTANDING DEGREE OF COMPETENCE. This work will be distinguished by a very high quality of knowledge and analysis. This category of work will reflect detailed acquaintance with given A Example: 93.5% and higher examples of British Cinema and will demonstrate the relevant familiarity with principles drawn from film criticism and theory. Work at this level will reflect an advanced level of ability in the presentation of an academic case, and in terms of written expression.

Grade B will be awarded to work that demonstrates A GOOD DEGREE OF COMPETENCE. This type of work will be distinguished by a good quality of knowledge and analysis. This category of work will reflect acquaintance with given examples of British B Example: 82.5% - 87.49% Cinema and will demonstrate some familiarity with principles drawn from film criticism and theory. Work at this level will reflect a good level of ability in the presentation of an academic case, and in terms of written expression.

Grade C will be awarded to work that C Example: 72.5% - 77.49% demonstrates A MODERATE DEGREE OF COMPETENCE. This type of work will be

Page 3 Letter Percent Description Grade distinguished by a moderate quality of knowledge and analysis. This category of work will reflect acquaintance with a modicum of given examples of British Cinema and moderate familiarity with principles drawn from film criticism and theory. Work at this level will reflect a moderate level of ability in the presentation of an academic case, and in terms of written expression.

Grade D will be awarded to work that demonstrates A BASIC DEGREE OF COMPETENCE. This type of work will be distinguished by a basic quality of knowledge and analysis. This category of work will reflect basic acquaintance with given examples of D Example: 62.5% - 67.49 British Cinema and basic familiarity with principles drawn from film criticism and theory. Work at this level will reflect a basic level of ability in the presentation of academic case, and in terms of written expression.

Grade F will be awarded to work that FAILS TO DEMONSTRATE A BASIC DEGREE OF COMPETENCE. This type of work will be distinguished by an inadequate quality of knowledge and analysis. This category of work will reflect inadequate acquaintance with given F Example: 59.99% and lower examples of British Cinema and inadequate familiarity with principles drawn from film criticism and theory. Work at this level will reflect an inadequate level of ability in the presentation of an academic case, and in terms of written expression.

Course Materials

Required Textbooks & Materials ● There is no required textbook and all key readings will be available electronically via NYU classes. ● BFI Screenonline (http://www.screenonline.org.uk) hosts a range of excellent essays on the topics explored in class (and more).

Optional Textbooks & Materials ● Ashby, Justine and Andrew Higson, eds. (2000). British Cinema, Past and Present. London and New York: Routledge.

Page 4 ● Barr, Charles (1986). All Our Yesterdays: 90 Years of British Cinema. London: BFI Publishing. ● Brunsdon, Charlotte (2007). London in Cinema: The Cinematic City Since 1945 (London: British Film Institute). ● Higson, Andrew, ed. (1996). Dissolving Views: Key Writings on British Cinema. London: Cassell. ● Higson, Andrew (1997). Waving The Flag: Constructing a National Cinema in Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ● Murphy, Robert (2009). The British Cinema Book, 3rd edition. London: BFI Publishing. ● Richards, Jeffrey (1997). Films and British National Identity: From Dickens to Dad's Army. (Manchester: Manchester University Press). ● Street, Sarah (1997). British National Cinema. London and New York: Routledge.

Resources ● Access your course materials: NYU Classes (nyu.edu/its/classes) ● Databases, journal articles, and more: Bobst Library (library.nyu.edu) ● NYUL Library Collection: Senate House Library (catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk) ● Assistance with strengthening your writing: NYU Writing Center (nyu.mywconline.com) ● Obtain 24/7 technology assistance: IT Help Desk (nyu.edu/it/servicedesk)

Course Schedule Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due Key Readings: • Andrew Higson, “The Concept of National Cinema” Screen 30.4 (1989): 36–47. • James Chapman, “James National Cinema Bond and the End of Empire” and Identity in James Bond Uncovered, ed. Jeremy Strong (Palgrave, Screening: Skyfall 2018), 203–222. (Sam Mendes, 2012, 143min) Further Reading: Session 1: • September 5 James Chapman, See also: Ipcress “Introduction: Taking James File (Furie, 1965); Bond Seriously” in Licence to The Spy Who Thrill: A Cultural History of the Came in from the James Bond Films (London: Cold (Ritt, 1965) I.B. Tauris, 2007), 1–21. • Christoper McMillan, “Broken Bond: Skyfall and the British Identity Crisis” Journal of British Cinema and Television 12.2 (2015): 191–206.

Page 5 Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due Key Readings • Charles Barr, “Projecting Britain and the British Character: Ealing Studios” Screen 15.1 (1974): 87–121. • Tim O’Sullivan, “Ealing Comedies 1947-1957” in British Film British Comedy Cinema, eds. Culture & Ealing I.Q. Hunter and Lorraine Comedies Porter (London: Routledge, 2012), 66–76. Screening: Passport to Pimlico Further Reading Session 2: (Cornelius, 1949, • September 12 Andrew Higson, “British Film 84min) Culture and the Idea of National Cinema” in Waving See also: The the Flag: Constructing Ladykillers National Cinema in Britain (MacKendrick, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955) 1995), 4–25. • Ian Green, “Ealing: In the Comedy Frame” in British Cinema History, eds. James Curran and Vincent Porter (London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1983), 294–302.

British Key Readings Documentary • Ian Aitken, Film and Reform: Movement John Grierson and the Documentary Film Movement Screening: Coal (London: Routledge, 1990), Face (Alberto extracts. Cavalcanti, 1935, • Jim Leach, “The Poetics of 12 mins); Housing Propaganda: Humphrey Problems (Anstey & Jennings and Listen to Elton, 1935, 16 Britain” in Documenting the mins); Night Mail Documentary, ed. Barry Keith (Wright & Watt, Grant and Jeantte Sloniowski Session 3: 1936, 25 mins); (Detroit: Wayne University September 19 Shipyard (Rotha, Press, 2014), 141–158. 1935, 24 mins); Listen to Britain Further Reading (Jennings, 1942, 19 • Paul Swann, “The General mins) Post-Office Film Unit, 1933– 1937” in The British Film See also: Drifters Documentary Film Movement (Grierson, 1929, 61 1926-1946 (Cambridge: mins); Song of Cambridge University Press, Ceylon (Wright, 1989), 49–78. 1934, 37 mins); • Geoffrey Nowell Smith, Fires Were Started “Humphrey Jennings:

Page 6 Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due (Jennings, 1943, 63 Surrealist Observer” in All Our mins) Yesterdays, ed. Charles Barr (London: BFI, 1986), 321– 333.

Key Readings • Terry Lovell, “Landscapes and Stories in 1960s British Realism” in Dissolving Views: Key Writings on British Cinema, ed. Andrew Higson Free Cinema & (London: Cassell), 157–177. Social Realism • John Hill, Sex, Class and Realism: British Cinema Screening: Momma 1956-63 (London: British Film Don’t Allow (Reisz Institute, 1986), extracts. & Richardson, 1956, 22min); Further Reading Saturday Night and • Session 4: Sue Harper and Vincent Sunday Morning September 26 Porter, “Outsiders and (Reisz, 1960, Mavericks” in British Cinema 90min) in the 1950s: the Decline of Deference (Oxford: Oxford See also: A Taste University Press, 2003), 185– of Honey 195. (Richardson, 1961); • Andrew Higson, “Space, This Sporting Life Place, Spectacle: Landscape (Anderson, 1963) and Townscape in the ‘Kitchen Sink’ Film” in Dissolving Views: Key Writings on British Cinema, ed. Andrew Higson (London: Cassell), 133–156.

Key Readings • Jeffrey Richards, “The Art Cinema & Swinging Sixties and After,” in Swinging Sixties Films and British National Identity, (Manchester: Screening: Manchester University Press, Performance (1970, 1997), 147–72. Cammell & Roeg, • Jon Savage, “Performance: Session 5: 105min) Interview with Donald October 3 Cammell” in British Crime See also: The Cinema, ed. Steve Chibnall Knack… and How and Robert Murphy (London: to Get It (Lester, Routledge, 1999), 110–119. 1965); Darling (Schlesinger, 1965) Further Reading TBC

Page 7 Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due Session 6: October 4

BFI & London Film N.B. Friday Details of the Field Trip TBC. Festival Visit Session / Thanksgiving Replacement Key Readings • Robert Murphy, “A Revenger’s Tragedy – Get Carter” in British Crime Cinema, ed. Steve Chibnall and Robert Murphy (London: Routledge, 1999), 127–137. • Steve Chibnall, Get Carter Crime & (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003), Masculinity extracts.

Screening: Get Further Reading Carter (Hodges, • Robert Shail, “Masculinity and Session 7: 1971, 112min) Class, Michael Caine as

October 10 ‘working class hero’” in See also: The Long Trouble With Men: Good Friday Masculinities in European and (Mackenzie, 1980); Hollywood Cinema, ed. Phil Mona Lisa (Jordan, Powrie, Ann Davies and 1986) Bruce Babington (London: Wallflower, 2004), 66–76. • John Hill, “Allegorising the Nation: British Gangster Films of the 1980s” in British Crime Cinema, ed. Steve Chibnall and Robert Murphy (London: Routledge, 1999), 167–176.

Key Readings • Peter Hutchings, Hammer and Beyond: The British Horror Film (Manchester British Horror University Press, New York

and Manchester, 1993), 1–23. Screening: The • Leon Hunt, “Necromancy in Wicker Man (Hardy, the UK: Witchcraft and the Field Trip Session 8: 1973, 88min) Occult in British Horror” in Report due in October 17 British Horror Cinema, eds. class. See also: The Devil Steve Chibnall and Julian Rides Out (Fisher, Petley (London: Routledge, 1968); Dracula 2002), 82–98. (Fisher, 1958)

Further Reading • Steve Chibnall and Julian Petley, “Return of the

Page 8 Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due Repressed? British Horror’s Heritage and Future” in British Horror Cinema, eds. Steve Chibnall and Julian Petley (London: Routledge, 2002), 1–10. • Julian Petley, “’A Crude Sort of Entertainment for a Crude Sort of Audience’: the British Critics and Horror Cinema” in British Horror Cinema, eds. Steve Chibnall and Julian Petley (London: Routledge, 2002), 23–41.

Key Readings • Walter Donohue, “Against Crawling Realism: Sally Potter On Orlando” in Women and Film, eds. Pam Cook and British Heritage Philip Dodd (London, Scarlett Cinema Press 2005), 217–223. • Higson, Andrew, “Re- Screening: Orlando presenting the National Past” (Potter, 1988, in Fires Were Started, ed. Session 9: 85min) Lester Friedman (London: October 24 Wallflower, 2006), 91–109. See also: A Room with a View (Ivory, Further Reading 1985); Howards • Sally Potter, “Introduction” in End (Ivory, 1992) Orlando: A Biography: Screenplay (London: Faber & Faber 2000), ix–xv. Belén Vidal, Heritage Film: Nation, Genre, and Representation (London: Wallflower, 2012). Key Readings Against • Ray Carney and Leonard Thatcherism Quart, The Films of Mike Leigh: Embracing the World Screening: Naked (Cambridge: Cambridge (Leigh, 1993, University Press, 2000), 14– 131min) 30 and 227–239. Session 10: • John Hill, “Failure and

October 31 See also: The Utopianism: Representations Cook, the Thief, His of the Working Class in British Wife & Her Lover Cinema of the 1990s” in (Greenaway, 1989); British Cinema of the 1990s, My Beautiful ed. Robert Murphy (London: Laundrette (Frears, BFI, 2000), 178–187. 1985) Further Reading

Page 9 Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due • John Hill, “Class, Gender and Working Class Realism,” in British Cinema in the 1980s (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999), 166–91. • Lester D. Friedman, Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism (London, Wallflower, 2007). Key Readings • Andrew Higson, “The Instability of the National” in British Cinema: Past and Present, ed. Justine Ashby and Andrew Higson (London and New York: Routledge, 2000), 35–47. • Anne Ciecko, “Representing Diasporic the Spaces of Diaspora in Filmmaking in Contemporary British Films by Multicultural Women Directors” Cinema Britain Journal 38.3 (1999): 67–90.

Screening: Bhaji on Further Reading Session 11: the Beach (Chadha, • November 7 1993, 101min) Hamdi Naficy, An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking (Princeton: See also: Welcome Princeton University Press, II the Terrordome (Onwurah, 1994); 2018). • Pressure (Ové, Kobena Mercer, “Diasporic 1976) Culture and the Dialogic Imagination: The Aesthetics of Black Independent Film in Britain” in Blackframes: Critical Perspectives on Black Independent Cinema, eds. Mbye Cham and Claire Andrade-Watkins, (MIT Press, Cambridge, 1988), 50–61.

Key Readings Political • Donal Ó Drisceoil, “Framing Filmmaking & the Irish Revolution: Ken Northern Ireland Loach's The Wind That

Shakes the Barley” Radical Screening: The Session 12: History Review 104 (2009): Wind that Shakes November 14 5–15. the Barley (Loach, • John Hill, Ken Loach: The 2006, 127min) Politics of Film and Television

(Basingstoke: Palgrave, See also: Hidden 2011), extracts. Agenda (Loach,

Page 10 Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due 1990); My Name is Further Reading Joe (Loach, 1998) • Stuart Laing, “Ken Loach: Histories and Context” in Agent of Challenge and Defiance: The Films of Ken Loach, ed. George McKnoight (Westport: Praeger, 1997), 11–27. • John Hill, Cinema and Northern Ireland: Film, Culture and Politics (London: BFI, 2006), extracts.

Key Readings • Annette Kuhn, Ratcatcher (London: BFI, 2008), extracts. • Steven Blanford, ““We Can’t Even Pick a Decent Country Scottish Cinema to be Colonised By”: Scotland

and Cinema” in Film, Drama Screening: Film Case and the Break-Up of Britain Ratcatcher Study & (Bristol: Intellect, 2007), 65– (Ramsay, 1999, Textual Session 13: 86. 94min) Analysis due November 21 Monday 25th Further Reading See also: Shallow 12noon via • Murray Smith, Trainspotting Grave (Boyle, Turnitin. (London: BFI, 1999). 1994); Trainspotting • (Boyle, 1996) Duncan Petrie, “The New Scottish Cinema: Themes and Issues” in Screening Scotland (London: British Film Institute, 2000), 191–221.

Key Readings • Lucy Bolton, “A Phenomenology of Girlhood: Being Mia in Fish Tank” in British Cinema International Cinema and the Now Girl, ed. Fiona Handyside and N.B. No class Kate Taylor-Jones (London: on November Screening: Fish I.B. Tauris, 2016), 75–84. 28 Tank (Arnold, 2009, • Emily Cuming, “Private Lives, (Thanksgiving 123min) Social Housing: Female break) Coming-of-Age Stories on the See also: British Council Estate” Session 14: Tyrannosaur Contemporary Women’s December 5 (Considine, 2011); Writing 7.3 (2013), 328–345. The Selfish Giant

(Barnard, 2013) Further Reading • Jason Wood and Ian Hayd Smith, New British Cinema: From Submarine to 12 Years

Page 11 Assignment Session/Date Topic Reading Due a Slave (London: Faber & Faber, 2015)

Research Final essay due Assessment: No screening. No readings. today 4pm via December 12 Turnitin

Co-Curricular Activities • Required Trip: Visit to the BFI Southbank plus an event/screening at the London Film Festival (details TBC). Tickets to the event will be supplied by NYU London. • As the course proceeds, there will be additional trips to museums, cinemas, film screenings and other cultural institutions. Details TBC. Travel expenses will most likely be covered by a Travelcard, though tickets may vary.

Classroom Etiquette Our classroom will be a collaborative learning environment: it will be a safe space in which you will articulate complex ideas about cinema, society and culture, and often respond to your fellow student’s thoughts as well as to the critiques/theories of established scholars. You will always have the opportunity to ask questions, no matter how silly or naive it may initially appear. Everyone’s ideas and opinions will be fully respected and treated the same (meaning they will be open to constructive disagreements), though offensive language or abusive behavior will never be tolerated.

The following rules will be in place to maximize your learning experience, though you will have the opportunity to discuss some of these at the beginning of the semester:

• Please only water and tea/coffee during lectures and film screenings. We will discuss the option of consuming food together in the evening during the seminars, after the screenings. No matter what decision we make, the classroom will be kept tidy and clean at the end of each and every session. • Please no social media during teaching hours. We will agree on appropriate breaks for your toilet and DM needs. Phones must be set on silent and kept away. • You are permitted to use laptops or tablets in the classroom, as long as you’re using them productively to take notes and not messaging your pals or surfing the net. • I will endeavor to create the best possible screening experience by acquiring good quality copies and using the projector, and in return I expect everyone to behave as if you are watching the film in a theater (a little bit of chatting is permitted, of course). We will remain seated together in darkness until the end of the running credits and leave for the break only after the lights are switched on.

Page 12 • Please do not hesitate to communicate any special needs you may have during the day or throughout the semester.

NYUL Academic Policies

Attendance and Tardiness • Key information on NYU London’s absence policy, how to report absences, and what kinds of absences can be excused can be found on our website (http://www.nyu.edu/london/academics/attendance-policy.html)

Assignments, Plagiarism, and Late Work • You can find details on these topics and more on this section of our NYUL website (https://www.nyu.edu/london/academics/academic-policies.html) and on the Policies and Procedures section of the NYU website for students studying away at global sites (https://www.nyu.edu/academics/studying-abroad/upperclassmen- semester-academic-year-study-away/academic-resources/policies-and- procedures.html).

Classroom Conduct Academic communities exist to facilitate the process of acquiring and exchanging knowledge and understanding, to enhance the personal and intellectual development of its members, and to advance the interests of society. Essential to this mission is that all members of the University Community are safe and free to engage in a civil process of teaching and learning through their experiences both inside and outside the classroom. Accordingly, no student should engage in any form of behaviour that interferes with the academic or educational process, compromises the personal safety or well-being of another, or disrupts the administration of University programs or services. Please refer to the NYU Student Conduct Policy for examples of disruptive behavior and guidelines for response and enforcement.

Disability Disclosure Statement Academic accommodations are available for students with disabilities. Please contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities (212-998-4980 or [email protected]) for further information. Students who are requesting academic accommodations are advised to reach out to the Moses Center as early as possible in the semester for assistance.

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