First Time Offered at Rose Hill!

ITALIAN AMERICANS ON AMERICAN SCREENS Italian AmericansSpring on 2017 American Screens SummerCRN 31348Session I, | Rose4 Credits Hill, 2017 Prof. JacquelineFITV Reich-3658, [email protected]

Instructed by Dr. Jacqueline Reich Wednesdays | 11:30am – 2:15pm

What can explain the shocking popularity of Jersey Shore? COURSE DESCRIPTIONWhere did the controversial: What can explain the shocking popularity of images of Italian Americans thatJersey the show displays originate? This course proposes an Shoreexamination? Where did the controversial images of Italian Americans that the show of Italian Americans as represented in mainstream displays originate? This course proposes an examination of Italian Americans and independent American cinema (and later television) from as represented in mainstream athe silent era to the present.nd independent Ame Particular attentionrican cinema (and later will be paid to television) from the silent era to the present. Particular attention will be paid the traditional stereotypes associated with these to the traditional stereotypes associated with these representations (how they representations (how they arose and why they continue to arose and why they continue to exist), two specific genres exist), two specific film genres—gangster film and-- the gangthe boxingster film and the boxing film film—and how-- and how Italian Italian-American-American filmmakers respond to and filmmakers and television re-vision them. The class will also include field trips to Arthur Avenueartists respond to and re-vision them. , Little Italy in Manhattan, and the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side.

Objectives: • To comprehend how Hollywood cinema articulates race, nation and ethnicity from the silent area to the present • To gain an understanding of the origins of representations of Italian Americans on screen • To learn how and why particular genres flourish at particular times, especially with respect race and ethnicity Italian Americans on American Screens Summer Session I, Rose Hill, 2017 Prof. Jacqueline Reich, [email protected]

• To understand how class, gender and sexuality play integral parts in the representation of race and ethnicity on screen • To see how particular ethnic groups, especially Italian Americans, respond to and reappropriate traditional stereotypes

FILMS:

Italianamerican (Martin Scorsese, 1974) The Black Hand (Biograph, 1906) The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D. W. Griffith, 1912) The Italian (Thomas Ince, 1914) The Sheik (George Melford, 1920) Scarface, The Shame of a Nation (Howard Hawks, 1932) Golden Boy (Robert Mamoulian, 1939) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973) Rocky (John Avildsen, 1976) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990) True Love (Nancy Savoca, 1989) A Bronx Tale (Robert De Niro, 1993) Kiss Me, Guido (Tony Vitale, 1997) Big Night (Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci, 1996) The Sopranos (Various, 1999-2007) Jersey Shore (MTV, 2009-2012) Mob Wives (VHI, 2011-2016)

SYLLABUS

INTRODUCTION

5/30 General Introduction READINGS: Greg M. Smith, “It’s Just a Movie,” SCREENING: Italianamerican (Martin Scorsese, 1974); The Black Hand (Biograph, 1906); The Italian (Barker, 1914)

5/31 Race, Italians, and Early American Cinema READINGS: Thomas Guglielmo, “No Color Barrier”; Lester D. Friedman, "Celluloid Palimpsests: An Overview of Ethnicity and the American Film" SCREENING: The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D. W. Griffith, 1912), The Sheik (George Melford, 1921) Italian Americans on American Screens Summer Session I, Rose Hill, 2017 Prof. Jacqueline Reich, [email protected]

6/1 Models of Masculinity: The Gangster and the Latin Lover FIELD TRIP TO THE TENEMENT MUSEUM: http://tenement.org/ and walking tour of Little Italy, Manhattan READING: Joanne Ruvoli, “’Most Thrilling Subjects: D.W. Griffith and the Biograph Revenge Film”; Gaylyn Studlar, "Discourses of Gender and Ethnicity: The Construction and De(con)struction of Rudolph Valentino as Other"

Weekend Viewing: Scarface, The Shame of a Nation (Howard Hawks, 1932); The Godfather, (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

6/6 The Gangster Film I: Classical Hollywood Cinema READINGS: Warshow, “The Gangster as Tragic Hero,” Thomas Schatz, “The Gangster Film” Scenes from: Scarface, The Shame of a Nation (Howard Hawks, 1932) SCREENING: Mean Streets (Scorsese, 1973)

6/7 The Gangster Film II: The Godfathers READINGS: Jon Lewis, “’Nothing Personal, It’s Only Business’”: M. Ryan/D. Kellner, “Francis Coppola and the Crisis of Patriarchy” SCREENING: Goodfellas (1990)

6/8 Martin Scorsese and the Gangster Film READINGS: David A. Cook, “Auteur Cinema and the ‘Film Generation’ in 1970s Hollywood,” Richard A. Blake, “Redeemed in Blood: The Sacramental Universe of Martin Scorsese”

Weekend Viewing: Golden Boy (Robert Mamoulian, 1939)

6/13 Midterm Examination Introduction to the Boxing Film SCREENING: Rocky (John Avildsen, 1976)

6/14 The Boxing Film I READINGS: Reading: Daniel J. Leab, “The Blue Collar Ethnic in Bicentennial America: Rocky”; Leger Grindon, “Body and Soul: The Structure of Meaning in the Boxing Film Genre,” SCREENING: Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

6/15 The Boxing Film II READINGS: Robert Casillo, "Catholicism and Violence in the Films of Martin Scorsese,” Italian Americans on American Screens Summer Session I, Rose Hill, 2017 Prof. Jacqueline Reich, [email protected]

SCREENING: True Love (Savoca, 1989) PAPER ABSTRACTS DUE

Weekend Viewing: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

6/20 Italian American Revisions I: Race, Gender and Sexuality READINGS: Edvige Giunta, “The Quest for Ethnicity” SCREENING: A Bronx Tale (Robert De Niro, 1993)

6/21 Italian American Revisions II: Race, Gender and Sexuality READINGS: Ervin Kosta, “The Immigrant Enclave at Theme Park: Culture, Capital and Urban Change in New York’s Little Italies” FIELD TRIP TO LITTLE ITALY, ARTHUR AVENUE

6/22 Italian American Revisions: Food and Cinema Readings: Excerpts from Simone Cinotto, The Italian American Table: Food, Family and Community in New York City SCREENING: Big Night (Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, 1998)

Weekend Viewing: The Sopranos (various episodes); Jersey Shore (various episodes)

6/27 Italian American Revisions III: The Sopranos Readings: Lance Strate, David Pattie, “Mobbed Up: The Sopranos and the Modern Gangster Film” SCREENING: Mob Wives (various episodes) PAPERS DUE

6/28 Italian American Revisions IV: Reality Television and Italian Americans Readings: Greg Smith, “What is realism?” Review for Final Exam

6/29 Final Examination

COURSE GUIDELINES:

CLASS STRUCTURE: The course meets on three days per week, four hours per day for five weeks. You are expected to conduct yourselves as responsible students and adults in this class: please arrive on time, not talk amongst yourselves, and not disrupt the class in any unruly fashion. ALL CELLPHONES, BLACKBERRIES, IPHONES, AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES MUST BE TURNED OFF DURING CLASS TIME, EXCEPT WHEN Italian Americans on American Screens Summer Session I, Rose Hill, 2017 Prof. Jacqueline Reich, [email protected]

INSTRUCTED BY THE PROFESSOR. COMPUTERS AND IPADS ARE ALLOWED IN CLASS ONLY WITH PERMISSION FROM THE INSTRUCTOR.

ASSIGNMENTS AND MATERIALS: Everything pertaining to the class – syllabus, links to films, external links – will be available on GOOGLE DRIVE. The films are our primary texts and are to be viewed on your own, either through the links in the syllabus or in a shared Google Drive folder, accessible with your Fordham email account. Many of the films are also available on-line from LEGAL sources such as Netflix (www.netflix.com), iTunes., and amazon.com, including Amazon Prime. Students should watch the films and complete all the readings by the day they are due, as listed in the syllabus.

You will be required to have a twitter account for the class. It can be attached to your Fordham email, or another email address. Please follow me @Profjreich, and I will follow you. The class’s hashtag is #FITV3658 – make sure you put this hashtag in all your tweets. Please also LIKE the CMS Department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FordhamCMS. I post about film there all the time.

CLASS WORK: Readings are to be done for the class period as listed. There will be a midterm and a final exam, as well as a final paper, due as indicated on the syllabus. Topics will be announced for the paper. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

GRADES: Your grade will be based on the following criteria:

ATTENDANCE 10% IN-CLASS WORK (PRESENTATIONS, RESPONSES) 20% MIDTERM EXAM 25% PAPER 20% FINAL EXAMINATION 25%

Grade Breakdown:

94-100: A 90-93: A- 87-89: B+ 83-86: B 80-82: B- 77-79: C+ 73-76: C 70-72: C- 65-69: D+ 60-64: D 0-59: F Italian Americans on American Screens Summer Session I, Rose Hill, 2017 Prof. Jacqueline Reich, [email protected]

6) ATTENDANCE POLICY: Students are expected to attend every class. If you know you will miss a class for religious reasons or required participation in a university sponsored- event please let me know in advance via email. If you are ill or there is a family emergency, please contact me via email as well. If you have more than two unexcused absences, your grade will be lowered one step (e.g. from an A to an A-), regardless of your cumulative total.

7) UNIVERSITY STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: A University, by its nature, strives to foster and recognize originality of thought. Originality can only be recognized, however, when people acknowledge the sources of ideas or works that are not their own. Therefore, students must maintain the highest standards with regards to honesty, effort and performance. As a Jesuit, Catholic University, Fordham is committed to ensuring that all members of the academic community strive not only for excellence in scholarship but also for integrity of character. In the pursuit of knowledge and personal development, it is imperative that students present their own ideas and insights for evaluation, critique and eventual reformulation. As part of this process, each student must acknowledge the intellectual contribution of others…. Violations of academic integrity include, but are not limited to, plagiarism, cheating on exams, falsification, unapproved collaboration, and destruction of library materials. For further details, consult the Standards of Academic Integrity on the University website http://www.fordham.edu/academics/handbooks__publicati/undergraduate_academ/index.a sp

8) ASSISTANCE: I will hold office hours before class every day, and by appointment, in my office in Faculty Memorial Hall 431. The best way to reach me is via e-mail: [email protected]. You can also reach me via phone in my office: 718-817-0454.

9) EQUAL EDUCATIONAL ACCESS FOR ALL STUDENTS: The Office of Disability Services at Fordham University helps to ensure equal educational access and opportunity for all members of our community. In the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis, members of the ODS staff work individually with each student to understand his or her strengths and limitations in order to develop their most effective and comprehensive accommodation plan. Fordham will offer reasonable and appropriate auxiliary aids and services to assist otherwise qualified persons in achieving access to its programs, services, and facilities once students meet with ODS for an initial intake meeting to develop an accommodation plan directly with the student in accordance with Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Students seeking accommodation(s) should the Rose Hill Office of Disability Services, (718) 817-0655 or email [email protected].

Recent events surrounding and following the 2016 US Presidential Election have legitimated ugly actions and set a tone that is fundamentally at odds with the aims of Italian Americans on American Screens Summer Session I, Rose Hill, 2017 Prof. Jacqueline Reich, [email protected]

higher education. It is the values and pedagogies associated with the Fordham mission, however, that will continue to set the tone in our classrooms. In the language of the university mission statement, such values include a “commitment to research and education that assist in the alleviation of poverty, the promotion of justice, the protection of human rights, and respect for the environment.” Members of this class can expect to continue an education that promotes “understanding of and reverence for ways of life other than their own,” and to continue their preparation “to live in and to contribute to an increasingly multicultural and multinational society.” As with all courses of study at Fordham, the aim of ours is to foster “life-long habits of careful observation, critical thinking, creativity, moral reflection, and articulate expression.”

Fordham’s full Mission statement is available here: http://www.fordham.edu/info/20057/about/2997/mission_statement

BY ENROLLING IN THIS CLASS, YOU AGREE TO ABIDE BY THE GUIDELINES AND THE SYLLABUS AS STATED ABOVE. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES AND THE SYLLABUS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO NEGATIVELY AFFECT YOUR GRADE IN THE COURSE. THE PROFESSOR ALSO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO ALTER THE COURSE IN ANY MANNER DURING THE SEMESTER WITH PROPER NOTICE TO THE STUDENTS.