FILM 160 Spring 2009
FILM GENRES: FILM NOIR http://film.ucsc.edu/courses/2008-09/spring/160
Prof. Shelley Stamp Mon & Wed 3:30 – 6:30 p.m. [email protected] | 459-4462 | Communications 103 Communications Studio C Office Hours: Wednesdays 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. & by appointment
TA: Cynthia Payne | [email protected]
COURSE DESCRIPTION This course will be devoted to a detailed study of film noir. We will examine the components of noir: its thematic preoccupations, its narrative paradigms, and its visual stylistics. We will study film noir’s roots in German Expressionism, Depression-Era gangster movies, and hard-boiled detective fiction. And we will consider the particular amalgam of cultural factors in post-World War II America that gave rise to the noir cycle. Finally, we will chart film noir’s enduring legacy in the French New Wave, its 1970s revival, and the resurgence of “neo-noir” in recent years.
COURSE COMPONENTS Readings: Plan on having readings completed prior to the date they appear on the syllabus. Lectures and discussions will assume your familiarity with concepts presented in the articles.
Sequence Analysis Paper (20%): Your first paper will be an 7-8 page (2,000 word) analysis of a selected film sequence. Due in class Monday, May 4th.
Research Paper (40%): Your second paper will be an 10 page (3,000 word) research paper on a selected aspect of film noir. Suggested topics will be circulated in class. No extensions will be given for this assignment. Due in class Wednesday, June 3rd.
Final Exam (30%): The exam will cover all readings, screenings, lectures and discussions presented in the course. It will be a short-answer/essay exam. Eligible students should request special exam accommodations within the first two weeks of class. All others must write the final at the assigned date and time: Monday, June 8th, 12:00-3:00 p.m.
Participation and Attendance (10%): Attendance at all classes and screenings is required. Active participation in class discussions will count favorably in your final evaluation; repeated absences will substantially lower your grade.
REQUIRED TEXTS The following books are available at the Bay Tree Bookstore: Course Reader [Reader] Film Noir Reader, edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini [FNR] The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir, by Foster Hirsch [Hirsch] Women in Film Noir (Rev. ed.), edited by E. Ann Kaplan [WFN] Double Indemnity, by James M. Cain
✧ Work submitted late will be penalized one grade increment per day ✧
✧ Any act of academic dishonesty will result in failure of the class ✧
FILM 160 Film Noir Spring 09
CLASS SCHEDULE
(1) FILM NOIR'S COMPONENTS
Mon Mar 30 Film Noir: Themes and Problems
The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) 114 mins
Read: Schrader, “Notes on Film Noir” [FNR, p. 53] Borde and Chaumeton, “Towards a Definition of Film Noir” [FNR, p. 17]
Wed Apr 1 Narratives of Detection: Flashbacks and Voice-Over Narration
The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946) 105 mins
Read: Telotte, “Noir Narration” [Reader] Porfirio, “No Way Out: Existential Motifs in the Film Noir” [FNR, p. 77]
Mon Apr 6 Sex, Death and Other Pleasures: The Femme Fatale
Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell, 1946) 100 mins
Read: Place, “Women in Film Noir” [WFN, p. 47] Harvey, “Woman’s Place: The Absent Family of Film Noir” [WFN, p. 35] Duvillars, “She Kisses Him So He’ll Kill” [Reader]
Wed Apr 8 Dark Passages: Film Noir’s Visual Lexicon
The Big Combo (Joseph Lewis, 1955) 89 mins
Read: Place and Peterson, “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir” [FNR, p. 65] Hirsch, “The Crazy Mirror: Noir Stylistics” [Chp. 4]
Mon Apr 13 Hollywood’s B Films and Noir Production Values
Detour (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1946) 69 mins
Read: Kerr, “Out of What Past?: Notes on the B Film Noir” [FNR, p. 107] Britton, “Detour” [Reader]
2 FILM 160 Film Noir Spring 09
(2) FILM NOIR'S ROOTS
Wed Apr 15 German Expressionism
M (Fritz Lang, Germany, 1931) 110 mins
Read: Hirsch, “The Cinematic Background: From Expressionism to Neo-Realism” [Chp. 3] Elsaesser, “Caligari’s Legacy: Film Noir as Film History’s German Imaginary [Reader]
Mon Apr 20 Gangster Films
Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932) 93 mins
Read: Durgnat, “Paint It Black: The Family Tree of Film Noir” [FNR, p. 37] Shadoian, Introduction to Dreams and Dead Ends [Reader]
Begin reading James M. Cain’s novel Double Indemnity
Wed Apr 22 Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) 107 mins
Read: Krutnik, “Desire, Transgression and James M. Cain” [Reader] Johnston, “Double Indemnity” [WFN, p. 89] The Censorship Papers: Double Indemnity [Reader]
Finish reading Double Indemnity
(3) FILM NOIR AND POST - WAR CULTURE
Mon Apr 27 Returning Veterans and Post-War Idealism
The Blue Dahlia (George Marshall, 1946) 100 mins
Read: Thomas, “How Hollywood Deals with the Deviant Male” [Reader] Maltby, “Film Noir: The Politics of the Maladjusted Text” [Reader]
Wed Apr 29 Politics and Paranoia 1: HUAC and the Communist Witch Hunt
Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948) 80 mins
Read: Kemp, “From the Nightmare Factory: HUAC and the Politics of Noir” [Reader] Jensen, “The Return of Dr. Caligari: Paranoia in Hollywood” [Reader]
3 FILM 160 Film Noir Spring 09
Mon May 4 Politics and Paranoia 2: The Bomb
Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) 106 mins
Read: Osteen, “The Big Secret: Film Noir and Nuclear Fear” [Reader] Buchsbaum, “Tame Wolves and Phony Claims: Paranoia and Film Noir” [Reader]
✧ First paper due in class today ✧
Wed May 6 Noir on the Border: Race and Ethnicity in the Post-War Landscape
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) 108 mins
Read: Lott, “The Whiteness of Film Noir” [Reader] Kaplan, “Dark Continent of Film Noir: Race, Displacement & Metaphor” [WFN, p. 183]
Mon May 11 Dark Secrets: Homosexuality and Noir
Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951) 101 mins
Read: Dyer, “Homosexuality and Film Noir” [Reader] Dyer, “Postscript: Queers and Women in Film Noir” [WFN, p. 123] Corber, “Reconstructing Homosexuality” [Reader]
Wed May 13 Noir’s Forgotten Women: Authors, Audiences, Auteurs
The Reckless Moment (Max Ophuls, 1949) 81 mins
Read: Cowie, “Film Noir and Women” [Reader]
(4) FILM NOIR’S LEGACY
Mon May 18 Film Noir and the French New Wave
Breathless (Jean Luc Godard, France, 1959) 90 mins
Read: Chartier, “Americans Are Also Making Noir Films” [Reader] Naremore, “Noir is Born: Paris, 1946-59” [Reader] Hirsch, “The French Connection” [Reader]
Wed May 20 The 70s Revival 1: Marlowe Returns to LA
The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973) 112 mins
Read: Jameson, “Son of Noir” [Reader] Clark, “Rip Van Marlowe” [Reader] Brackett, “From The Big Sleep to The Long Goodbye” [Reader]
4 FILM 160 Film Noir Spring 09
Mon May 25 Memorial Day
Campus holiday. No class.
Wed May 27 The 70s Revival 2: Noir Angst in the Post-Vietnam Era
Night Moves (Arthur Penn, 1975) 100 mins
Read: Hirsch, “Noir’s Legacy” [Chp. 8] Gallafent, “Echo Park: Film Noir in the ‘Seventies” [Reader]
Mon Jun 1 Neo-Noir 1: Rethinking Noir’s Dark Palette
Insomnia (Erik Skjoldbjærg, Sweden/Norway, 1997) 97 mins
Read: Spicer, “Neo-Noir 2: Postmodern Film Noir” [Reader] Naremore, “The Noir Mediascape” [Reader]
Wed Jun 3 Neo-Noir 2: Rethinking Noir’s Twisted Chronology
Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000) 113 mins
Read: Rich, “Dumb Lugs and Femmes Fatales” [Reader]
✧ Final paper due in class today ✧
✧ FINAL EXAM: Monday, June 8th, 12:00-3:00 p.m. ✧
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