FILM 4260 - History of Cinema II Prof. Rielle Navitski Spring 2018 [email protected] Class: MWF 9:05 – 9:55 am in 53 Fine Arts Screening: W 3:35 – 5:30 pm in 53 Fine Arts Office hours: M 12:30 – 2:30 and W 10-12 or by appointment in 260 Fine Arts Course Description: This course provides an overview of key developments in world cinema from World War II through the present, examining profound transformations in film style and narrative, in how films were made and found audiences across the globe, and in cinema’s relationship to politics and changing conceptions of art. Although the class focuses on narrative fiction film, we will also examine documentary and experimental cinema. We will first study the restructuring of the Hollywood industry in the late 1940s and early 1950s in response to the Paramount anti-trust case and the popularization of television. We will then examine how other postwar cinemas – Italian neorealism, Japanese film, and Mexican cinema – gained new prominence internationally through film festivals, arthouses, and new approaches to film criticism, including the celebration of the director as auteur. In the following unit, we will study the New Waves of the 1960s and 1970s, examining how filmmakers in Europe, Africa, and Latin America developed new narrative and stylistic strategies for both artistic and political reasons. In our third unit, we will focus on industrial and aesthetic shifts in Hollywood from the 1960s to the present, examining the emergence of the “New Hollywood,” the rise of the blockbuster, transformations brought about by home video, and the development of independent filmmaking. Finally, we will examine popular film industries beyond Hollywood—the “Bollywood” and Hong Kong industries— and contemporary global art cinema, reflecting on how film is produced, distributed and consumed in an increasingly digital and interconnected world. This course is designed to sharpen your skills in historical thinking, visual analysis, and research in primary and secondary sources, and to aid you in developing clear, persuasive writing. In order to develop these skills, you are expected to read assigned materials carefully (multiple times if needed), take detailed notes on readings and films, and come to class with questions and comments. The course may contain material you find distasteful or offensive, which has been included for educational purposes. Remaining in the class indicates a commitment to engage thoughtfully and critically with all course materials. Required texts: - David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film History: An Introduction, Third Edition, available at the UGA bookstore. - Packet of readings, available on ELC. Print and bind at Tate Copy Shop. Hard copies of readings are required for class discussion. Complete readings before class on the date listed on the syllabus. If two dates are listed for a reading, complete it by the earlier date. Page numbers correspond to those of the original text, not the course reader. Course Requirements Scene Analysis 10% Primary Source Research Assignment 10% Attendance and Participation 15% Midterm Exam 20% Final Exam 20% Term paper (5-7 pages) (includes required paper proposal) 25% Important Dates 1/29 – Scene Analysis Due 2/12 – Midterm Exam 3/5 – Primary Source Assignment Due 3/19 – Paper Proposal Due 4/23 – Term Paper Due 4/30 – Final Exam Course Objectives: By the end of the course, students should be able to: - identify key filmmaking movements and trends from 1945 to the present, describing key narrative themes, stylistic traits, and aesthetic goals - explain how cinematic movements and trends have been shaped by political and social factors, as well as by the economic conditions of film industries and markets - perform close readings of film texts that use specific film terms to describe individual scenes and make a persuasive argument about why certain aesthetic choices are meaningful (Paper 1) - perform critical readings of historical documents relating to cinema, evaluating and summarizing the aesthetic and social ideals explicitly and implicitly expressed in these texts (Paper 2) - write a persuasive research paper that analyzes one or two films in their social, historical, and industrial context by combining analysis of film style, analysis of historical documents, and thoughtful engagement with relevant secondary sources (Paper 3) 2 Course Schedule 1/5 – Welcome UNIT 1: Postwar Film and the Rise of International Art Cinema Week 1: Film Noir and Experimental Cinema in the Post-WWII Period 1/8 FH 451-463 Watch in class: Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, U.S., 1943, 14 mins 1/10 Sheri Chinen Bisen, “Censorship, Hard-boiled Fiction and Hollywood’s ‘Red Meat’ Crime Cycle,” 96-111 (excerpt) Screening: Double Indemnity, dir. Billy Wilder, Paramount Pictures, U.S., 1944, 110 mins. 1/12 Lloyd Shearer, “Crime Certainly Pays on the Screen,” 9-13 Week 2: From the Small Screen to Widescreen 1/15 NO CLASS - MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY 1/17 FH 296-315 Screening: The Girl Can’t Help It, dir. Frank Tashlin, Fox, U.S., 1956, 99 mins. 1/19 Ariel Rogers, “Smothered in Baked Alaska,” 74-83 (excerpt) Week 3: Italian Neorealism 1/22 FH 324-341 1/24 Screening: Roma città aperta (Rome, Open City), dir. Roberto Rossellini, Excelsa Films, Italy, 1945, 100 mins 1/26 Cesare Zavattini, “Some Ideas on the Cinema,” 50-61 3 Week 4: Postwar Japanese Cinema 1/29 SCENE ANALYSIS DUE Read: FH 226-235, 358-363, 381-383 1/31 Screening: Rashomon, dir. Akira Kurosawa, Daiei, Japan, 1950, 88 mins. 2/2 Greg M. Smith, “Critical Reception of Rashomon in the West,” 1-9 Week 5: Mexican Film as Popular Industry and Art Cinema 2/5 FH 358-360, 377-380 2/7 Robert McKee Irwin and Maricruz Castro Ricalde, Global Mexican Cinema (excerpt), 1-14 Screening: Maria Candelaria, dir. Emilio Fernández, Films Mundiales, Mexico, 1944, 102 mins 2/9 Rogelio Agrasánchez Jr., Mexican Movies in the United States (excerpt), 8-12 UNIT 2 – New Waves of the 1960s and Beyond Week 6: The French New Wave 2/12 MIDTERM EXAM 2/14 FH 403-414 Screening: Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live), dir. Jean-Luc Godard, prod. Pierre Braunberger, France, 1962, 83 mins. 2/16 Alexandre Astruc, “The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: La caméra stylo,” 603-607 Week 7: Direct Cinema and Cinema Verité 2/19 Read: FH 439-451 2/21 Screening: Chronique d’un été (Chronicle of a Summer), dir. Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, Argos Films, France, 1961, 90 mins. 2/23 Edgar Morin, “Chronicle of a Film,” 4-29 4 Week 8: New German Cinema 2/26 FH 420-421, 531-534, 581-583 Alexander Kluge et al, “The Oberhausen Manifesto” (1962), 152-153 2/28 Screening: Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun), dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Albatros, West Germany, 1979, 120 mins. 3/2 Joyce Rheuban, “The Marriage of Maria Braun: History, Melodrama, Ideology,” 3-20 Week 9: Anti-Colonial Cinema in Africa and Latin America 3/5 PRIMARY SOURCE ASSIGNMENT DUE FH 494-509 3/7 Guy Hennebelle, “Ousmane Sembene: For Me, the Cinema is an Instrument of Political Action, But...,” 7-17 Screening: Now (1965) and LBJ (1968), dir. Santiago Álvarez, Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos, Cuba, 5 mins/18 mins La noire de... (Black Girl), dir. Ousmane Sembene, prod. André Zwoboda, Senegal/France, 1966, 55 mins 3/9 Julio García Espinosa, “For an Imperfect Cinema,” 72-82 SPRING BREAK UNIT 3 – New Business Models: Blockbusters, Indies, and Global Markets Week 10: The “New Hollywood” 3/19 TERM PAPER PROPOSAL DUE FH 472-493 3/21 Screening: Bonnie and Clyde, dir. Arthur Penn, Tatira-Hiller (distr. Warner Bros.), U.S., 1967, 112 mins 3/23 Bosley Crowther, “Bonnie and Clyde,” 1-2 and Pauline Kael, “Bonnie and Clyde,” 141-157 5 Week 11: Blockbusters and Home Video 3/26 FH 661-680 3/28 Screening: Jaws, dir. Steven Spielberg, Universal, U.S., 1975, 130 mins. 3/30 Nigel Morris, “Jaws: Searching the Depths,” 43-55 (excerpt) Week 12: From Indie Films to “Indiewood” 4/2 FH 680-693 4/4 Screening: My Own Private Idaho, dir. Gus van Sant, Fine Line, U.S., 1991, 105 mins. 4/6 B. Ruby Rich, “New Queer Cinema,” 75-80 Week 13: Global Bollywood 4/9 FH 373-377, 621-626 4/11 Begin viewing in class, finish in screening: Screening: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Brave-Hearted Will Take Away the Bride), dir. Aditya Chopra, Yash Raj Films, India, 1995, 190 mins. 4/13 Ashish Rajadhyaksha, “The ‘Bollywoodization of Indian Cinema,” 1-16 Week 14: From Hong Kong Cinema to Global Co-productions 4/16 FH 647-652 4/18 Screening: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, dir. Ang Lee, China/Hong Kong/Taiwan/U.S., Asian Union Film & Entertainment/Good Machine, 2000, 120 mins 4/20 Sheldon H. Lu, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Bouncing Angels,” 220-233 6 Week 15: Global Art Cinema and the Shift to the Digital 4/23 TERM PAPER DUE FH 705-709, 713-724 Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, “Dogme ’95 Manifesto and Vow of Chastity,” 201-203 4/25 Screening: Melancholia, dir. Lars von Trier, Zentropa, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany, 2011, 135 mins. FINAL EXAM: MONDAY, APRIL 30, 8 – 11 AM, 53 Fine Arts ***Have a great summer!*** Course Policies The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary. Disability Notice If you plan to request accommodations for a disability, please register with the Disability Resource Center. They can be reached by visiting Clark Howell Hall, calling 706-542-8719 (voice) or 706- 542-8778 (TTY), or by visiting http://drc.uga.