MAY 6
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR
THOUGHTFUL, COMMITTED ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CLASS. HAVE A GREAT SUMMER — GARY
Films:
Bamako (Sissako 2006) DVD 2926
Borom Sarret (Sembene 1964) DVD 2150
Reading (to be done over the
summer):
APRIL 29
FINAL PAPERS DUE NEXT WEEK BY 4
P.M.
Films:
The Day I Became a Woman (Meshkini 2000) DVD 2603
The House is Black (Farrokhzad 1962) DVD 5056
Reading (to be done by May 5):
Jonathan Rosenbaum. “Radical
Humanism and the Coexistence of Film and Poetry in The House is Black.”
(online)
Adrian Danks. “The
House That Mohsen Built: The Films of Samira Makhmalbaf and Marzieh Meshkini.”
(online)
FINAL PAPERS DUE NEXT WEEK BY 4
P.M. All students email papers to gmairs@calarts.edu.
APRIL 15
Films:
Bless Their Little Hearts (Woodberry 1984) DVD 4002
When It Rains (Burnett 1995) DVD 2629
Excerpt:
Los Angeles Plays Itself (Andersen 2003) Blu-Ray 390 (chapter 30)
Reading (to be done by April
21):
Ntongela Masilela. “The Los Angeles
School of Black Filmmakers.” (in course reader)
All previously assigned short
papers due April 22 by 4 p.m. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE DEADLINE. Please note that
this is a change in the syllabus designed to allow you more time to devote to
your final paper. If there is any reason why you cannot meet this deadline, it is your responsibility to inform me well before the due date so that we can negotiate an extension. Extensions will not be granted on April 22.
Undergraduate students email
papers to filmhistoryTA@gmail.com, graduate students to gmairs@calarts.edu.
APRIL 8
Films:
Le Bonheur (Varda 1964) DVD 2711
Tongues Untied (Riggs 1989) DVD 4546
Reading (to be done by April
14):
Ron Simmons. “Tongues Untied: An
Interview with Marlon Riggs.” (in course reader)
Papers due April 15 by 4 p.m.
Undergraduate students email papers to
We have seen several films in the past weeks with radically
different approaches to performance: the naturalism of Wanda and Happiness, the
Brechtian theatricality of Class
Relations, the performance art-inspired work in Tongues Untied. For this week’s paper, compare two performances from
these films, being careful to root your discussion in specific scenes. Think
about issues like identification (are you led to identify emotionally with the
character? Why or why not?), degrees of “theatricality” (is the performance “invisible”
in its naturalism, or is it intended to be felt as a performance?) and how the
performance functions in the context of the film.
APRIL 1
Film:
Class Relations (Straub/Huillet 1984) DVD 2645
Excerpts:
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet at Work on Frank
Kafka’s Amerika (Farocki 1983) DVD 2645 (21:04 to 29:31)
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (Costa 2001) DVD 4568 (17:49 to
30:15)
Reading (to be done by April
7):
Daniel Fairfax. “Jean-Marie
Straub and Danièle Huillet.” (online)
Papers due April 8 by 4 p.m. THIS
IS AN ABSOLUTE DEADLINE. All students email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu:
2 pages of work towards final paper. This can be virtually anything
– notes, an outline, an annotated bibliography, an introduction. It must amount
to 2 pages of solid progress towards completion of the paper.
MARCH 11
Film:
Days and Nights in the Forest (Ray 1970) personal DVD (on reserve shelf)
Excerpts:
Do Bigha Zamin (Roy 1953) DVD 2604 (2:15 to 6:30)
The World of Apu (Ray 1959) DVD 952 (1:34:16 to 1:45: 35)
Reading (to be done by March
17):
Papers due March 18 by 4 p.m.
THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE DEADLINE. All students email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu:
PROPOSAL FOR FINAL PAPER. FULL INSTRUCTIONS LINKED HERE UNDER
SIDEBAR “SYLLABUS, ETC.”
MARCH 4
Films:
Daisies (Chytilová 1966) DVD 571
Simon of the Desert (Buñuel 1965) DVD 3281
Duck Amuck (Jones
1953) Blu-Ray 114 disc one
Reading (to be done by March
10):
Małgorzata Radkiewicz. “Angry young girls: Gender representations in Věra Chytilová's Sedmikrásky and Pasti, pasti, pastičky.”
(online)
Papers due March 11 by 4 p.m.
Graduates email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu; undergraduates email paper to FilmHistoryTA@gmail.com:
Discuss the final scenes of Daisies.
How do you read them in relationship to the film’s first 70 minutes? Pay
particular attention to the scene in the water that begins the sequence, the
dialogue in the cleaning scene, the short montage that follows it, and the
final text.
FEBRUARY 25
Film:
Vivre sa vie (Godard 1962) Blu-Ray 065
Excerpts:
Breathless (Godard 1960) Blu-Ray 060 (opening to 8:08)
Tout va bien (Godard/Gorin 1972) DVD 1398 (opening to 5:20; 1:08:14
to 1:14:07)
Reading (to be done by March
3):
Gene Youngblood. “Jean-Luc Godard: No Difference Between Life and
Cinema.” (in course reader)
Susan Sontag. “Vivre sa vie.” (in course reader)
Papers due March 4 by 4 p.m.
Graduates email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu; undergraduates email paper to FilmHistoryTA@gmail.com:
There was no written assignment
for today. Next week, March 4, is the final date by which the first five papers
of the semester must be turned in. Failure to do so will result in dismissal
from the course with a grade of NC.
FEBRUARY 18
Films:
Night and Fog (Resnais/Marker 1955) DVD 923
Antoine et Colette (Truffuat 1962) DVD 388
La Jetée (Marker 1963) DVD 2577
The Bakery Girl of Monceau (Rohmer 1963) DVD 2028
Excerpt:
Band of Outsiders (Godard 1965) DVD 623 (45:07 to 51:50)
Reading (to be done by
February 24):
Colin MacCabe. “The Cinema is Not a Bad School.” (in course
reader)
François Truffaut. “Evolution of the New Wave.” (in course reader)
Paper topic (paper due
February 25 by 4 p.m. Graduates email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu; undergraduates email paper
to FilmHistoryTA@gmail.com):
Discuss the use voiceover in two
of today’s films.
This is the fifth paper assigned
this semester. Please keep in mind that March 4 is the final date by which the
first five papers of the semester must be turned in. Failure to do so will
result in dismissal from the course with a grade of NC.
FEBRUARY 11
Films:
Pickpocket (Bresson 1959) Blu-Ray 387
Elephant (Clark 1988) DVD 1441
Excerpt:
A Man Escaped (Bresson 1956) Blu-Ray 287 (
Reading (to be done by
February 17):
Robert Bresson. Excerpts from Notes on Cinematography. (in course reader)
Paper topic (paper due
February 18 by 4 p.m. Graduates email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu; undergraduates email paper
to FilmHistoryTA@gmail.com):
Today we discussed the idea
that formal choices have consequences, that camera position, shot length,
performance, etc lead the audience to identify with a character, to reject them,
feel superior or inferior to them, etc. Being extremely specific, discuss the
effect a formal choice made in either Elephant
or Pickpocket had on your attitude
towards a character in the film.
FEBRUARY 4
Film:
Night of the
Hunter (Laughton 1955) Blu-Ray 140
Excerpts:
Ruggles Of Red Gap (McCarey 1935) Blu-Ray/DVD 285 - region protected
Blu-Ray; you must use DVD in film library (1:18 to 9:48)
Way Down East (Griffith 1920) Blu-Ray 113 45:02 to 58:00
Out Of The Past DVD 1056 (15:00 to 25:03)
Reading (to be done by
February 10):
Robin Wood.
"Charles Laughton." (in course reader)
Paper topic (paper due
February 11 by 4 p.m. Graduates email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu; undergraduates email paper
to FilmHistoryTA@gmail.com):
Discuss whatever you find most
interesting in a single scene of Night of
the Hunter. Read today’s handout thoroughly: I expect your work to be
concrete and built around detailed description of the scene’s visual elements,
performances, etc.
JANUARY 28
Film:
Late Spring (Ozu 1949)
Blu-Ray 136
Excerpts:
Good Morning (Ozu 1959) DVD
192 (14:35 to 16:17)
In a Lonely Place (Ray 1950) DVD
752 (16:47 to 19:56)
Reading (to be done by February 3):
Robin Wood. Excerpt from “Resistance to Definiton: Ozu’s ‘Noriko’ Trilogy.” (in course
reader)
Thom Andersen. “Ozu Yasujiro: The
Master of Time.”
Paper topic (paper due February 4 by 4
p.m. Graduates email paper to gmairs@calarts.edu;
undergraduates email paper to FilmHistoryTA@gmail.com):
Discuss your response to
both Robin Wood and Thom Andersen’s essays on Ozu. Compare their approaches to
Ozu (with the understanding that Andersen is discussing the broad career and
aesthetics of Ozu while Wood is doing both that and offering a precise critique
of Late Spring, as well as the fact
that Wood’s piece is 5 or 6 times longer than Andersen’s) in light of your own
experience of Late Spring.
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