(3 credit hours)
Spring 1998
Instructor: Jeremy Butler
Office: 430C Phifer, 348-6350
Office hours: TT 2-3:00, MW 3-4:00, & by appt.
E-mail: jbutler@ua.edu
GTA: Amy Chu, achu@tcf.ua.edu,
348-6350
WWW: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
TCF 112 aims to introduce the student to the history of film and to explore some of the major conceptual models (e.g., formalism, genre theory, auteurism, and so on) that have been applied to that history.
In a sense, there are three "texts" for this course:
Gomery will supply the student with the basic facts of film history. The lectures augment those facts with specific interpretations of them. The films themselves illustrate both the readings and the lectures.
Readings Tests (3 @ 15) 45
Mid-Term Exam 25
Final Exam 30
100 TOTAL
A 93-100 C 73-76 A- 90-92 C- 70-72 B+ 87-89 D+ 67-69 B 83-86 D 63-66 B- 80-82 D- 60-62 C+ 77-79 F 59 and below
Grades will be posted by the last four digits of your student ID number in the hallway outside room 216. They may also be found on the TCF Department's World Wide Web site:
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/jbutler/t112/grades.htm
This site may be accessed from most computer labs on campus and, via the Internet, from computers around the world. If you do not wish your grades to be posted in this manner, please notify us in writing.
The tests/exams' questions assume the student has attended all lectures and film screenings.
All acts of dishonesty in any work constitute academic misconduct. The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.
To request disability accommodations, please contact Disabilities Services (348-4285). After initial arrangements are made with Disabilities Services, contact Jeremy Butler.
There will be no other opportunity to see the films other than the in-class screenings. Most are not available on videocassette.
(subject to revisions announced in class)
| Date | Lecture/Film | Readings | |
| 1/7 | Introduction to the Course/Modes of Film | ||
| LUMIÉRE SHORTS (1895) | |||
| A TRIP TO THE MOON (Méliès, 1902) | |||
| 1/12 | The Evolution of Narrative Film | ||
| German Silent Film: Expressionism | |||
| 1/14 | SMOULDERING FIRES (Brown, 1925) | Chs. 1, 2 | |
| 1/19 | No Class: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | ||
| 1/21 | German Silent Film: Kammerspielfilm | ||
| THE LAST LAUGH (Murnau, 1924) | Ch. 4 | ||
| 1/26 | Silent Film Comedy: Buster Keaton | ||
| 1/28 | SHERLOCK, JR (Keaton, 1924) | Ch. 3 | |
| *Readings Test 1: Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4* | |||
| 2/2 | Russian Formalism: Sergei Eistenstein | ||
| 2/4 | STRIKE (Eisenstein, 1924) | Ch. 5 | |
| 2/9 | Classical Hollywood Cinema | ||
| 2/11 | MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (Capra, 1936) | Ch. 6 | |
| 2/16 | Bazinian Realism: Jean Renoir | ||
| 2/18 | RULES OF THE GAME (Renoir, 1939) | Ch. 8 | |
| 2/23 | **MID-TERM EXAM** | ||
| 2/25 | Documentary Form | ||
| NANOOK OF THE NORTH (Flaherty, 1922) | |||
| PUBLIC HOUSING (Wiseman, 1997) | |||
| 3/2 | Auteur Theory: Alfred Hitchcock | ||
| 3/4 | FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (Hitchcock, 1940) | ||
| 3/9 | Italian Neorealism: Roberto Rossellini | ||
| 3/11 | PAISAN (Rossellini, 1946) | Ch. 9 | |
| 3/16 | Genre Study I: Screwball Comedy | ||
| 3/18 | THE AWFUL TRUTH (McCarey, 1937) | ||
| *Readings Test 2: Chs. 5, 6, 8, 9* | |||
| 3/23 | French New Wave: Jean-Luc Godard | ||
| 3/25 | VIVRE SA VIE (Godard, 1962) | Ch. 12 | |
| 3/30-4/3 SPRING BREAK | |||
| 4/6 | Feminism and Film | ||
| 4/8 | Sadie Benning Videotapes | ||
| THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF | |||
| TWO GIRLS IN LOVE (Maria Maggenti, 1995) | |||
| 4/13 | New German Cinema: Werner Herzog | ||
| 4/15 | STROSZEK (Herzog, 1977) | Ch. 13 | |
| 4/20 | Genre Study II: Film Noir | ||
| 4/22 | THE BIG HEAT (Lang, 1953) | ||
| 4/27 | The Breakdown of Hollywood Classicism | ||
| Course Summary | |||
| 4/29 | TBA (recent release on videotape) | Chs. 10, 11, 14 | |
| 5/6 | **Wednesday, 2-4:30 p.m.** | ||
| **Readings Test 3: Chs. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14** | |||
| **FINAL EXAM** | |||