TCF 440/540 Seminar in American Cinema

Spring 1998
3 credit hours


Instructor: Jeremy Butler
Office: 430C Phifer Hall, 348-6350
Office hours: TT 2-3:00, MW 3-4:00
E-mail: jbutler@ua.edu
WWW: http://www.tcf.ua.edu

Grades Online: http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/jbutler/t440/grades.htm

Course Objectives:

TCF 440/540 will familiarize the student with the three major critical methods applied to the American cinema: genre study, the auteur "theory," and the star "system." We will begin with the Western, director John Ford and actor John Wayne, and then, during the second half of the semester, turn our attention to the melodrama, director Douglas Sirk, and actress Lana Turner.

Our focus will shift back and forth from the primary texts (the films themselves) to the writings on them. The latter will eventually lead us into considerations of feminism, Marxism, structuralism and semiotics.

Course Requirements:

The student's grade will depend upon four separate components:

  1. An analytical exercise based on the principles discussed in David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson's Film Art. Worth 10 points. Due in class Wednesday, January 29, 11:00 a.m.
  2. Three directed papers--assigned over the course of the first two months. These four-page (1200 word minimum) papers will respond to questions handed out in class and will deal with specific topics covered during a particular week. Questions will be handed out on a Wednesday and will be due the following week (see below for dates). At least one of these papers will be graded and returned before midterm. Each paper is worth 16 points for a total of 48 points.

    These papers must be typed or word processed and will be graded on the basis of conceptual rigor and fluency of writing style (i.e., grammar, spelling, etc.). Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course. You are not expected to do extra research for these papers, but any references to sources other than yourself must be properly footnoted--see Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers, or a similar style book. This includes references to the course readings. To quote or paraphrase without citation constitutes academic misconduct.

    The paper grading will include suggestions for improving your writing. Students who are concerned about their writing style are urged to come in during office hours to discuss their work in more detail. In addition, style guides will be available in the instructor's office--as well as in the reference room of the main library.
  3. One ten-page (3000 word minimum) research paper. This paper will take one film and analyze it in the context of its genre, director, or major star--using the principles learned in class. The film chosen may not be a Western or a melodrama, directed by John Ford or Douglas Sirk, or star John Wayne or Lana Turner. This paper is worth 30 points and will be due Monday, May 5th, 4:45 p.m., in my mailbox in the TCF Office, 484 Phifer Hall.

    As with the directed papers, this project must be typed and will be graded based on conceptual rigor and fluency of writing style. This paper should involve outside research. Any use of outside sources must be properly footnoted. A bibliography and a filmography (that is, the credits for the film analyzed) must be provided.
  4. An open book, open note final exam--worth 12 points. The final exam period is Tuesday, May 6th, 8:00-10:30 a.m. No early exams will be given.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:

Beyond the requirements for undergraduates, the grad student must lead one discussion (worth 3 points). The directed papers should be five pages (1500 words) instead of four (worth 15 points), and the final paper should be 13 pages instead of 10.

Grading scale: 

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

Posting of grades:

Grades will be posted on the TCF Department's Web site:

http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/jbutler/t440/grades.htm

If you do not wish your grades to be posted in this manner, please notify me in writing.

Attendance Policy:

If poor attendance adversely affects class discussions, then in-class quizzes will be given and factored into the grading.

Academic Misconduct Policy:

All acts of dishonesty in any work constitute academic misconduct. The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.

Disabilities Accommodation Policy:

To request disability accommodations, please contact Disabilities Services (348-4285). After initial arrangements are made with Disabilities Services, contact Jeremy Butler.

Course Schedule

(subject to changes announced in class)

Date Topic/Film/Discussion Readings
1/7 Introduction to the Course
1/12 Film Analysis: Narrative Form Bordwell/Thompson (chs. 3, 4)
1/14 RIO BRAVO (Hawks, 1959; 140 min.)
1/19 No Class: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
1/21 Film Analysis: Classical Style (Illustrations.) Bordwell/Thompson (chs. 6, 7)
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (Ford, 1941)
1/26 Film Analysis: Editing and Sound Bordwell/Thompson (ch. 8, 9)
1/28 11:00 a.m.: Discussion and *Analytical Exercise Due*
7:00 p.m.: The Concept of Genre and TUMBLEWEEDS (1925)
2/2 Discussion Kitses (6-27), Buscombe
(33-45), Collins(157-163)
2/4 The Western as Genre
UNFORGIVEN (Eastwood, 1992; 127 min.)
2/9 Discussion Wright (16-59)
2/11 The Concept of Authorship
WAGONMASTER (Ford, 1950)
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (Ford, 1962; extract)
*Assignment One Due*
2/16 Discussion Caughie (9-16, 22-67)
2/18 John Ford as Auteur (Illustrations.)
THE QUIET MAN (Ford, 1952)
2/23 Discussion Sarris (on Ford, 43-49)
Caughie (69-74, 83-101,138-151)
2/25 Auteur-Structuralism and Post-Structuralism
*Assignment Two Due*
YOUNG MR LINCOLN (Ford, 1939)
3/2 Discussion Caughie (123-135, 152-165)
Cahiers (493-529; read
only sections 1-11, 18, & 25)
3/4 The Concept of Star
HURRICANE EXPRESS (Schaefer & McGowan, 1933)
3/9 Discussion Dyer (Stars, 99-172)
3/11 John Wayne as Star
THE SEARCHERS (Ford, 1956)
3/16 Discussion Screen Ed. (3-48)
3/18 Domestic Melodrama as Genre
*Assignment Three Due*
IMITATION OF LIFE (Stahl, 1934)
3/23 Discussion Haskell (153-188)
3/25 Domestic Melodrama Since World War II
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (Brooks, 1983; 132 min.)--in Reading Room, no in-class screening
3/30-4/3 SPRING BREAK
4/6 Discussion Gledhill (5-39), Elsaesser (43-69)
4/8 Melodrama Variations: TV Soap Opera
*Research Paper Topics Due*
BACKSTAGE WIFE/AS THE WORLD TURNS
4/13 Discussion (Illustrations) Butler ("Apparatus," 53-70) Reading Room
Butler ("Actors," 75-91)
4/15 Douglas Sirk as Auteur
IMITATION OF LIFE (Sirk, 1959)
4/20 Discussion Sarris (on Sirk, 109-110)
Fischer (3-28, 268-272)
4/22 Lana Turner as Star (Illustrations)
THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (Minnelli, 1952)
4/27 Discussion Dyer (30-52) [Also in
Fischer (186-206)]
4/29 Discussion: Course Summary and Autocritique
DONOVAN'S REEF (Ford, 1963)
5/4 *Monday: Research Paper Due--4:45 p.m., TCF Office, 484 Phifer Hall*
5/7 *Thursday: Final Exam Period--8-10:30 a.m.*

Reading List:

Available at Local Bookstores:

David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, Fifth Edition (New York: McGraw Hill, 1997).

John Caughie, ed., Theories of Authorship (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981).

Lucy Fischer,ed., Imitation of Life, (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991).

Available at Supe Store:

(Some will also be on reserve--Main Library and/or Winter (Communication) Reading Room)

In order of assignment.

  1. Jim Kitses, Horizons West (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969), 6-27.
  2. Edward Buscombe, "The Idea of Genre in the American Cinema," Screen, 11 (2): 33-45.
  3. Richard Collins, "Genre: A Reply to Ed Buscombe," in Movies and Methods, ed. Bill Nichols (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), 157-163.
  4. Will Wright, Six Guns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), 16-57.
  5. Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973), 43-49, 109-110.
  6. The Editors, Cahiers du Cinéma, "John Ford's YOUNG MR. LINCOLN," in Movies and Methods, ed. Bill Nichols (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), 493-529.
  7. Richard Dyer, Stars (London: British Film Institute, 1979), 99-172.
  8. Screen Education, "THE SEARCHERS: Materials and Approaches," Winter 1975/76, 3-48.
  9. Molly Haskell, "The Woman's Film," in From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies (New York: Penguin, 1974), 153-188.
  10. Christine Gledhill, "The Melodrama Field: An Investigation," in Home is Where the Heart Is: Studies in Melodrama and Woman's Film, ed. Christine Gledhill (London: British Film Institute, 1987), 5-39.
  11. Thomas Elsaesser, "Tales of Sound and Fury: Observations on the Family Melodrama," in Home is Where the Heart Is: Studies in Melodrama and Woman's Film, ed. Christine Gledhill (London: British Film Institute, 1987), 43-69.
  12. Jeremy G. Butler, "Notes on the Soap Opera Apparatus: Televisual Style and AS THE WORLD TURNS," Cinema Journal, Spring 1986, 53-70.
  13. Jeremy G. Butler, "'I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One on TV': Characters, Actors, and Acting in Television Soap Opera," Cinema Journal, Summer 1991, 75-91.
  14. Richard Dyer, "Four Films of Lana Turner," Movie 25, 30-52.

(Note: The above listings follow the guidelines for footnotes specified in Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers. Citations in a bibliography use a slightly different format. You must use Turabian or another recognized style guide when creating citations in your papers.)