TCF 340 International Cinema: French Film

Transcription

1 TCF 340 International Cinema: French Film TCF 340 International Cinema: French Film Catalog Course Description: Study of motion pictures produced throughout the world. Subjects may change each time course is offered. Prerequisites: TCF 112, or permission of instructor. The College of Communication & Information Sciences requires that all students enrolled in upper division courses (300/400 level) have a 2.0 GPA overall. Students who do not have the 2.0 GPA may be administratively disenrolled on the first day of class. Course Number, and Number of Credit Hours: TCF , 3 credit hours elearning: Assignments and grades are available online via elearning. Access the course on elearning via MyBama's "academics" tab or directly through this link. Easier-to-Print Syllabus: A easier-to-print version of this syllabus is available in PDF format. To view/print it, you'll need Adobe Reader, a free piece of software that may already be on your computer. Try clicking this link to find out. If that does not work, go over here to download Adobe Reader and then click that link again. Last revised: 05 August :25:02 Copyright All rights reserved. [8/7/08 11:07:45 AM]

2 TCF 340 International Cinema: The French Film Course Objectives: TCF 340 assumes the student understands generally the contours of international cinema history. The course's objective therefore is to investigate in some depth the cinematic work of a particular nation and the historical/theoretical issues pertaining to it. This term our topic will be the French cinema. TCF 340's learning outcomes: Students will learn to understand the shaping of film history and the impact of diverse groups on that history; to write correctly and clearly (evaluating their work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, appropriate style, and grammatical correctness); to evaluate concepts and apply theories in the use and presentation of images and narratives; and to think critically, creatively, and independently. Instructor: Jeremy Butler Office: 486B Phifer Office hours: TT 3:15-4:45, & by appt [email protected] Facebook Profile Assessment: Your progress will be assessed through: 1. An analytical exercise based upon the principles discussed in Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art. Worth 15 points. 2. Midterm and final exams -- open-book, open-note. Early exams will not be given. Each is worth 35 points, for a total of Participation in class discussions and exercises. Worth 5 points. 4. One take-home essay, which will synthesize concepts presented over the course of the entire semester. Essay topics will be distributed at the last class meeting and the essay will be due at the final exam period. It must be word-processed and, if necessary, properly footnoted. Worth 10 points. 5. Extra Credit Option: There are two extra credit options, worth 3 points, and due 5 December. Only one of the two options may be selected. Screenings & Credits: Most films will be shown on DVD Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in room 216. You may bring guests with you. There will be no other class screenings of the films, but copies of most of them are on reserve in the Communication and Information Sciences Reading Room (not the Gorgas Library), and a few are available in the audio-visual section of the Gorgas Library (see call numbers below). Credits are available from the Internet Movie Database. Follow the links below to find credits for specific films. Grading (1 of 6) [8/7/08 11:08:43 AM]

3 Grades will be posted online via elearning. Grading scale: A C F 59 and below A C A C B D B D B D Course Calendar (subject to changes announced in class): = illustrations = UbuWeb films Date Topic/Film/Discussion Readings 8/21 Introduction to Course DAY FOR NIGHT (Truffaut, 1973) 8/26 Film Analysis: Narrative Form Bordwell/ chs. 2, 3 (except Citizen Kane analysis) 8/28 Film Analysis: Mise-en-Scene MY OTHER HUSBAND (Lautner, 1983) (French title: Attention! Une femme peut en cacher une autre; literally, "Watch out! A wife/woman can conceal an other [woman]") Bordwell/ chs. 4 9/2 Film Analysis: Cinematographic Properties Bordwell/ chs. 5 9/4 Film Analysis: Editing & Sound Bordwell/ chs. 6, 7 7:00 p.m. Early French Cinema LUMIÈRE SHORTS THE MYSTERIOUS RETORT and THE ECLIPSE (Méliès, 1907) TROUBLES OF A GRASS WIDOWER (Linder, 1908) 9/9 Analytical Exercise Due Click here for Exercise illustrations! 9/11 The Avant-Garde: Dada & Surrealism ENTR'ACTE (Clair, 1924; Gorgas VCR 84-27) CHARLESTON (Renoir, 1927) UN CHIEN ANDALOU (Buñuel/Dalí, 1928; Gorgas VCR 84-27) ZERO FOR CONDUCT (Vigo, 1933; Gorgas VCR 84-11) Recommended: THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (Dreyer, 1928; CIS Reading Room) BALLET MÉCANIQUE (Léger/Murphy; 1924) (2 of 6) [8/7/08 11:08:43 AM]

4 À PROPOS DE NICE (Vigo, 1929; Gorgas VCR 84-27) L'ATALANTE (Vigo, 1934; Tuscaloosa Public Library) ANEMIC CINEMA (Duchamp, 1926) Man Ray films Germaine Dulac films 9/16 Discussion Hughes, ; Bordwell/ /18 French Cinema Between the Wars I: Sound's Arrival and the Popular Front THE CRIME OF M. LANGE (Renoir, 1935) Recommended: LE JOUR SE LÈVE (Carné, 1939; Gorgas DVD ) 9/23 Discussion Fofi, /25 Bazinian Realism: Jean Renoir THE RULES OF THE GAME (Renoir, 1939; Gorgas DVD ) Recommended: GRAND ILLUSION (Renoir, 1939; Gorgas DVD ) 9/30 Discussion (Holiday: Rosh Hashanah) 10/2 French New Wave I: Alain Resnais LES MISTONS (Truffaut, 1957; Gorgas VCR 84-12) HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (Resnais, 1959) Recommended: NIGHT AND FOG (Resnais, 1955) Bazin ("Evolution"), ("Pop. Front"), /7 Discussion Monaco ("Resnais"), /9 Mid-Semester Study Break 10/14 Midterm Exam 10/16 French New Wave II: François Truffaut "ANTOINE ET COLETTE" in LOVE AT TWENTY (1962, C&IS Reading Room) STOLEN KISSES (Truffaut, 1968, Gorgas VCR 84-14) Recommended: THE 400 BLOWS (Truffaut, 1959, Gorgas DVD ), JULES AND JIM (Truffaut, 1962, Gorgas DVD ) 10/21 Discussion Monaco ("NW"), 13-36, /23 French New Wave III: Éric Rohmer THE GIRL AT THE MONCEAU BAKERY (Rohmer, 1963) CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON (Rohmer, 1972) (3 of 6) [8/7/08 11:08:43 AM]

5 10/28 Discussion Monaco ("NW"), ; Crisp, /29 Last day to drop a course with a grade of "W". 10/30 French Modernism: Jean-Luc Godard & Bertolt Brecht BREATHLESS (Godard, 1960; Gorgas VCR 84-20) 11/4 Discussion (Election Day) 11/6 Godard and Contemporary Feminism LES FIANCÈS DU PONT MAC DONALD (Varda, 1961) VIVRE SA VIE (Godard, 1962) Brecht, 33-42; Wollen, 79-91; MacCabe, /11 Discussion MacCabe/ Mulvey, /13 Recent Godard IN PRAISE OF LOVE (Godard, 2001) 11/18 Discussion Penley, 32-59; MacCabe, /20 French Feminism, Continued: Agnès Varda and Claire Denis VAGABOND (Varda, 1986, Gorgas VCR 98-72) 11/25 CHOCOLAT (Denis, 1989) (class will run overtime) 11/27 Thanksgiving Holiday 12/2 Discussion Take-Home Essay distributed. 12/4 Cinema Ascetic: Robert Bresson 12/8, Monday AMÉLIE (Jeunet, 2001) Recommended: A MAN ESCAPED (Bresson, 1956) Final Exam, Monday, 8:00-10-:30 a.m. Kuhn, Bresson, 1-18 Texts/Resources (4 of 6) [8/7/08 11:08:43 AM]

6 Available at local bookstores: Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. Eighth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, Available through the Academic Publishing Service (Supe Store), the Winter Reading Room and electronic reserve: In alphabetical order, not the order in which they are assigned. 1. Armes, Roy. French Cinema. NY: Oxford University, Bazin, André. "The Era of the Popular Front." In Jean Renoir, pp Edited and with an introduction by Francois Truffaut. Translated by W. W. Halsey II and William H. Simon. NY: Simon & Schuster, Bazin, André. "The Evolution of Film Language." In The New Wave, pp Edited and translated by Peter Graham. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Bazin, André. "LE JOUR SE LÊVE... Poetic Realism." In LE JOUR SE LÊVE: A Film by Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert, pp Translated by Dinah Brooke and Nicola Hayden. NY: Simon and Schuster, Brecht, Bertolt. "The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre." In Brecht on Theatre, pp Edited and translated by John Willett. New York: Hill and Wang, Bresson, Robert. Notes on Cinematography. Translated by Jonathan Griffin. NY: Urizen, Crisp, C. G. Eric Rohmer: Realist and Moralist. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, Fofi, Goffredo. "The Cinema of the Popular Front in France ( )." In Screen Reader I, pp London: SEFT, Kuhn, Annette. Women's Pictures: Feminism and Cinema. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Hughes, Robert. The Shock of the New. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, MacCabe, Colin. Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, MacCabe, Colin. Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy. New York: Faber & Faber, Monaco, James. Alain Resnais. NY: Oxford University, Monaco, James. The New Wave. NY: Oxford University, Penley, Constance. "Les Enfants de la Patrie." Camera Obscura, , pp Wollen, Peter. "Godard and Counter Cinema: VENT D'EST." In Readings and Writings: Semiotic Counter-Strategies. London: Verso, Attendance Policy: Each student is permitted four absences. Each absence beyond four will result in one point being deducted from the student's final grade (maximum penalty: five points). Students who do not attend the first two meetings of class may be administratively disenrolled. Cell-Phone Policy: Cell phones must be turned off during classtime. Students who leave class to take a phone call will be counted absent for that day. Disabilities Accommodation Policy: (5 of 6) [8/7/08 11:08:43 AM]

7 Students with disabilities are encouraged to register with the Office of Disability Services, Thereafter, you are invited to schedule appointments to see me during my office hours to discuss accommodations and other special needs. Diversity Statement: This course encourages different perspectives related to such factors as gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and other relevant cultural identities. This course seeks to foster understanding and inclusiveness related to such diverse perspectives and ways of communicating. GPA Requirements: The College of Communication & Information Sciences requires that all students enrolled in upper division courses (300/400 level) have a 2.0 GPA overall. Students who do not have the 2.0 GPA may be administratively disenrolled on the first day of class. Students must earn a "C" or better in all required and elective courses in a C&IS major. A "C" or better is required in all external courses required by the major whether they serve as a prerequisite to a major course or are simply required by the major. This means a "C" of any kind. Last revised: 06 August :06:00 Copyright All rights reserved. (6 of 6) [8/7/08 11:08:43 AM]