6 October 2011
UNIT 1 -- PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONING and CULTURAL FUNCTIONS
OF CINEMA
Plato, Republic, Book
VII
Why
study film philosophically?
13 October 2011
UNIT 2
– IDEOLOGY AND CHILDREN's CINEMA
Henry Giroux, "Animating
Youth " in Fugitive Cultures
Ideology Reading, John Lye, Online:
http://www.brocku.ca/english/jlye/ideology
Screening: Mickey
Mouse Monopoly (MEF) (SeeMEF
Online Study Guides)
20 October 2011
UNIT 3–
THE GANGSTER FILM: ETHICS AND MORAL CHOICE IN URBAN AMERICA
Plato, Republic, Book
II (2) & Book
IX (9)
Film: Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas (1990)
27 October 2011
UNIT 3 - THE GANGSTER FILM: continued
Download the
Film Analysis Form (Word
DOC)
3 November 2011
UNIT 4 Pt 1 - THE WESTERN: SEMIOTICS AND AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY
Structuralism
from The Theory Toolbox (J. Nealon & S. S. Giroux)
Roland Barthes, “Myth
Today,” in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture
Film: George Stevens, Shane (1953)
DUE TODAY: Goodfellas analysis
10 November 2011
UNIT 4 Pt 2 – THE WESTERN: SEMIOTICS AND AMERICAN
MYTHOLOGY
Will Wright, “The
Structure of Myth and The Structure of the Western Film,”
in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture
Film: George Stevens, Shane (1953)
17 November 2011
UNIT 5 Pt 1 –AMERICAN DYSTOPIA: MODERNISM & EPISTEMOLOGY
Descartes, Meditations 1
– 3
Film: Wachowski Brothers, The Matrix (1999)
Note: Students need to view & take notes on THE MATRIX before
next week's class.
DUE TODAY: Shane analysis
24 November 2011
UNIT 5 Pt 2 –AMERICAN DYSTOPIA: MODERNISM & EPISTEMOLOGY
"Computers,
Caves and Oracles," William Irwin
"Popping a Bitter
Pill: Existential Authenticity in The Matrix and Nausea,"
Jennifer L. McMahon
"The
Matrix: Or the Two Sides of Perversion," Slavoj Zizek
Online Essay: "The
Matrix: Keanu lost in Plato's cave," Mackenzie Wark
Guest Multimedia Lecture: David Gunkel, Prof. of Communications,
Northern Illinois University
Film: Wachowski Brothers, The Matrix (1999)
1 December 2011
UNIT 6 Pt 1 - FILM NOIR & THE AMERICAN CITY: URBAN EXISTENTIALISM
Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism
is a Humanism"
Friedrich Nietzsche, "The
Madman" from The Gay Science
Optional: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy / Overview
on Existentialism
Film: Carol Reed, The Third Man (1949)
DUE TODAY: Matrix analysis
8 December 2011
UNIT 6 Pt 2 –- FILM NOIR & THE AMERICAN CITY:
URBAN EXISTENTIALISM
On Film Noir (from Nicholas Christopher Somewhere in the Night:
Film Noir and the American City)
Film Noir Rdg
Pt 1 - Rdg
Pt 2 -
Rdg Pt 3 - Rdg
Pt 4 - Rdg
Pt 5 - Rdg
Pt 6 - Rdg
Pt 7
Website Overview of
Film Noir: http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
Film: Carol Reed, The Third Man (1949)
15 December 2011
UNIT 7 Pt 1 – POSTMODERNITY: THE THEMING OF THE AMERICAN
WILD WEST
Plato, Republic, Book
X (10)
Baudrillard, "Precession
of Simulacra," in Cultural Theory & Popular Culture
Film: Jim Jarmusch, Dead Man (1995)
DUE TODAY: Third Man analysis
5 January 2012
UNIT 7 Pt 2 – POSTMODERNITY: THE THEMING OF THE AMERICAN
WILD WEST
"Acid Western,"
Jonathan Rosenbaum
"Dead Man,"
Gino Moliterno
"Dead Space,"
Vincente Rodriguez-Ortega
Jacob Levich, "Western
Auguries: Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man", Film Comment, May-June
1996, pp. 39-41
Film: Jim Jarmusch, Dead Man (1995)
NOTE: FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE DISTRIBUTED
AT CLASS
12 January 2012
UNIT 8 – CONSUMING & CRITIQUING CINEMA IN HOLLYWOOD
MEDIA
VIDEO: BEHIND THE SCREENS, MEDIA
EDUCATION FOUNDATION
19 January 2012
FINAL EXAM DUE TODAY / FINAL DISCUSSION
NOTE: NO makeup exams during the February exam period will be available
NOTE: NO CLASS
26 January
