COMMUNICATION 641: Cinema as a Social Force
Spring 2005

Prof. Marty Norden
409 Machmer Hall, 545-0598, 545-1311
norden(at)comm.umass.edu
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~norden/641syll.html

In this seminar we will investigate issues related to the general topic of film and society and will doubtlessly make forays into such cognate fields as economics, politics, sociology, and psychology along the way. The semester will be divided into four overlapping units: Development & Structure, Function, Representation, and Audience. The first unit will cover the emergence and maturation of the film industry and its connections with other cultural institutions and society in general. The second unit will focus on the various functions of film -- e.g., entertainment, education, propaganda, and mode of discourse for maintaining the status quo -- as reflected in the work of representative practitioners. The third unit will examine film and society's mutually causal relationship with special attention paid to film's role as a socio-cultural document. Finally, the fourth unit will investigate spectatorship issues. Though film will be the main medium under study here, I would welcome and encourage discussion and research related to video/TV as well.

REQUIRED TEXTS (available at the Jeffrey Amherst College Store, 26 S. Prospect St., downtown Amherst):

• Boggs, Carl, and Tom Pollard. A World in Chaos: Social Crisis and the Rise of Postmodern Cinema. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
• Stokes, Melvyn, and Richard Maltby, eds. Identifying Hollywood's Audiences: Cultural Identity and the Movies. London: BFI Publishing, 1999.
• Turner, Graeme. Film as Social Practice, 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 1999.
• Xing, Jun, and Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, eds. Reversing the Lens: Ethnicity, Race, Gender, and Sexuality Through Film. Boulder: U. Press of Colorado, 2003.

REQUIREMENTS:
Two "research reviews" are required for this seminar, and they must come from different units. For each review, you will examine and report on a coherent body of literature (a single major text, perhaps, or a grouping of related lesser texts) related to that unit in our seminar. Each review must be presented both orally and in written form. The written version of each review is due the same day as the oral presentation. (But please don't plan merely to read your reviews, unless you have a degree from the Orson Welles School of Intonation.) In addition, please prepare a one or two page abstract/outline of each review for distribution to your seminar-mates on the day of each presentation. Each review will be worth approximately 25% of your final grade.

An original research project is also required and will be due during Finals week (a specific date will be announced later). It will be worth approximately 35% of your final grade. Be prepared to give an oral report on this in-progress project during the last class period of the semester.

Regular attendance and informed participation will be cherished dearly, and will be worth approximately 15% of your final grade.

For your protection, I would advise you to make and keep a copy of each project (whether a photocopy, a print-out, or stored as a computer file) until you receive the original back from me.

Please be forewarned that I have a near-pathological aversion to handing out "incompletes." I will give such non-grades only under the most extreme of circumstances (such as illness or your own death) and even then grudgingly. Otherwise, any missing work will be averaged into the final grade.

GENERAL SEMINAR SCHEDULE (subject to change, no doubt):

Jan. 26		Introduction

Feb. 2		UNIT I: DEVELOPMENT & STRUCTURE	
		Reading: Turner
		Screening: Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), directed
			by Susan Seidelman 

Feb. 9		Current structure of the film industry
		Readings: Dargis, Scott, Hirschberg, Garfield, Mintz/Bierman

Feb. 16		Unit I research reviews

Feb. 23		(Monday schedule)

Mar. 2		UNIT II: FUNCTION
		Reading: Boggs & Pollard
		Screening: JFK (1991), directed by Oliver Stone

Mar. 9		Case study: Hollywood as historian
		Screening: JFK, part II
		Unit II research reviews

Mar. 16		SPRING BREAK

Mar. 23		Unit II research reviews

Mar. 30		UNIT III: REPRESENTATION	       
		Reading: Xing & Hirabayashi
		Screening: Mississippi Masala (1991), directed by Mira Nair

Apr. 6		Reading: Skin Deep Facilitators Guide
		Screening: Skin Deep (1995), directed by Frances Reid		
		Unit III research reviews

Apr. 13		Unit III research reviews

Apr. 20		UNIT IV: AUDIENCE
		Readings: Stokes & Maltby, Cohan (distributed in class)
		Screening: Basic Instinct (1992), directed by Paul Verhoeven

Apr. 27		Unit IV research reviews
	
May 4		Unit IV research reviews

May 11		Oral reports on final projects