Evaluation
(1) Essay 20%
(2) Journal 40%
(3) Final Exam: take-home or in-class essay 40%
Essay
Choose two political films from the class list and two of your own choosing and write an essay on their central themes. Your essay should be between six and eight pages, double spaced. It is due on October 22nd.
Journal
A more informal style of writing, your journal should record notes from class, conversationswith fellow students, family, friends et. al. about cinema and its cultural impact. Thejournal/notebook should also highlight research you have been doing: reading and viewing youwill have done in the library or on the net. This is the independent learning section of thecourse. Students will have to have access to Netflicks, Amazon Prime or YouTube where almost all of the films will be located. You will be expected to write reviews and summaries of their themes, plots, performances and style and to make comparisons with other films you have seen over your lifetime of film viewing. You should try to write/ compose at least two entries per week. The length of these entries depends onyour writing skills, but try to avoid point form. Remember that the journal is also a writing and communicating exercise. Do not fear the blankpage, as no one learns how to write well overnight. Students can receive feedback on their journal at anytime. The final journal should be sent in on the last day of class.
Lesson I.
Power and soft power, entertainment versus art; the war epic, race, gender, religion, sex, hegemony and the beginnings of Political Cinema. Eisenstein, Griffiths, Surrealism, The Hayes Code and Hollywood. From Scarface to Mae West censoring Hollywood. Orson Welles and Citizen KaneThe Third Man (1949). Graham Greene, Carol Reed and Orson Welles:The politics and possibilities of Film First Lecture
Lesson Italian neo-realism
Before and after Neo-realism Jean Renoir as template Rossellini Scorsese the of Italian neo-realism: Rome, Open BFI Trailer; Paisan and Germany Year Zero. In the Wake of Neo Realism, In Paisan we will examine the portrayal of the Black American GI and explore Spike Lee’s cinema as a response to race in America: Miracle at St. Anna African American Soldiers Clockers, Malcolm X. The post war Polish cinema of Andrzej Wajda: A Generation, Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds.
Lesson III Battle of Algiers Lecture IA; Lecture 11 Algiers
Lecture 3Algiers
Short life of Pontecorvo, INTERVIEW with Pontecorvo, The Battle of AlgiersFull Film; Five Directors on Algiers Speaking truth to power in the colonial wars. Considered by many to be the greatest political film in the history of cinema. Influenced by Italian neo-realism, Pontecorvo's masterpiece is a template for all political cinema. Recommended Readings: Frantz Fanon Short life of Frantz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth Book Summary. Brief history of the Algerian War of Independence Roger Ebert on Algiers; and Bloody Sunday
Paul Greengrass film
https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/fanon/conclusion.htmhttps://frantz-fanon.webs.com/
Lesson IV Lecture One on Little Big Man
Lecture 2 Little Big Man
Little Big Man (1970). John Ford The Searchers, Captivity Myth Arthur Penn, Sam Peckinpah, Vietnam, My My Lai and the Myth of the American West.
Lesson V Lecture One on Plenty:
Plenty: David Hare, Meryl Streep, and First Wave Feminism. Antonia’s Line, Fargo, All About My Mother, The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, Talk to Her.Philomena, Three Billboards of Ebbing County.
Lesson VI Lecture on Black Rain
Black Rain : Shohei Imamura documentary and Ibuse Masuji representing Hiroshima. Ebert interview
Lesson VII Lecture on Conspiracy
1Conspiracy: Clips from the Wanasee 2Conference; clip 3 denial the Holocaust: Korczak, Shindler’s List, Saul.
Lesson VIII Lecture on Quiz Show
Robert Redford's Quiz Show: Recommended Readings: Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Volver, Bamboozled, Hail Caesar.
Lesson IX
The Quiet American, Michael Cain interview Phillip Noyce and Graham Greene exposing empire. Viet Than Nguyen’s The Sympathizer. Apocalypse Now(the limits of satire and irony)
Lesson X
Once Were Warriors, apart from Hobbits and Orcs. Smoke Signals, Dances With Wolves, Black Robe, The Fast Runner, Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too), Lonestar, Men With Guns, Amigo.
Lesson XI
Lecture on Ken Loach
Last Lecture for 2020 Free World