CMLT 280: Film Art in Global Society
Spring 2010
Lecture and Screening: Wednesday 11:00am to 2:00pm (JMZ 0220)
Discussion sections:
0101(15817) – Fri. 11:00am-11:50am (TWS 1107)
0102(15818) – Fri. 12:30pm-1:20pm (TYD 2110)
0103(15819) – Fri. 2:00pm-2:50pm (TWS 1107)
0104(15820) – Fri. 3:00pm-3:50pm (TWS 1107)
Class Blog: http://cmlt280.wordpress.com
Class Blackboard Site: http://www.elms.umd.edu
Professor Greg Metcalf
Office: Tawes 3231
Office Hours: Tues: 3:00-3:30 (at Non-Print Media Hornbake)
Weds/Thurs: 2:00-3:00 (at Tawes 3231) and by appointment
Joseph Byrne (TA)
Office: Tawes 2132
Office Hours: Weds. 10:00am-11:00am, 2:00pm-3:00pm, and by appointment
Course Description
When this course was originally created it focused on the National Cinema traditions of several key nations and explored the artistic style, the themes, and the evidence of unique cultures from different nations, comparing difference and influence. In a post-World War II environment, Hollywood dominated world film and non-Hollywood film could be considered in these National terms.
As the decades have passed, the world of film has fundamentally changed. Besides Bollywood (India), even Nollywood (Nigeria) challenge the primacy of Hollywood entertainment film. We also live in an increasingly international environment of business and filmmaking, with digital video, DVDs and the internet making it easier to produce film and easier for an interested audience to consume film from around the world. National cinema still exists but its functions – and its vocabularies – have expanded.
This semester we will begin with a traditional National Cinema approach and consider the issues related to that categorization. We will then consider film according to the definitions of First (Hollywood/Entertainment), Second (Art) and Third (Political) Cinema and, briefly, their relation to Neo-Realism and the French New Wave. The majority of the course will consider the relation of the traditional functions of National – and non-entertainment – cinema to films being made for National and International audiences today. The primary focus will remain films made for reasons other than simply entertainment. Specifically, these internationalizing films will be discussed in the context of presenting “truth” in film, the use of the personal story, and the use of traditional genre film forms.
A major goal of this course is to expose you to a sampler of the many different ways of making non-Hollywood entertainment films and, in doing so, to consider different narrative forms, aesthetic standards, and levels of political and social content than you might think is normal (or even possible) if you have watched only Hollywood-style film.
Learning Outcomes
This course satisfies the General Education requirements both for Humanities and for Understanding Plural Societies.
Humanities Goals: At the completion of this course, students will be able to...
1) Demonstrate familiarity and facility with fundamental terminology and concepts in the study of global cinema.
2) Demonstrate understanding of the methods used by scholars in the study of global cinema.
3) Demonstrate critical thinking in the evaluation of approaches and techniques in the study of global cinema.
4) Describe how language use is related to ways of thinking, cultural heritage, and cultural values in the area of global cinema.
Understanding Plural Societies Goals: At the completion of this course, students will be able to...
1) Explicate the processes that create or fail to create just, productive, egalitarian, and collaborative societies through the study of how films understand, make visible, and influence social change, while they explore social inequality and reveal how culture has addressed these inequalities.
2) Analyze forms and traditions of thought or expression in global film in relation to cultural, historical, political, and social contexts, including attention to sound, dance, religious traditions, dress, foodways, and other non-verbal forms of cultural knowledge and communication.
3) Understand how particular policies create or inhibit the formation and functioning of plural societies by analyzing the content of films that address these very issues.
4) Understand how films stage multicultural, multilingual, and transnational encounters that demand comparative and intersectional frameworks for analysis, and how films themselves explore the politics of the very field of Global Cinema.
5) Make use of information technologies, including databases and a course discussion board to communicate research findings.
Required Texts:
1) There is no printed textbook to be purchased for this course.
2) Instead there are about eighty online articles for you to read either through links or PDFs available in the “course documents” section of ELMS/Blackboard for this class. Expect to be reading at least three articles a week. The readings include formal analyses, contextual discussions, reviews and interviews. You are responsible for the content of all readings. They will be referred to in lecture but they will not be spoon-fed to you. If you have questions, ask them. If you do not ask questions it will be assumed that you understand the readings. Exams will test your understanding of the readings as well as lecture and discussion.
3) Readings will be regularly added during the semester. You are responsible for all of them.
4) You will also be required to check and do assignments through the class blog. You should check the blog regularly for information and assignments.
5) You may also be required to view one film outside of class. More information will be distributed after the midterm and, if necessary, the film will be available for screening several times in Non-Print Media in Hornbake Library.
Course Requirements
1) Do not surf the net or text messages during classes. Besides being rude and distracting to those around you, it also means that you are not paying attention and will probably miss something. This goes for both discussions and screenings: FILM IS A VISUAL MEDIUM. When you are surfing through Facebook you are missing the visuals. Since most of you don’t speak the languages of the films, unless you are looking at the screen you are also MISSING THE WORDS.
2) If you are using your computer to take notes about the film during screenings then sit in the back row of the class so that your screen light does not mess up the movie for everyone else.
3) If you do not understand concepts from the reading, students are expected to ask questions.
4) Students are required to attend every class and every film screening, and their assigned weekly discussion section meeting.
5) Students are expected to participate actively in discussion, complete the midterm and final at their scheduled times, complete all written assignments by their due dates as well as other possible assignments including in-class presentations and pop quizzes.
6) This design of this course means that the Friday discussion sections are an integral part of the course. You will not do well if you blow off the Friday sections of this class and you should consider dropping the class if you don’t plan to attend Friday sections.
7) You will turn in hard copies of the two major papers. If you would like your final paper back with comments, you will need to turn in TWO copies, along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. (Or you may make an appointment with the TA at the beginning of the following semester.) Departmental policy requires that one copy of your paper be kept on file after the course ends.
Course Warnings
1) Most of the films in this class are in non-English languages and are subtitled.
2) There are a wide range of ideas in these films. Some of them are ideas that you might not agree with at a political or social level (and that the instructors may not agree with). If you find the apparent political and social values of a film or the depiction of violence, gender, sex, sexuality disturbing it is probably because that was the intention of the filmmaker. Hollywood trains us to look for films that reinforce our values and make us comfortable, non-Hollywood films generally want to poke at our assumptions a bit more, make us reconsider what we take for granted. I suspect that everyone will find something that abrades their comfort level in the films in this class. The reason for showing you this material is to give you a sense of what other sorts of narratives and values are consumed in other cultures.
3) The purpose of this course is not to convert you. The films are shown as examples to be considered, not as truths that you are expected to believe. Much National cinema grew out what we would call a leftist sense of political and social consciousness; other films speak to the biases of their national cultures. These films are screened to represent different aspects of national variations in world cinema, and the effects of the conventions of a Hollywood-dominated film market. It will neither help nor hurt your grade if you believe or actively oppose the ideas and values represented in these films. Your job as a student in this course is to understand what those ideas are and how they relate to the narratives and forms of film, and the way that films are used in much of the world.
4) You are not “going to the movies” in this class. The films in this course are not typical Hollywood-style entertainment films. Most of them will seem slow or strange if your idea of a good film is Death Race* (which is on in the background as I type these words). Your job as students is to work at understanding them. Every film screened in this class has been highly praised and most are award winners. I mention this not to defend the films but to suggest a very educational way of approaching the films that aren’t working for you. People who know film, people from a different culture than you, think the film you are watching is great. Which of your values and experiences causes you to see the film so differently than them? Online articles will provide some context to help you answer those questions.
5) You should read no statement into which countries are represented and which are not. Each semester I start with a stack of about forty films and shuffle them around to try to juxtapose the best examples to consider the key themes of the course. It does not mean the films we are using are the “best” films, individually in terms of their national cinema traditions; they are simply the ones that should work best in combination with the others for this version of the class.
6) Disruptive behavior is never acceptable during film screenings, in this class and offenders will be removed so as to not interfere with the experience of students who are here to learn.
* (The reason I can have Death Race on in the background while doing something else is because it is a formulaic Hollywood sci-fi action film vehicle for Jason Statham. Anyone who has seen a few knows the characters and plot, as well as the pacing, so I don’t need to pay attention to enjoy it, as long as I look up for the action scenes. In contrast, every film in this course needs your full attention.)
Grading Policies
Grade Breakdown: Discussion Section: 25%*
Midterm Exam: 20%
First Paper: 10%
Final Paper: 20%
Final Exam: 25%
WARNING: More than three absences from ANY of the class meetings will negatively affect your grade. If you miss discussions and/or do not participate in discussion section activities, the entire discussion section grade (25% of your final grade) may be rendered as a zero, regardless of grades for other work done for the class.
Unexcused late work will not be accepted.
*The discussion section grade includes participation in class discussion, writing assignments, blog entries and comments, and other work not specified on this syllabus.
University/Departmental/Course Policies
EMAILS: Emails related to the course should contain “CMLT 280” in the subject line to increase the chances that they will not end up in a Junk Folder.
Feel free to send emails to your instructors any time that you like but remember that your instructors do not have a twenty-four hour call center and both do many other things besides teach CMLT 280. You might get a quick response sometimes, but not always. During the work-week you can normally expect a response within twenty-four hours, but sometimes your instructors are away for extended periods on non-class days.
It is best not to wait until the last minute to ask questions.
ACADEMIC HONESTY: Academic honesty is a good thing because 1) it increases the chances that you learn something, and 2) avoids the pain, the time wasted on procedural stuff, and the damage to your future, if you get caught cheating.
The internet is a nifty tool for finding plagiarism as well as for committing it.
For any questions about academic honesty, see University policies at:
http://www.shc.umd.edu/code.html
http://www.testudo.umd.edu/soc/dishonesty.html
SPECIAL NEEDS: If you have a registered disability and wish to discuss accommodations, let one of your instructors know in the first two weeks of class. Disabilities can be registeed through Disability Support Services (4-7682 or 57683 TTY/TDD).
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE ABSENCES: Inform your instructor of any intended absences for the semester in the first two weeks of class.
MEDICAL ABSENCES: It is your responsibility to contact your instructor to present the proper documentation when you return to class and to make up any missing work within one week of your return.
Almost all of the course films can viewed at Nonprint Media if you miss a class screening or want to re-watch them for a paper or just for the love of the cinematic experience.
SWINE FLU WARNING: The Swine Flu (AKA: H1N1) is supposed to be quite bad this year so the University asks that you stay home if you come down with the flu and don’t infect the rest of us. If for some reason both Greg Metcalf and Joseph Byrne come down with the flu at the same time, course information will be posted on the class blog and/or the Blackboard site.
UNIVERSITY SHUTDOWNS: If the University shuts down for an extended period of time, check the main University page and the ELMS (Blackboard) page for instructions.
The course outline will be followed using remote teaching to the extent possible in such a situation. Information on continuing course requirements will be posted on the course web page and/or sent by direct e-mail to all students. Students will be responsible for material/assignments disseminated in this way. The grade of “incomplete” will not be used.
In the event that the University-maintained web pages and e-mail service disappear during the closure, the course content will be shortened as needed and grades will be assigned on a pro-rated basis. The grade of “incomplete” will not be used.