FMS 507
Crime and Violence in American Film
Professor: Dr. Aaron Baker
Email:
Office: LL-645
Office Hours: By Appointment
Course Description:Crime and violence have been central elements of American cinema throughout its history. Popular critic Roger Ebert has commented that “More than anything else, the American movie audience loves violence.” Every year most of the top ten earning films made by Hollywood studios involve crime and violence.
In this course we will address three primary aspects of crime and violence in American film: 1) the limits placed upon them by the Production Code, and how and why those restrictions were relaxed; 2) how the depiction of crime and violence in American movies conveys attitudes in our society about their causes and the best responses to these problems; and 3) theories about the effects on audiences of viewing crime and violence in films.
Although this course is web delivered, it is neither automated nor self-paced. You are expected to engage in all learning tasks and attend threaded discussions in the Online Seminar.
Reading:There are two required texts that you need to buy for this class: 1) the Crime and Violence in American Film Textbook from Pearson Publishing and 2) Walter Mosely’s novel Devil in a Blue Dress. You can buy both either at the ASU bookstore or from an online distributor such as Amazon.com. A few additional assigned readings (marked on the syllabus with Bb) can be found on the Assignments page of the course Blackboard site.
Screenings: You are responsible for screening one film per lesson. Some of the films can be streamed for free from the course website. Others you can purchase through Amazonor see them on dvd or via streaming from Netflix or another commercial provider. The website is a good resource for finding the best deal on streaming. Public libraries are also a good place to find many of these titles on dvd.
Academic Dishonesty: In order to avoid plagiarism, your papers must provide full citations for all references: direct quotes, paraphrased, summaries, or borrowed ideas. While you are encouraged to develop your thinking with your peers, you cannot use their material without citing it. Work from other courses will not be accepted in this course without explicit, prior permission of the professor. Allowing your writing to be copied by another student is also considered cheating. Please review the Student Code of Conduct for complete guidelines on academic honesty at
Course Objectives: After taking this course, students will
- know how the Hollywood production code impacted the representation of crime and violence in American film.
- understand how the outlaw hero character is central to Hollywood’s response to crime.
- be able to analyze how representations of crime and violence relate to issues of social difference and inequality, particularly those of race and class.
- be able to take a position on the influence that film depictions of crime and violence have on viewers.
GRADED WORK
Participation (100 Points): You are responsible for participating in the online seminar discussions that take place on the eBoard. At a minimum, you should answer the questions posted by your professor and provide classmates with constructive feedback for a minimum of four (4) posts per lesson. All of your posts should be substantive; i.e., thoughtful, developed, connected to the lesson topic, and more than six sentences long. These posts must keep up with the progress of the course. Posts will be checked by 10 a.m. the day after they are due and must be posted by that time to receive credit.You cannot, for example, post to a Lesson after it has been completed and expect for the posts to be counted toward your participation grade. The professor will keep track of your participation, including assessing the value of what you bring to this interactivity. Refrain from flaming or ad hominem comments. Please be rigorous but constructive.
Paper Proposal (50 Points):Your paper proposal should have the following topic headings: 1) Project Description (a short summary of the significance of your project); 2) Working Thesis (the argument you are posing in your paper); 3) Methodology (the strategy you are using to prove your thesis); and 4) Annotated Bibliography (the primary and secondary sources you will use to both prove and link your thesis to the field). The bibliography must include five to seven sources. Four of them must be scholarly (no internet originated sources) and the others can be popular (newspaper articles, interviews, etc.). The annotation should be brief and include: 1) one or two sentences summarizing or describing the source (What are its main arguments?) and 2) one or two sentences evaluating how it fits into your research (How will you use this source in your research paper?).
Your proposal should be double-spaced, one-inch margins, and no more than three (3) pages. Your grade will be based on clear and concise writing and adherence to the assignment guidelines.
First Draft (100 Points): Your first draft should develop and present support for the thesis or argument from your proposal. It should be double-spaced, have one-inch margins all-around, be no less than ten (10) pages including endnotes, and follow either the Chicago or MLA Style.
Peer Editing (50 Points): You will read and comment on the first draft done by a classmate. Use the peer editing worksheet on the Assignments page of the FMS 507 Blackboard site to give your classmate constructive feedback on her/his essay.
Final Draft (100 Points): The final draft should reflect the comments and feedback you've received from your professor and peer editor. It should be more than just a revision; it should reflect substantial refining and reorganizing of your ideas. Your grade will be based on how well you incorporate suggestions for revision, as well as the clarity and relevance of your thesis, clear and concise writing, relevant use of sources, and adherence to the assignment guidelines. It should be double-spaced, have one-inch margins all-around, be between twelve (12) and fifteen (15) pages including endnotes, and follow either the Chicago or MLA Style.
Grading Scale:
A+..... 400+ Points
A..... 368 -399 Points
A- ..... 360 - 367 Points
B+..... 352 - 359 Points
B ..... 328 - 351 Points
B- ..... 320 - 327 Points
C+ ..... 312 - 319 Points
C ..... 288 - 311 Points
C- …. 280 - 287 Points
D ..... 240 - 279 Points
E ..... 000 - 239 Points
LEARNING TASKS
This course is comprised of 15 lessons. Each lesson includes all or some of the following tasks:
1. Reading(s):Assigned Reading(s) on the Topic of the Lesson.
2. Lecture:Listen to Streaming Audio Lectures with PowerPoint Slides
3. Online
Seminar: Answer Questions and post comments on the Electronic Bulletin Board
Lesson 01:What is a crime film?
Readings: “Crime Films (Leitch, 2007) Bb;“Genre” (Pramaggiore and Wallis, 2008)
Lecture:Course Introduction
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 02:Gangster Films
Reading:"The Enemy Goes Public: Voicing the Cultural Other in the Early 1930s Talking Gangster Film" (Munby, 1999)
Screening:Little Caesar (LeRoy, 1931)
Lecture:The Gangster Film
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 03:Criminology on Film/Film Noir
Reading:“Why They Went Bad” (Rafter, 2006) Bb and "The Death Chamber"
(Naremore, 1998)
Screening:Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
Lecture:Criminology on Film/Film Noir
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 04:Screening Violence
Reading: “Violence and American Cinema: Notes for an Investigation” (Slocum, 2001)
Screening:Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967)
Lecture:Screening Violence
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 05:Justified Violence: The Outlaw Cop
Reading:“The Thematic Paradigm” and “The Left and Right Cycles”(Ray, 1985)
Lecture:Justified Violence: The Criminal Cop in Dirty Harry
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 06:The Gangster and Film Authorship
Reading: “The Godfather Wars” (Seal, 2009) Bb;
"Godfather II A Deal Coppola Couldn’t Refuse " (Hess, 1976)
Screening:The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
Lecture:The Gangster and Film Authorship: The Godfather
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Proposal due.
Lesson 07:Noir History
Reading:"Chinatown and Generic Transformation in Recent American Films"
(Calweti, 1995); From City of Quartz (Davis, 1990) Bb
Screening:Chinatown(Polanski, 1974)
Lecture:Noir History in Chinatown
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 08:Murder in Hollywood
Reading:“Hollywood and the Age of Reagan” (Sklar, 1994)
Screening:The Player (Altman, 1992)
Lecture:Murder in Hollywood: The Player
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 09:Race and the Crime
Reading:“Nihilism in Black America” (Cornel West, 1994)
Screening:Boyz N the Hood (Singleton, 1991)
Lecture:Race and Crime: Boyz N the Hood
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 10:Devil in a Blue Dress
Reading:Devil in a Blue Dress (Walter Mosely, 1990)
Screening:Devil in a Blue Dress (Franklin, 1995)
Lecture:Adapting Crime: Devil in a Blue Dress
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 11:Pulp Fiction as Posmodern Crime Film
Reading:“Pulp Friction” (Pat Dowell, 1995); From Pulp Fiction (Polan, 2000) Bb
Screening:Pulp Fiction (Tarentino, 1994)
Lecture:Pulp Ficton as Postmodern Crime Film
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
First Draft of Essay due.
Lesson 12:Whiteness and Crime
Reading:“The Matter of Whiteness” (Richard Dyer, 2003)
Screening:Falling Down, (Schumacher, 1993)
Lecture: Whiteness and Crime: Falling Down
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 13:Celebrating the Criminal
Reading: “The Heroes of Crime Films” (Rafter, 2006) Bb
“Brad Pitt and George Clooney, the Rough and
the Smooth: Male Costuming in Contemporary
Hollywood.” (Church Gibson, 2005)
Screening:Ocean’s Eleven (Soderbergh, 2001)
Lecture:Criminal Heroes
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Peer Editing due.
Lesson 14:Goodfellas and the Gangster Film
Reading:“The Society of Transgression: Goodfellas” (Casillo, 2006)
Screening:Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
Lecture:Goodfellas Grangster as Transgressive Consumer
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 15:Criminal Cops
Reading:"Beyond the Thin Line of Black and Blue" (Baker, 2004)
Screening:TheGlass Shield (Burnett, 1994)
Lecture:Criminal Cops
Online
Seminar:Discuss with Classmates
Final Draft of Essay due.