Film and History EL3045 (2008)
Professor Stewart
This is not a history of film course. Rather, we treat film’s relationship to history in several ways. This will includea brief overview of how styles, technologies, and viewing practices have evolvedsince film appeared in the late nineteenth century. But we will also treat films as a form of cultural memory anda source of knowledge about those who made and viewed them. The past we focus on will be American, firstin films about the US Civil War, then,US films after World War II.
Texts: (1) Past Imperfect and other readings are available from my website “Library” (Login: english/reading);(2) Introduction to American Studies(Bradbury and Temperley);and (3) (I suggest) A Short Guide to Writing about Film (Corrigan)
Requirements: Students are expected to see the films, read the secondary materials, and be prepared to discuss them in class. 20% of your final grade will be based on attendance and participation. Other requirements include group presentations, a contribution to the History and Film Website ( two tests, and a final paper.
Policy on Plagiarism:Anything you copy from someone else’s work must be attributed to them with a footnote and proper citation. See Corrigan Chapter 7. Quotations should be kept as brief as possible and not be used to substitute for your own writing. Anything copied from someone else (including information taken off the internet) and not attributed to them is plagiarism and a form of cheating. This includes texts as short as a phrase or part of a sentence. It also includes passages in which you change a few of the words but leave the meaning essentially the same. When in doubt, always footnote. Failure to do so leaves you liable to penalty. Students caught plagiarizing—either when the assignment is graded or afterward—will be given zero and failed in the course. A report will also be made to the university office of student discipline.
Schedule by Week
1.Memento (Nolan2000)
Birth of a Nation (Griffith 1916)
Reading: Kracauer “Basic Concepts: The Two Main Tendencies”
Past Imperfect: “Birth of a Nation”
2.Gone with the Wind (Fleming 1939)
Reading: Rosenstone “History in Images/History in Words”
Bradbury and Temperly “The Thirties”
Past Imperfect: “Gone with the Wind”
3.Glory (Zwick 1989)
Beloved (Demme 1998)
Past Imperfect: “Glory”
*For the remainder of the course read the chapters from Bradbury and Temperley that correspond with the periods in which the films were made.
4.The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler 1946)
5.Mildred Pierce (Curtiz 1945)
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel 1956)
6.Rebel Without a Cause (Ray 1955)
7.Spartacus (Kubric 1960)
Past Imperfect: “Spartacus”
8.Mississippi Burning (Parker 1988)
Malcolm X (Lee 1992)
Past Imperfect: “Mississippi Burning,” “Malcolm X”
9.The Weather Underground (Green & Siegel 2003)
Reading: Michael Kazin “The Power to which People”
10.The Graduate (Nichols 1967)
Bonnie and Clyde (Penn 1967)
Past Imperfect: “Bonnie and Clyde”
11.American Graffiti (Lucas 1973)
Norma Rae (Ritt 1979)
12.All the President’s Men (Pakula 1976)
Past Imperfect: “All the President’s Men”
Past Imperfect: “Nixon”
13.Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg 1998)
The Fog of War (Morris 2004)