Race & Gender in American Film

FMS 270

RACE & GENDER IN AMERICAN FILM

Fall 2012

(8/23 – 12/11)

Professor: Michael Green

Email:

Office Hours: Tuesday, 2-4 and by Appt. via e-mail

Office Location: LL 645D

Office Phone: 480 727 0884

Class/Screening Location: Online

Class time: Online

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course we will investigate the diverse ways in which race and gender are represented in American film history and culture. In a broader context, we will also analyze how the meaning of race and gender, and their intersectionality,has shifted and changed across time and space, and how cinema has contributed to these shifts. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between visual style, narrative structure, generic convention and identity. Our goal is to become more literate about the power of film to reflect and refract ideologies of race and gender, and to analyze how these identities impact the experiences of individuals and groups in our society.

At the end of this course, you will be able to: 1) analyze the representation and narration of race and gender in American film; 2) reflect on some of the methods and frameworks that scholars have employed in their study of race and gender in American film; 3) articulate an understanding of American film by strengthening your writing, debating, and listening skills; and 4) recognize yourself as a socio-cultural subject whose viewing experiences are contextually influenced and filled (for better and for worse) with ideology.

Reading: You will be reading a number of articles, all of which are available in the Race and Gender in American Film Reader available at ASU bookstores or online through Pearson at Read the articles carefully and on time – by class time for each lesson – as they form the basis of the online discussions, critical papers, and the final exam. You will not be able to pass the final exam if you do not stay up on the readings for the class.

Screenings: You are responsible for screening one film per lesson. The titles are listed under Learning Tasks on the class website or in this syllabus. Take notes and view them numerous times. The screenings also form the basis of online discussions, critical papers, and the final exam. You will not be able to pass the final exam if you do not stay up on the screenings for the class.The screenings are available for streaming via the class site; however, I recommend watching them on DVD or Blu-Ray if possible, on as big as TV as you can find. You will get much more out of them that way.

Plagiarism Policy: In the “Student Academic Integrity Policy” manual, plagiarism is defined as “… using another's words, ideas, materials or work without properly acknowledging and documenting the source. Students are responsible for knowing the rules governing the use of another's work or materials and for acknowledging and documenting the source appropriately.” You can find this definition by clicking here. Academic dishonesty, including inappropriate collaboration, will not be tolerated. There are severe sanctions for cheating, plagiarizing and any other form of dishonesty.

Student Academic Integrity Policies

Disability Accommodations:Qualified students with disabilities who will require disability accommodations in this class are encouraged to make their requests to me at the beginning of the semester either during office hours or by appointment. Note: Prior to receiving disability accommodations, verification of eligibility from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) is required. Disability information is confidential. Students who feel they will need disability accommodations in this class but have not registered with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) should contact DRC immediately. Their office is located on the first floor of the Matthews Center Building. DRC staff can also be reached at: 480-965-1234 (V), 480-965-9000 (TTY). For additional information, visit: Their hours are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.

Classroom Policies: Late papers will not be accepted without instructor permission and make-up exams will be administered only with a doctor’s note or other university-approved excuse, such as a university sanctioned activity or an approved religious holiday.

GRADED WORK

We expect every student to leave this course with a more insightful understanding of the meaning of race and gender in American film.

Participation (200 Points): You are responsible for participating in the threaded discussions that take place on the electronic bulleting board (eBoard), which is now on Blackboard.

You should post two substantive comments or questions per lesson, one for each question I post.A "substantive" post is one that is rigorous, demonstrates original thought and critical thinking, and is connected to the lesson topic; typically, substantive posts are 300-400 words in length.

You do not need to comment on each other’s posts, though I encourage you to do so.

These posts must keep up with the progress of the course. You cannot, for example, go back to the eBoard and post to a lesson after it has been completed and expect for the posts to be counted toward your participation grade. The forums will be locked after each lesson deadline passes.

The teaching team will keep track of your participation, including assessing the value of what you bring to this interactivity. Refrain from flaming or ad hominem comments. Be rigorous but constructive.

Critical Review #1 (100 Points): This assignment asks you to critically analyze a film for the way it represents race and gender. Specific directions for your analysis can be found under Assignments on the course site. You MUST follow the specific assignment directions. Do not just write a freelance paper on race and gender.

Your grade will be based on the clarity and relevance of your thesis statement, clear and concise writing, and adherence to the assignment guidelines. Your paper must be double-spaced, include one-inch margins all-around, be 3-4 pages long Also:

1)Your paper must include a clear thesis statement. (Check the class website to find out how to structure a thesis statement). In proving your thesis, refrain from focusing on themes or dialogue. Instead, focus on the relationship between representation and visual style (i.e., how representational strategies are shaped by creative choices).

2)Make sure to incorporate the many definitions/concepts we have covered in lecture and the readings.

3)In your analysis, make sure to discuss at least three scenes that will drive your argument to a conclusion.

4)Follow all mandated formatting.

Critical Review #2 (100 Points): This assignment asks you to critically analyze a film for the way it represents race and gender. Specific directions for your analysis can be found under Assignments on the course site. You MUST follow the specific assignment directions. Do not just write a freelance paper on race and gender.

2)Make sure to incorporate the many definitions/concepts we have covered in lecture and the readings.

3)In your analysis, make sure to discuss at least three scenes that will drive your argument to a conclusion.

4)Follow all mandated formatting.

Final Exam (100 points):The final exam covers material from Lesson 1–15. It will consist of true/false, multiple-choice, identification, fill-in-the-blank, short-answer, and essay questions. The short-answer and essay questions will be higher in value, so take care to think through the various concepts outlined in the readings, screenings, and lectures.

Grading Scale: 0 to 500 Points

A+..... 500+ Points

A..... 465 –499 Points

A- ..... 450 - 464 Points

B+..... 440 - 449 Points

B ..... 410 - 439 Points

B- ..... 400 - 409 Points

C+ ..... 390 - 399 Points

C ..... 350 - 389 Points

D ..... 300 - 349 Points

E ..... 000 - 299 Points

Your grades will be updated regularly on Blackboard. You can access them through MyASU.

LEARNING TASKS

This course is comprised of 15 lessons. Each lesson includes all or some of these tasks:

1. Reading: Read a Chapter from the Assigned Book

3. Screening: Study Films Screened for Class

4. WebsiteBrowse Websites

5. Lecture:Listen to Streaming Audio/Visual Lectures

6. Film Clips: Review Scenes Referenced in Readings & Lectures

7. eBoard: Pose and Answer Questions on the Electronic Board

Note: The due times reflect whatever time zone you are in.

Lesson 1:Theories of Race and Representation

(Posts due by 9/2 at11:59 PM)

Reading:“Categorizing the Other” (Ramírez Berg, 2002)

Screening:Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (Lucas, 1999)

Lecture:What is this class about?

Film Clips:The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915)

Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace (Lucas, 1999)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 2:Identity and the Birth of Cinema

(Posts due by 9/9 at11:59 PM)

Reading:“Voice of Whiteness: D.W. Griffith’s Biograph Films” (Bernardi, 1996)

“Broken Blossoms: Artful Racism, Artful Rape” (Lessage, 1981)

Screenings:Broken Blossoms (Griffith, 1919)

Better Luck Tomorrow (Lin, 2002)

Lecture:Integrating Race into the Narrative System

Film Clips:Broken Blossoms (Griffith, 1919)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 3:Anthropological Visions in Documentary Film

(Posts due by9/16 at 11:59 PM)

Reading:“The Imperial Imaginary” (Stam & Shohat, 1994)

“Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North” (Rony, 1996)

Screening:Nanook of the North(Flaherty, 1922)

Lecture:Romantic Ethnography

Film Clips:Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)

Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (Spielberg, 1984)

Nanook of the North(Flaherty, 1922)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 4: Hollywood’s Latin America in the 1930s

(Posts due by 9/23 at11:59 PM)

Reading:“Dolores del Rio, Uncomfortably Real” (Hershfield, 2001)

“The Demands of Authenticity” (O’Neil, 2001)

Screening:Flying Down to Rio (Freeland, 1933)

Lecture:Hollywood Hegemony

Film Clips:Flying Down to Rio (Freeland, 1933)

That Night in Rio (Cummings, 1940)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 5:Gender, Melodrama and Hollywood in the 1930s

(Posts due 9/30 by 11:59 PM)

Reading:“Is the Gaze Male?”(Kaplan, 1983)

“Angel, Venus, Jezebel…”(Snead, 1994)

Screening:Blonde Venus (von Sternberg, 1932)

Website:Women in Film & Television (UC Berkeley Library)

Lecture:Classic White Women

Film Clips:The Birth of a Nation(Griffith, 1915)

Blonde Venus (von Sternberg, 1932)

Gone with the Wind(Fleming Cukor, 1939)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 6:Hollywood’s Jewish Question in the 1940s

(Posts due by 10/7 at11:59 PM)

Reading:“Midtown Jewish Masculinity in Body and Soul” (Baker,2007)

Screening:Body and Soul (Rossen, 1947)

Lecture:EthnicAssimilation Hollywood-Style

Film Clips:The Jazz Singer (Crosland, 1927)

Gentleman’s Agreement (Kazan, 1947)

Body and Soul (Rossen, 1947)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Critical Review #1: Due by 10/7 at 11:59 PM.

Lesson 7: Miscegenation and Post-WWII Hollywood

(Posts due by 10/14 at11:59 PM)

Reading:“Imitation(s) of Life: The Black Woman’s…” (Flitterman-Lewis, 1991)

Screening:Imitation of Life (Sirk, 1959)

Website:The Tragic Mulatto Myth (Pilgrim, 2000)

Lecture:The Drama of Race Passing

Film Clips:The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915)

Imitation of Life (Sirk, 1959)

Soul Man (Winter, 1986)

Stella Dallas (Vidor, 1937)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 8:Masculinity, Whiteness and 1950s Westerns

(Posts due by10/21 at 11:59 PM)

Reading: “Imagery in Literature, Art and Philosophy” First 6 pages only (O’Connor 1980)

“The Margin as Center” (Ramírez Berg, 2001)

Screening:The Searchers (Ford, 1956)

Website:Native Americans in the Movies (UC-Berkeley Library)

Lecture:How Whiteness Won the Western

Film Clips:Dances with Wolves(Costner, 1990)

My Darling Clementine (Ford, 1946)

Fort Apache (Ford, 1948)

The Searchers (Ford, 1959)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 9:Interracial Buddies and Lovers in the 1960s

(Posts due by10/28 at 11:59 PM)

Reading:Interracial Buddies I(Vera & Gordon, 2003) Linked to the lesson

Interracial Buddies II(Vera & Gordon, 2003) Linked to the lesson

Screening:The Defiant Ones (Kramer, 1958)

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Kramer, 1967)

Lecture:Assimilating Blackness Through Love and Friendship

Film Clips:The Defiant Ones (Kramer, 1958)

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Kramer, 1967)

Blazing Saddles (Brooks, 1974)

Lethal Weapon 2(Donner, 1989)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 10: Whitesploitation(?) in the 1970s

(Posts due by 11/4 at 11:59PM)

Reading:“Genre Anxiety and Racial Representations in 1970s Cinema (Lipsitz, 1998)

“The Rise and Fall of Blaxploitation” (Guerrero,1993)

Screening:Shaft (Parks, 1972)

Lecture:Black “Hero” and “White” Money

Film Clips:Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Van Peebles,1971)

Super Fly (Parks, Jr., 1972)

Blacula (Crain, 1972)

Dirty Harry (Siegal, 1971)

Shaft (Parks, 1972)

Foxy Brown (Hill, 1973)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 11:Black Masculinity in the 1980s

(Posts due by 11/11 at 11:59PM)

Reading:“Reconstructing Black Masculinity” (hooks, 1992)

“Post-Soul Comedy Goes to the Movies (Haggins, 2007)

Screening:Beverly Hills Cop (Brest, 1984)

Lecture:Laughing Mad About Black Masculinity

Film Clips:Raw (Townsend, 1987)

48 Hrs.(Hill, 1982)

Beverly Hills Cop (Brest, 1984)

Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Critical Review #2: Due by 11/11at 11:59PM.

Lesson 12:Gender Crisis in the 1990s

(Posts due by 11/18 at 11:59PM)

Reading:“‘WaitingtoExhale’or ‘Breath(ing) Again’” (Harris & Hill, 1998)

“‘ChickFlicks’asFeministTexts” (Cooper, 2000)

Screening:Thelma & Louise (Scott, 1991)

Lecture:White Masculinity and Women of All Stripes

Film Clips:Thelma & Louise (Scott, 1991)

Waiting to Exhale (Whitaker, 1995)

Boys on the Side (Ross, 1991)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 13:Latina Stars in the 1990s and Today

(Posts due by 11/25 at 11:59 PM)

Reading:“Jennifer’s Butt” (Negrón-Muntaner, 1994)

“Framing Jennifer Lopez” (Ovalle, 2008)

Screening:The Wedding Planner (Shankman, 2001)

Lecture:Beyond Sexuality and Self-Subordination

Film Clips:Maid in Manhattan (Wang, 2002)

The Wedding Planner (Shankman, 2001)

Real Women Have Curves (Cardoso, 2002)

From Dusk Till Dawn (Rodriguez, 1996)

Girlfight (Kusama, 2000)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 14:Arabs in Today’s Hollywood

(Posts due by 12/2 at 11:59PM)

Reading: “Introduction” (Shaheen, 2001)

“A Whole New (Disney) World Order” (Nadal, 1997)

Screening:Aladdin (Clements & Musker, 1992)

Website: Hollywood Widens Slur Targets to Arab and Muslim Americans (Shaheen)

Lecture:The New Terrorizing Other

Film Clips:Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985)

The Siege (Zwick, 1998)

True Lies (Cameron, 1994)

Rules of Engagement (Friedkin, 1998)

Three Kings (Russell, 1999)

Aladdin (Clements & Musker, 1992)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Lesson 15:Interracial Hollywood Today

(Posts due by 12/9 at 11:59 PM)

Reading: “I’m Blackanese” (Nishime, 2004)

“Romeo Must Die: Interracial Romance in Action” (Marchetti, 2008)

Screening:Romeo Must Die(Bartkowiak, 2000)

Web Site:Redefining Asian-American Masculinity

Lecture:Multicultural Fu

Film Clips:Breakfast at Tiffany's (Edwards, 1961)

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (Cohen, 1993)

Romeo Must Die(Bartkowiak, 2000)

Rush Hour (Ratner, 1998)

Shanghai Knights (Dobkin, 2003)

eBoard:Discuss with Classmates

Final Exam: Due by12/13 at11:59PM.