SOCIOLOGY AND FILM SYLLABUS—Draft March 12, 2015

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Department of Sociology
Instructor Name:
Elizabeth Talbert,
M.P.P, Doctoral Student in Sociology / Course Title: SOCIOLOGY AND FILM
Course Number: AS.230.237.11
MTTh
Summer Session Term 2
1:30-4:00 / 3 Credits
Distribution: H S

Contact Information:

Email (best way):

Office Location:Abel Wolman House, 3213 N. Charles St., 3rd Floor

Office Hours: By appointment only

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Do films merely mirror society, or do they in fact shape societal experience? This class will investigate these questions through a filmic analysis of sociological issues. We will consider both narrative and documentary films and use them to engage in sociological questions of class, race, and gender. We will discuss what the historical and current trends in film making and film subject say about society, and how these trends may in turn influence society.
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 / Identify and discuss major areas of debate in sociology, including race, gender, class, and globalization.
2 / Identify and analyze social issues explored in popular and independent films, and critically analyze the images we usually merely consume.
3 / Critically analyze the impact that film production has on society, what goals it has, and who is serves.
4 / Discuss how films affect the popular framing of sociological and policy issues, as well as how they influence societal and cultural norms.
5 / Develop the ability to write critically about film, and bring film in to the academic understanding of other topics.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
BOOK / Cinematic Sociology: Social Life in Film (Second Edition), 2012, Jean-Anne Sutherland and Kathryn M. Feltey (eds). The text will be available at JHU bookstore.
OTHER READINGS / All other course readings will be available on the course Blackboard website (denoted with a * in the syllabus)
COURSE WEBSITE / You should be connected the course’s Blackboard site if you are formally registered for the course. If you are not connected, please let me know as soon as possible.
EVALUATION AND GRADING
Grades will be based on the following assessments:
ASSESSMENT TYPE / PERCENT OF FINAL GRADE
Thought Papers (3) / 30%
Final Presentations / 20%
Final Exam / 30%
Attendance and Participation / 20%

ATTENDANCE POLICY

This is a discussion-based course, supplemented by lecture and by some really great movies. It is essential that you come to every meeting of this course and participate actively. Active participation means speaking substantively during every class meeting, both in large group and small group settings, and asking questions of the instructor and our your peers. The material in this course can be provocative and emotional—your participation in this course should be thoughtful, considered, and above all, respectful of other people and other opinions.

Students who miss class for an excused reason—medical or family emergency—must alert the professor as soon as possible, and are responsible for making up any missed work in a timely manner.

ASSIGNMENTS:

Thought Papers--3

You will write three thought papers for this class: they are due on Mondays July 15, July 22, and July 29. To successfully complete the thought papers, you need to screen (outside of class) a film with some relationship to the week’s topic.

Thought papers are due on Mondays by 12noon (right before class), uploaded to the appropriate thread in the blackboard site.

The thought papers should be 4-5 pages double-spaced and should include:

  • 2 pages thoughtfully summarizing at least two of the readings for the previous week. These summaries should demonstrate that you comprehend the most important points of the articles/chapters.
  • About 1 page of analysis and reaction. You can choose to critique the ideas, expand on the ideas with a connection to current events or some kind of personal connection, or examine the ideas in light of class lectures or readings.
  • About 2 pages examining the week’s topics through an analysis of a film you see OUTSIDE of class (I too love Netflix and Redbox, but try to actually GO to the movies at least once! It is a social experience!) This last section of the paper should demonstrate that you are comfortable writing about film, and also able to apply the ideas from the week to thinking about a film we didn’t watch together in class.

Final Presentation

Students will work in groups to research and present some sociological aspect of the film industry. Topics might include power and the financing of films; social changes and change in the studio system; changes in technology and the increasing accessibility of film/video production; sociological questions of prestige and how film awards are decided; or changes in gender/race/class/sexuality makeup of who is creating films.

Take-Home Final Exam

On the last day of class, we will watch a film together. You will then respond to and engage with that film through several questions on a take-home final exam (between 4-6 pages, double-spaced), due Saturday, August 3, at 9AM. Exams will be graded on your ability to critically analyze the sociological aspects of the film, your organization of a film essay, and your topical understand of the sociological ideas we have studied.

JOHNS HOPKINS POLICIES AND SUPPORT SERVICES

This course is governed by the policies set forth in The Johns Hopkins University Undergraduate Student Handbook, which contains information on a wide variety of topics, such as support services, and policies relating to student rights and responsibilities. This course is governed by the policies set forth in this document.

Some JHU student support services you may find useful include:

SUPPORT SERVICE / LOCATION / PHONE NUMBER / WEBSITE
Library E-Reserves / /
JHU Libraries AV Collection / The AV Center is located on A-Level next to the central elevators /
Summer & Intersession Programs / 3505 N. Charles Street, Suite 101 / 410-516-4548

CLASSROOM ACCOMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

If you are a student with a documented disability who requires an academic adjustment, auxiliary aid or other similar accommodations, please contact The Office of Student Disability Services at ,

call 410-516-4720 or visit 385 Garland Hall.

STATEMENT OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Johns Hopkins University is a community committed to sharing values of diversity and inclusion in order to achieve and sustain excellence. We believe excellence is best promoted by being a diverse group of students, faculty and staff who are committed to creating a climate of mutual respect that is supportive of one another’s success.Through its curricula and clinical experiences, we purposefully support the University’s goal of diversity, and in particular, work toward an ultimate outcome of best serving the needs of students. Faculty and candidates are expected to demonstrate an understanding of diversity as it relates to planning, instruction, management, and assessment.

A WORD ON ETHICS

The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition.

Report any violations you witness to the instructor.

SCHEDULE

Week 1: Introduction toSociological Analysis and Film History

  • Monday, June 29
  • Lecture: What is sociology? (And the Sociological Toolbox)
  • Screening: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
  • Tuesday, June 30
  • Lecture: Analyzing Film and the Film Industry
  • Readings to do:
  • Excerpt from Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing about Film*
  • “What is Sociology?” (from online sources)
  • Screening: Oscar Shorts (2015)
  • Thursday, July 2
  • Lecture: American Documentary Film
  • Readings to do:
  • Excerpt from Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing about Film*
  • Excerpts from Nichols, Introduction to Documentary
  • Screening: The Order of Myths (2007)

Week 2: Film and Class/Status

  • Monday, July 6
  • Readings to do:
  • Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 1 and 2 (pp. 1-56)
  • Lecture: The Division of Labor, Status, and Power
  • Screening: Matewan (1987)
  • Tuesday, July 7
  • Readings to do:
  • Excerpts from Marx, The Communist Manifesto*
  • Weber, “Status Groups and Classes” in Social Stratification*
  • Screening:Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
  • Thursday, July 9
  • Readings to do:
  • Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 3 (all) pp. 57-85; Chapter 6, Sect. 6.1, pp. 177-193; Chapter 10, Sect. 10.1 & 10.2, pp. 367-391
  • Screening:Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Week 3: Film and Race/Ethnicity

  • Monday, July 13
  • THOUGHT PAPER 1 DUE
  • Lecture: Social Construction and History of Race in America
  • Screening: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
  • Tuesday, July 14
  • Readings to do:
  • Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 4 (all); Chapter 10, Outtake, pp. 392-393
  • Bonilla-Silva & Dietrich, “The Sweet Enchantment of Color-Blind Racism in Obamerica”*
  • Screening: Good Hair (2009)
  • Thursday, July 16
  • Readings to do:
  • Fisher Fiskin, “Interrogating ‘Whiteness,’ Complicating ‘Blackness’: Remapping American Culture”*
  • Stuart Hall, “Race: The Floating Signifier”*
  • Screening: Do the Right Thing (1988)

Week 4: Film and Women/Gender

  • Monday, July 20
  • THOUGHT PAPER 2 DUE
  • Lecture: The Performance of Gender in a World Divided by Sex
  • Screening: Some Like it Hot (1959)
  • Tuesday, July 21
  • Readings to do:
  • Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 5 (all), pp. 131-176
  • West & Zimmerman, “Doing Gender”*
  • Screening: Paris is Burning (1991)
  • Thursday, July 23
  • Readings to do:
  • Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 6, sections 6.2 and Outtake, pp. 194-209
  • Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”*
  • Catherine MacKinnon, “Gender: The Future”*
  • Screening: Water (2005)

Week 5: The Sociological World of Filmmaking

  • Monday, July 27
  • THOUGHT PAPER 3 DUE
  • Presentations
  • Tuesday, July 28
  • Presentations
  • Thursday, July 30
  • FINAL EXAM SCREENING
  • Take-home final exam assigned (due by Saturday, August 1 at 12 noon)