UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA WINTER 2013
ES 183: - FILMS OF THE NATURAL AND HUMAN ENVIRONMENT
Time:Monday, 6:30-7:20 PMRoom:Buchanan 1940
Wednesday, 6:30-9:20 PMBuchanan 1940
Instructor: Paul Wack, AICP Office: Bren 4021L
P.O. Box 1086, Morro Bay, CA 93443-1086
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 3:45-4:45 PM (UCSB)
Phone: 893-2968 (UCSB) 756-1315 (Cal Poly) e-mail: (no attachments!)
SUMMARY OF COURSE
This course is designed to present a series of popular films, professional documentaries, and short subjects that represent a wide range of trends, images, and issues associated with the natural and human environment. Class members will demonstrate the importance of understanding the power of "media literacy" (a major concept guiding this course) through visual images/settings, narrative messages, sources of information (documentation), etc. What questions should be asked when evaluating the message provided by a film, documentary, news report, etc. when portraying the environment, especially places where you could not, should not, or would not go? Does bias matter? Also, the important role of the filmmaker, among others, in framing environmental issue(s) will be addressed by guest speaker Dana Driskel, course co-founder, among other sources.
ES 183 will challenge class members to contribute to the evolution of this course through formal and informal assignments. Each presentation will be supplemented with either assigned readings or research conducted by class members. Given the growing class size over the years, class discussions will attempt to be an important component, seasoned with writings in the form of “Presentation Comments”, etc.
Please note that a couple of presentations may cause a slight spillover past the scheduled course ending time. However, some class sessions will end early to compensate for this logistical problem. Although rare, does anyone really need a reminder, out of courtesy, to turn off cell phones, or not talk or do outside course work during presentations? Hopefully not, otherwise any member of the class affected by such behavior has the right to remind the offending person(s) of this basic consideration. Also, lap top screens can be annoying during presentations and distract neighbors. Thank you for your cooperation. This class offers an opportunity to understand the importance of media literacy on a personal level. Enjoy the journey.
Required Readings
Course Reader, (Available at AS Publications Service, University Center 1531)
Grading Program
Grades for the course will be based on the defined activities outlined below.
Assignment Points
Class Participation (attendance, preparation and contribution)100
EXAMS (Feb 6, March 4,6)500
Assignment 1 (Jan 23) State of the Environmental Movement/Current Event ( 2 page max)150
Assignment 2 (Feb 25) Doc/Film/Future & the Environment (2 page max)150
Assignment 3 (March 13) Final Reflections (1 page max)100
TOTAL POINTS 1000
(NOTE: Final Exam date: Saturday, March 23, 7:30-10:30 PM. Feeling lucky?)
COURSE SCHEDULE
Democracy cannot exist in silence.-- Charles Kuralt
MONDAY, JANUARY 7
Introduction: Course Overview
The media may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. -- Bernard Cohen, 1963
Question to ponder: Does this classic observation apply to films and documentaries?
Resources (only a start!)
Top 10 Environmental Films of All Time (Karl Burkhart, June 2010) Available at:
Top Ten Must-See Environmental Films (Blue Planet Living Green, 2010)
Top Documentary Films (diverse sources, 2012) Available at:
Grinning Planet (2012) Available at:
Green Movies: The Best Environmental Fictional Feature Films (Ryan Miga, 2012). Available at:
Recommended current feature film for Assignment 2: Promised Land
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9
Presentation: People’s Century: Endangered Planet (1999, 55 minutes)
Historic overview of the rise of global environmentalism
Class Discussion: People’s Century & the Issue Attention Cycle
Readings:
Anthony Downs. 1972. “Up and down with ecology- the Issue attention cycle”.
The Public Interest. 28: 38-50.
Curtis Runyon and Magnar Noderhaug. 2002 (May/June). “The Path to the
Johannesburg Summit”. World Watch. 15: 31-35. Also see
Presentation: Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven (1988, 59 minutes)
Doctor Lafette Bonnell’s 1851 account of the removal of Native Americans from the Yosemite Valley by the U.S. Calvary as narrated with modern images of issues confronting the park. Narrated by Robert Redford.
Readings:
Bob R. O’Brien. 1999. “Chapter 10: Care and Feeding of Visitors. Case
Study: Yosemite National Park”, in Our National Parks and the Search
for Sustainability. Austin: University of Texas Press. 158-183, 230-1.
Everything is connected to everything else.-- Barry Commoner, “The Closing Circle”, 1971.
MONDAY, JANUARY 14
Presentation:The National Parks: America's Best Idea, a film by Ken Burns
Preview (PBS, 2009)
Class discussion: The State of Our National Parks
Class discussion: Assignment #1 Preparation & Gearing Up for Dana (See readings under January 16)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16
Special Guest: Dana Driskel, Film and Media Studies Department
Presentation: Stranger With A Camera (2000, 61 minutes)
Readings:
Warren Buckland. 2003. The non-fiction film: five types of documentary,
in Film Studies. Second Edition. London: Hodder & Stoughton
Educational. 130-155.
David Shaw. “Information inundation imperils our children”.
Los Angeles Times. (November 30, 2003). E20.
S. Martin Shelton. 2004. Documentary Film: A Learning Tool. In
Communicating Ideas with Film, Video, and Multimedia. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press. 71-76.
Jan Stuart. “2003: The year of the documentary”. Los Angeles Times
(December 5, 2003). E18.
John Horn, "Docs get snub at box office". Los Angeles Times.
(June 19, 2008). A23.
Meg James. "Earth the new star as green fills screen; Film, TV spotlight the environment, following lead of young viewers".Los Angeles Times
(Apr 23, 2007). pg. C.1.
MONDAY, JANUARY 21
Martin Luther King Holiday
The course of history can be changed but not halted.-- Paul Robeson (1898-1976)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23
DUE: Assignment 1 (State of the Environmental Movement/Current Event)
Presentation:Manufactured Landscapes (2007, 90 minutes)
Readings:
Manufactured Landscapesby director Jennifer Baichwal. Retrieve from:
On Line Presentation: William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle
William McDonough and Michael Braungart, M. (2005). Waste equals food. In Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things. (92-117). New York: North Point Press. (reference)
MONDAY, JANUARY 28
Presentation (from class archives):Losing Ground (Mississippi River and New Orleans) from NOW with Bill Moyers (PBS, September 9, 2002)
(text-background)
The Disappearing Delta (Update, Need to Know, PBS, September 3, 2010)
Unnatural disaster: The fifth anniversary of Katrina
Need to Know(PBS, August 27, 2010)
Readings (historic course references):
Cain Burdeau. “To save the coast, Louisiana lets Mississippi roll from its banks”.
San Francisco Chronicle (November 28, 2003). C7.
Scott Gold. “Louisiana’s Coastal Fix Gnawed Away”. Los Angeles Times
(June 8, 2004). A10.
Julie Cart and Kenneth R. Weiss, “Hurricane Destroys Last of Nature’s
Speed Bumps”. Los Angeles Times. (September 4, 2005). A23.
Peter Whortskey. "1-in-500 chance New Orleans will flood again, report says".
San Francisco Chronicle. (June 21, 2007). A16
Greg Lucas. “Central Valley vulnerable to flooding”. San Francisco Chronicle
(September 9, 2005). A16.
Editorial. "If the levees break". Los Angeles Times. (June 6, 2007). A20
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30
Presentation:Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, 93 minutes)
Reading:
John Horn. “ ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild' makers improvise migration pattern”. Los Angeles Times (Junec17 2012). Available at:
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4
Exam Preparation: Informal Q&A Session (attendance optional)
Starts at 6:30 and ends with the last question, and may not go until 7:20 pm.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6
FIRST EXAM (first half of class)
Includes question about class member film nominations for February 20
Presentation: The Dust Bowl, A Film by Ken Burns (2012 Disc 2, Part 1)
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11
Presentation: The Dust Bowl, A Film by Ken Burns (2012, Disc 2, Part 2)
PBS web site (Legacy of the Dust Bowl):
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Presentation:Food, Inc. (2008, 91 minutes)
Reading:
Weber, K. ed. (2009). Reforming fast food nation, A conversation with Eric Schlosser and Exploring the corporate powers behind the way we eat: The making of Food, Inc. (Kenner, R). In Food, Inc: How industrial food is making us sicker, fatter and poorer – and what you can do about it. . New York. Public Affairs. 3-18, 27-40.
Presentation: The Lorax (1972, 52 minutes)
(Unless. Where Do the Children Play?)
Readings:
Cougar Cinema. Let’s Review a Movie: The Lorax (1972) Posted April 20, 2012
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18
George Washington’s Birthday deserves a holiday. Why?
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20
TBA: Class Selected Presentation (First Exam selection question survey)
Plan B: Presentation:The Cove(2009, 96 minutes)
Reading:
TBA
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25
DUE: Assignment 2: Documentary/Popular Feature/Futuristic Film Combo & the
Environment
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it,
and wiser than the one that comes after it.-- George Orwell
Readings:
(Examples of readings applicable to assignment, which should be read long before assignment is due)
Tim Appelo. “The Future Isn’t What It Used to Be”. Los Angeles Times
(January 4, 1998). 4-5, 77.
Gary Polakovic. “Seeing a Greener Big Screen”. Los Angeles Times
(March 27, 2001). A1,11..
Mick LaSalle. Movies veer from hopeful to hapless apocalypses.
San Francisco Chronicle. (June 5, 2009). E1 .
Dennis Lim. The end is where the story begins.
Los Angeles Times (October 9, 2011). D1.
T. L. Stanley. Visions of Armageddon. Los Angeles Times (July 29, 2012). D1.
Presentation:The Plan (Nightline, ABC)
Conservation International:
Readings:
Caldicott, H. 2009. The media and the fate of the earth. In If you love this planet: A plan to save the earth. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 221-234.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Presentation:Last Call at the Oasis(2011, 105 minutes)
That sooner or later, somewhere, somehow, we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken. From the “The Lone Ranger Creed,” according to Clayton Moore (1914-1999)
Readings (as assigned):
TBA
MONDAY, MARCH 4
SECOND EXAM ,Part 1
TUESDAY, MARCH 5 (Special Event)
Film screening:Chasing Ice (2012)
7 p.m. in the Pollock Theater
Including a Q&A with snow hydrology expert, Professor Jeff Dozier, UC Santa Barbara
Class members will need to make an online reservation for this event in advance.
film screenings have been selling out - so it would be a good idea to make reservations in advance - otherwise good luck waiting in the standby line.
Related documentary: Frozen Planet (BBC, 2012):
On Thin Ice (Episode 7 of 7):
Presentations: Competitive Enterprise Institute on CO2
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6
SECOND EXAM, Part 2
Presentation:Wall E (2008, 97 minutes)
MONDAY, MARCH 11
Field Day
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13
DUE: Assignment 3 Media & Environment: Reflections on Course Themes
Ideas won’t keep; something must be done about them. -- Alfred North Whitehead
Presentation:180 Degrees South: Conquerors of the Useless (2010, 87 minutes)
Question: What does Doug mean when he says that moving forward might mean turning around 180 degrees and taking one step forward?
Readings:
DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS
Assignment 1 State of the Environmental Movement/Current Event (DUE: Jan 23)
The purpose of this thinking paper is to combine information from a documentary (People's Century), lecture, and readings (among other potential sources) into a thoughtful discussion about the past, present, and future of the "environmental movement" from a media/popular culture perspective, seasoned with some Issue Attention Cycle flavoring.
An objective of this assignment is to remind class members that the environment is an important part of our lives and impacts every aspect of the community: local, regional, state, national, and global. The range of issues (and solutions) related to the natural and human environment are many and influence public opinion and political decision making. Newspapers, magazines, and other forms of media commonly include items that directly involve environmentally related activities, including connections to films, documentaries, television, etc. Many specific events and ongoing issues provide examples of the concepts and issues that will be discussed in class.
Class members will collect a newspaper or magazine article published since January 1, 2012 (NO Daily Nexus or academic/professional journals, unless very media specific in the context of the class) and write an analysis linking the article to the applicable themes and readings presented in the class. Specific requirements for the submittal include the following:
- Transform a copy of the article into a 8 1/2x11 page format, which should be easy with Internet sources. Attach the article behind the cover memo discussed below.
- Prepare an analysis (two page maximum, single-spaced, 12 pt. font) linking the article to some of the various themes presented in class. Connecting the article to all themes presented in the course is not required, although a clear connection to some course themes is expected, including specific references to applicable media related concepts provided in the Reader and Gaucho Space site.
- The two page analysis shall serve as a cover memo for the attached article and include a spiffy assignment title, your name, and quarter. Don’t hesitate to be creative and have some fun with this assignment to season your substantive themes. Visual supplements are cool, but not required, especially if it eliminates valuable space better suited to your commentary
- Internet sources shall have appropriate formatted referencing, including date retrieved and original date of the sourced item. Appropriate references will be listed at the end of the two page analysis.
Assignment 2 Doc/Film/Future & the Environment (DUE: Feb 25)
This is an evolving assignment that will challenge each class member to prepare a thinking paper that combines a major documentary, a feature film, and a futuristic presentation into a coherent connection to the major class themes/topics and related literature. The intent of this assignment is to allow class members to pursue individual interests in connecting films and documentaries to the natural and human environment. The stronger the presentation connects to the course, the better. A major difficulty is that the applicable film/documentary literature available outside of the class is limited and hard to locate. However, the range of potential topics/themes that can be pursued will provide flexibility. For example, topics can range from media and environmental education, documentaries and advocacy, bias, agenda setting, public opinion, science and media, promoting media literacy, how a particular issue or topic is treated by films and/or documentaries, etc. The opportunities are endless. Perhaps some class members may wish to connect this assignment to career opportunities in the industry. The point is that any reasonable proposal that clearly meets the spirit and intent of this course and assignment will be considered. It should be noted that there will be a couple of times during the quarter that class members will be asked to submit a couple of short informal progress reports, as part of their “presentation comment forms Specific requirements of this assignment will evolve during the quarter, building from what has been presented here. For example, Paper length (two page maximum, single-spaced, 12 pt. font), citation list at end of page 2 (not a separate page) , and of course, a spiffy title is required!
Assignment 3 Media & Environment Final Reflections (DUE:March 13)
This assignment will represent a personal statement about your relationship to media and the environment, as covered in the course, including what you have learned that will allow you to use media literacy to your advantage in the future. However, remember that most commercial films seek to entertain even if they present a subtle message or bias. Most documentaries seek to inform, seasoned with entertainment to keep your attention. This assignment is intended to help provide clarity as the quarter progresses as your knowledge about media literacy grows. Please remember that you will get out of the class what you put into it, which will be reflected in this one page paper (with yet another spiffy title). Enjoy the journey.
(183coW2013, 12-29-12)
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