PROFESSOR: Dr.

Kelli Marshall
OFFICE: JO 5.426; 972-883-2063.
E-MAIL: kmarshal@utdallas.edu.
WEB: www.utdallas.edu/~kmarshal/courses/film/6373
OFFICE HOURS: Tues. and Thurs. 1:30-3:15 PM, or by appt.
eOFFICE HOURS: Mon. 10:00-11:00 AM.
AOL IM, kmarshal; Yahoo, KelliRMarshall; MSN, kmarshal@utdallas.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION

An introduction to the critical study of film, this course familiarizes students with canonical films (i.e., critically
acclaimed and historically influential works), various methods of filmmaking, and several ways to interpret and
evaluate films. Specifically, we will consider the following: conventions and techniques of film art (mise-en-scène,
cinematography, editing, sound); specific types of films (genre films, documentaries, experimental films);
significant film movements (Italian Neorealism, French New Wave); and various critical methods and theories
(race/representation, authorship, gender/sexuality). Classes will consist of lecture, discussion, brief film
screenings, and student presentations. Because of time constraints, we will not screen entire films in class; so
students will be required to watch full-length films, which may be rented from a local video store or viewed in
McDermott Library, on their own. (Some students have found companies like Netflix helpful for this course; be
sure, however, that you request the films in the order listed on the syllabus.)

COURSE EXPECTATIONS

HUAS 6373 has been designed with the following set of assumptions in mind. If you fit the profile below and are
willing to make the commitment, you should find the course challenging but manageable. If not, you might think
carefully about how you will work this course (along with its expectations and requirements) into your existing
schedule.
1. Students attend class regularly and participate in class. (Students whose personal schedules prevent on-
time arrivals and early departures are encouraged to find a more appropriately scheduled course.)
2. Students do NOT wait until the last minute to screen films.
3. Students will be patient with, open-minded about, and respectful of the written and visual texts they
encounter this semester (all films are shown for specific reasons).

REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS

• The Film Experience: An Introduction, Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White (2004). All films are considered
required texts as well.
• Film Theory and Criticism (6th edition), Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, eds.

COURSE POLICIES

• Arrive on time for lectures. If you arrive after class has begun, please enter from the back of the room.
• No laptops. No beepers, PDAs, text-messaging, and/or cell phones. If you are expecting an emergency
call during class (e.g., birth, babysitter's call, death), notify Dr. Marshall before class begins.
• Use email etiquette. Your email messages say as much about you (and your intellect!) as your speech and
your written assignments: address the person to whom you are speaking; use proper punctuation and
capitalization (no all-lowercase emails!); and always sign your name, even if it is just a quick reply. NOTE: All
electronic correspondence between UTD students and faculty should be transmitted from UTD email
accounts. See http://netid.utdallas.edu for more information on your free account.
• HUAS 6373 students are not graded on attendance; however, if students do not attend lectures, screen
films, and participate in class, it is unlikely that they will receive a high grade.
GRADING AND ASSIGNMENTS

Class Web Site: Once or twice per week students should access the Student Updates section on the course Web
site; it occasionally offers viewing tips, reminders, helpful links, and potential syllabus changes.

Presentation (25%): This informal 10-minute presentation requires the following: an explanation of the main
points of one essay (or multiple short essays) in Film Theory and Criticism (see “Class Calendar” for dates); one
or more film clips to support the argument of the article; and an outline or handout to accompany the lecture.
NOTE: Because this is a full class (25 students), we must limit the presentations to 10 minutes including film clips;
if you run over, you will be asked to stop. So time your talk and clips; practice aloud if necessary!

Film Theory Questions/Participation (20%): Although you are only responsible for presenting one essay (or
multiple short essays) in Film Theory and Criticism, you should read all essays for all student presentations. As
you read, come up with 1 or 2 critical questions for the day’s readings; type the questions, and bring them to
class. (By the end of the semester you should have at least 10 questions.) Participation assignments will be
graded as follows: 3 points, superior; 2 points, good/adequate; 1 point, failing. See course Website for a sample
question.

Shot Analysis (25%): For this assignment, you will analyze the formal elements of ten consecutive shots from
an assigned film. In addition to the shot analysis, you should explain (in no more than 250 words) how the ten
shots contribute to the film as a whole. To do this exercise, you will obviously need to view the entire film. For more
detail and a shot-analysis example, see the guide/description online.

Final Paper (30%): While this 12-15-page essay (typed, double-spaced) should consider one or more of the major
areas/topics covered in the course, the topic is essentially up to the student; but no film reviews, please. You might
read over “Selecting a Topic” in The Film Experience (486-87) for some ideas, or stop by my office during office
hours to discuss some possible topics. An ample amount of research should be integrated into the paper. Please
note: while there are valuable resources on the Web (e.g., IMDB, film reviews, journals such as Jump Cut, Sight
and Sound), for a more comprehensive analytical essay, you should probably look into scholarly
databases/indexes like MLAIB, Academic Search Premier, and Humanities Abstracts as well. A brief proposal for
the paper (150-200 words) is due at the beginning of class on Apr-6.

Extensions on the Shot Analysis and Final Paper will be granted only to students with documented emergencies
that I am made aware of before the assignment’s due date (e.g., bereavement, serious illness, scheduled medical
procedure, court hearing). There are no extensions for Film Theory Questions or class presentations. One last
note: grades in this course are earned, not given. A-level work contains not only substantial content, but also
proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Superior grades are not earned on content alone.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, facilitating academic dishonesty,
fabrication, failure to contribute to a collaborative project and sabotage. More specific examples and explanations
may be found on UTD’s Judicial Affairs Web site: http://www.utdallas.edu/judicialaffairs/UTDJudicialAffairs-
Basicexamples.html. If a student violates these University (and classroom) policies, he/she will receive disciplinary
actions with the Dean of Students.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS

Disability Services provides for the special needs of students with disabilities. Students are urged to make their
needs known to Disability Services and their professors as soon as the semester begins. The Office of Disability
Services is located in the Student Union, (972) 883-2070.

IMPORTANT UNIVERSITY DATES

Jan-25 Last Day to drop without a "W" Apr-24 Last Day of classes
Jan-16 Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Apr-25 Final Exams begin
Mar-24 Last day to withdraw with a “W” May-5 Grades available online
Mar-6-11 Spring Break
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CLASS CALENDAR

All readings and screenings are due on the day they are assigned. All screenings are out-of-class screenings.

Week 1 Jan-12 What Films Do, and the Economics of Film (Distribution, Promotion, Exhibition)
READING: Chapter 1.
Week 2 Jan-19 Narrative Cinema
READING: Chapter 6.
SCREENING: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941; 119 m).
Week 3 Jan-26 Mise-en-Scène
READING: Chapter 2.
SCREENING: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989; 120 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “Acting: Stage vs. Screen” (Leo Braudy) and “Keaton and Chaplin” (Gilberto
Perez).
• “What Novels Can Do That Films Can’t (and Vice Versa)” (Seymour Chatman).
Week 4 Feb-2 Cinematography
READING: Chapter 3.
SCREENING: Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937; 111 m) or Rules of the Game (Jean
Renoir, 1939; 106 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “The Ontology of the Photographic Image,” “The Myth of Total Cinema,” and “De
Sica: Metteur-en-Scene” (André Bazin).
• “True Lies: Perceptual Realism, Digital Images, and Film Theory” (Stephen
Prince).
Week 5 Feb-9 Dr. Marshall at Conference--no class.
Week 6 Feb-16 Relating Images: Editing
READING: Chapter 4.
SCREENING: Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954; 113 m) or The Birds (Alfred
Hitchcock, 1963; 119 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema” (André Bazin).
• “Dickens, Griffith, and Film Today” (Sergei Eisenstein).
Week 7 Feb-23 Sound and Sound Design
READING: Chapter 5.
SCREENING: The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974; 113 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “Style and Medium in the Motion Picture” (Erwin Panofsky).
• “Technology and Aesthetics of Film Sound” (John Belton).
• “The Voice in the Cinema” (Mary Ann Doane).
Week 8 Mar-2 Cinematic Shapes: Genre (The Film Musical)
READING: Chapter 8.
SCREENING: Singin'in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952; 103 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “The Terror of Pleasure” (Tania Modleski).
• “Movie Chronicle: The Westerner” (Robert Warshow).
• “The Self-Reflexive Musical” (Jane Feuer). *This is a handout.
Week 9 Mar-9 Spring Break--no class.
Week 10 Mar-16 Cinematic Shapes: Documentary Films
READING: Chapter 7.
SCREENING: Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002; 120 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “Basic Concepts” (Siegfried Kracauer).
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Week 11 Mar-23 Cinematic Shapes: Experimental (Avant-Garde) Films

PRESENTATIONS:
• “Cinematography: The Creative Use of Reality” (Maya Deren).
• “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (Walter Benjamin).
• “The Apparatus: Metaphysical Approaches to the Impression of Reality” (Jean-
Louis Baudry).
• “Identification, Mirror,” “The Passion for Perceiving,” and “Disavowal, Fetishism”
(Christian Metz).
Week 12 Mar-30 Postwar Movements and The New Hollywood
READING: Chapter 9 (342-64 only), Chapter 10 (365-83 only).
SCREENING: Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967; 105 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “The Auteur Theory” (Peter Wollen).
• “The End of Cinema: Multimedia and Technological Change” (Anne Friedburg).
Week 13 Apr-6 Film Focus: The Star System
READING: Chapter 2 (54-55) and Chapter 11 (463-65).
SCREENING: Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) or Mommie Dearest (Frank Perry,
1981).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “Stars as Cinematic Phenomenon” (John Ellis).
• “The Role of the Star in Film History [Joan Crawford]” (Robert C. Allen).
Week 14 Apr-13 Film Focus: Gender and Sexuality
READING: Chapter 10 (383-87) and Chapter 11 (457-60).
SCREENING: Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1990; 118 m) or American Gigolo
(Paul Schrader, 1980; 117 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (Laura Mulvey).
• “The Master’s Dollhouse: Rear Window” (Tania Modleski).

Week 15 Apr-20 Film Focus: Race and Representation

READING: Chapter 10 (388-91 only) and Chapter 11 (460-67).
SCREENING: Boyz N the Hood (John Singleton, 1991; 107 m).
PRESENTATIONS:
• “Colonialism, Racism, and Representation” (Stam and Spence).
• “Black Spectatorship: Problems of Identification and Resistance” (Manthia
Diawara).

Week 16 Apr-27 Final Paper due in Dr. Marshall’s office by noon.

*The class calendar is subject to change: if a change occurs, it will be announced in class and posted on the
course Web site. It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of such changes.

**If you lose this syllabus, an extra copy may be printed from the course Web site.
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POSSIBLE IN-CLASS SCREENINGS

This is a tentative list of films from which we may or may not screen clips. The films we do screen, however,
students will be responsible for on the exams.

Week 1 Jan-12 What Films Do, and the Economics of Film (Distribution, Promotion, Exhibition)
The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola,1972)
Lumière films (1895-1897)
The Player (Robert Altman, 1992)

Week 2 Jan-19 Narrative Cinema

The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953)
The Lady in the Lake (Robert Montgomery, 1947)
Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1983)
Week 3 Jan-26 Mise-en-Scène
Henry V (Laurence Olivier, 1944)
A Trip to the Moon (Georges Méliès, 1902)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Weine, 1919)
City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
Summer Stock (Charles Walters, 1950)
The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

Week 4 Feb-2 Cinematography

The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1959)
The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
42nd Street (Lloyd Bacon, 1933)
Week 5 Feb-9 Dr. Marshall at conference--no class.

Week 6 Feb-16 Relating Images: Editing

William Shakespeare' s Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
The Untouchables (Brian De Palma, 1987)
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
Week 7 Feb-23 Sound and Sound Design
Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
Hamlet (Laurence Olivier, 1948)
Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
Contact (Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)

Week 8 Mar-2 Cinematic Shapes: Genre (The Film Musical)

The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934)
On the Town (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1949)
Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
It’s Always Fair Weather (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1955)
The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994)
Austin Powers in Goldmember (Jay Roach, 2002)
Chicago (Rob Marshall, 2002)
 6

Week 9 Mar-9 Spring Break--no classes.

Week 10 Mar-16 Cinematic Shapes: Documentary Films

Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994)
Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)
Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
Looking for Richard (Al Pacino, 1996)
The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988)
Best in Show (Christopher Guest, 2000)
Week 11 Mar-23 Experimental (Avant-Garde) Films
Ballet Mécanique (Fernand Léger, 1924)
Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bu uel/Salvador Dali, 1928)
Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)
Week 12 Mar-30 Postwar Movements and The New Hollywood
The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
Umberto D (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)
The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)
Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969)
Week 13 Apr-6 Film Focus: The Star System
Last Action Hero (John McTiernan, 1993)
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
The Bells of St. Mary’s (Leo McCarey, 1945)
Dirty Harry (Don Siegal, 1971)
Week 14 Apr-13 Film Focus: Gender and Sexuality
Gentleman Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawkes, 1953)
Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1990)
True Lies (James Cameron, 1994)
American Gigolo (Paul Schrader, 1980)
Week 15 Apr-20 Film Focus: Race and Representation
Birth of a Nation (D. W. Griffith, 1915)
Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936)
Bamboozled (Spike Lee, 2000)
The Chappelle Show, Season 2 (Dave Chappelle, 2003-04).
Week 16 Apr-27 Final Paper due in Dr. Marshall’s office by noon.