Introduction to Contemporary Cinema
Cinema 102 Fall 2007
Tuesday 11:10-1:55 – Room: CA 129
Instructor: Aaron Kerner
Office: FA536
Telephone: 405 3972
Email: amkerner@sfsu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 2:00-4:00 or by appointment
http://online.sfsu.edu/~amkerner/index.html
Course Description: This is a general survey course of contemporary cinema. For the purposes of this course “contemporary” is regarded as cinema from the 1960s forward. As a survey course we will be reviewing a small sample of films from some of the major film-producing countries. The films selected are not necessarily the “best” films ever made, however, what they illustrate are trends in contemporary cinema. The selected films demonstrate innovations in cinematic practices and/or are representative of major sociopolitical concerns.
Course Requirements:
Attend all class meetings
Readings must be completed by the assigned dates
Course Assessment: Everything discussed in class (e.g., lectures, screenings, clips shown) is subject to examination. Likewise, all the required assigned reading is also subject to examination. The exams will be comprehensive.
| Exam One | 30% |
| Exam Two | 30% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
| Attendance | 10% |
extra-credit assignments will be given.
Course Reading Material: All the reading material is available online either through electronic reserves, or an online database; you should assume that a reading is accessible through electronic reserves unless stated otherwise.
To access the electronic reserve material you will need to enter the password: announce during class.
In addition, if you are accessing a database like Project Muse or JSTOR through an online service provider other than the SFSU server, you will need a code to access this material. Any computer on campus should have no problem accessing these databases.
Click here for further instructions for accessing the course reading.
NB:
This syllabus is subject to change.
Turn off your cell phone and other electronic devices.
Any violation of academic integrity will be referred to Student
Judicial Affairs.
Introduction to Contemporary Cinema:
The End of the Studio System
Session 1 (August 28)
Screening:
Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk, 1959
“The Hollywood Renaissance”
Session 2 (September 4)
Screening:
The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola, 1972Reading:
Jon Lewis, “The Godfather,” Film Analysis: A Norton Reader, Jeffery Geiger and R. L. Rutsky, eds. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005), 622 - 639. electronic reserve
Session 3 (September 11)
Screening:
Chinatown, Roman Polanski, 1974Reading:
Steve Neale, “Chinatown,” Film Analysis: A Norton Reader, Jeffery Geiger and R. L. Rutsky, eds. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005), 660 – 677. electronic reserve
Session 4 (September 18)
PPT
Screening:
Baadasssss, Mario Van Peebles, 2005
Classified X, Mark Daniels, 1998Reading:
Brandon Wander, “Black Dreams: The Fantasy and Ritual of Black Films,” Film Quarterly vol. 29, no. 1. (Autumn, 1975): pp. 2-11. Available through the JSTOR database.
William Lyne, “No Accident: From Black Power to Black Box Office,” African American Review vol. 34, no. 1. (Spring, 2000), pp. 39-59. Available through the JSTOR database.
Session 5 (September 25)
MIDTERM
European Trends
French Currents: Cinema du look
Session 6 (October 2)
PPT
Screening:
Diva, Jean-Jacques Beineix, 1981Reading:
Phil Powrie, “Diva’s Deluxe Disasters,” in French Cinema in the 1980s, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 109 – 120. electronic reserve
Session 7 (October 9)
Screening:
City of Lost Children, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, 1995Reading:
Remi Fournier Lanzoni, “New Artists, New Creators: Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro,” in French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present (New York: Continuum, 2002), 365 – 376. electronic reserve
Jean-Pierre Jeunet in Laurent Tirard, Moviemakers’ Master Class: Private Lessons form the World’s Foremost Directors (New York: Faber and Faber, 2002), 111 – 122. electronic reserve
Brit Pop Cinema
Session 8 (October 16)
Screening:
Shallow Grave, Danny Boyle, 1994
Trainspotting, Danny Boyle, 1996
Snatch, Guy Ritchie, 2000
Twenty-four Hour Party People, Michael Winterbottom, 2001Reading:
Karen Lury, “Here and Then: Space, Place and Nostalgia in British Youth Cinema of the 1990s,” in British Cinema of the 90s, Robert Murphy ed. (London: British Film Institute, 2000), 100-08. electronic reserve
Back Across the Channel: Femme Fatales French-Style
Session 9 (October 23)
PPT
Screening:
Swimming Pool, François Ozon, 2003Reading:
Kate Stables, “The Postmodern Always Rings Twice: Constructing the Femme Fatale in 90s Cinema,” in Women in Film Noir, Ann Kaplan, ed. (London: The British Film Institute, 1998), 164 – 182. electronic reserve
Session 10 (October 30)
MIDTERM
Just in the last few years …
Session 11 (November 6) Contemporary Contemporary Mexico
Screening:
Amores perros, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000Reading:
Juan Poblete, “New National Cinemas in a Transnational,” Discourse vol. 26, no.1&2 (2004): 214-234. Available via Project Muse.
Session 12 (November 13) Contemporary Contemporary USA/Mexico
Screening:
Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006Reading:
David Denby, “The New Disorder: Adventures in film narrative,” The New Yorker (March 5, 2007): 80-85. Click here.
Interview with Alejandro González Iñárritu on Fresh Air from WHYY (April 26, 2001).
No class on November 20
Session 13 (November 27) Contemporary Contemporary USA/Mexico
Screening
Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón, 2006Reading:
Interview with Alfonso Cuarónon Fresh Air from WHYY (May 7, 2002).
Session 14 (December 4) Contemporary Contemporary USA/Mexico
Screening
Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, 2006Reading:
- Interview with Guillermo del Toro on Fresh Air from WHYY (January 24, 2007).
- Jack Zipes, "Spells of Enchantment: An Overview of the History of Fairy Tales," in When Dreams Came True: Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition (New York: Routledge, 1999), 1 - 29. electronic reserve NOTE: pages 9 and 19 are blank - they contained images and I removed them to conserve ink.
Session 15 (December 11) Contemporary Contemporary Spain
Screening:
Bad Education, Pedro Almodovar, 2004Reading:
Pedro Almodovar in Laurent Tirard, Moviemakers’ Master Class: Private Lessons form the World’s Foremost Directors (New York: Faber and Faber, 2002), 80 - 90. electronic reserve
Session 16 (December 18)
FINAL EXAM