The Art of the Film
Honors Seminar / Fall 1998
Tentative Syllabus
Instructor: Terry Wright

The following is a tentative syllabus for the course. It is subject to change. You should attend class regularly to keep abreast of current reading and writing assignments.

M&M is Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film by Stephen Prince.

Tuesday / 8-25
Course Introduction
HOW TO MAKE A MOVIE
The Production / The Director: Document of the Dead (1984)

Thursday / 8-27
Editing: Origins of the Motion Picture
Screenwriting: Naked Hollywood: Funny for Money

Tuesday / 9-1
Acting: Stage: Michael Caine on Acting for Film
Cinematography: Visions of Light (1993)

Thursday / 9-3
THE SILENT ERA
The Comics:
Hollywood Comedy, A Serious Business
Unknown Chaplin
American Masters: Buster Keaton
Fatty Arbuckle Short

Tuesday / 9-8
Innovations and Czars:
Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
American Masters: D. W. Griffith
Witchcraft Through the Ages (1921)
The Iron Mask (1929)
M&M, Chapter 10, "Film Criticism and Interpretation," p. 317

Thursday/ 9-10
CLASSICS - DRAMA
Citizen Kane (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
White Heat (1949)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1952)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Tuesday / 9-15
CLASSICS - DRAMA
Bullitt (1968)
The Godfather (1972)
Network (1976)
All That Jazz (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Unforgiven (1992)
Fargo (1995)
M&M, Chapter 11, "Models of Film Theory," p. 341

Thursday/ 9-17
CLASSICS - COMEDY
The Dentist (Short)
Laurel and Hardy Short
Horsefeathers (1932)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Dr. Strangelove (1962)
The Producers (1968)
Animal House (1978)

Tuesday / 9-22
CLASSICS - COMEDY
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1983)
Repo Man (1984)
Heathers (1988)
Clerks (1994)
Living in Oblivion (1995)
The Cable Guy (1996)
M&M, Chapter 1, "The Camera and Film Structure," p. 1

Thursday / 9-24
THE MOVIE STAR
Marlon Brando:
The Wild One (1954)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
The Missouri Breaks (1976)
Apocalypse Now (1979)

Marilyn Monroe:
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Some Like It Hot (1959)

Tuesday / 9-29
THE MOVIE STAR
Jack Nicholson:
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Chinatown (1974)
Prizzi's Honor (1985)
The Crossing Guard (1996)

Sharon Stone:
Total Recall (1990)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Casino (1995)
M&M, Chapter 2, "Elements of Mise-en-Scene: Cinenatography," p. 43

Thursday / 10-1
THE AUTEUR
Alfred Hitchcock:
Spellbound (1945)
Notorious (1946)
North by Northwest (1959)
Vertigo (1958)
Psycho (1960)
The Birds (1963)
Frenzy (1972)

Tuesday / 10-6
THE AUTEUR
Akira Kurosawa:
Rashoman (1950)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Throne of Blood (1957)
High and Low (1962)
Ran (1985)
M&M , Chapter 3, "Elements of Mise-en-Scene: Production Design and Performance Style." p. 69.

Thursday / 10-13
THE AUTEUR
Woody Allen:
Bananas (1971)
Annie Hall (1977)
Manhattan (1979)
Zelig (1983)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Shadows and Fog (1991)

Tuesday / 10-20
THE AUTEUR
David Lynch:
Eraserhead (1977)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Twin Peaks-Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Lost Highway (1996)
M&M, Chapter 4, "Editing: Making the Cut," p. 104

Thursday / 10-22
THE DOCUMENTARY
Hearts and Minds (1974)
This Is Elvis (1981)
The Atomic Café (1982)
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Roger and Me (1989)

Tuesday / 10-27
THE DOCUMENTARY
Blast 'Em (1992)
Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Dream (1992)
Sarajevo: The Living and the Dead (1994)
Crumb (1994)
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
4 Little Girls (1997)
M&M, Chapter 5, "Principles of Sound Design," p. 151.

Thursday / 10-29
VIOLENCE!
Scanners (1981)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Return of the Dragon (1974)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Godfather (1972)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Dead Alive (1992)

Tuesday / 11-3
SEX!
Sex and the Silver Screen
M&M, Chapter 6, "The Nature of Narrative in Film," p. 184

Thursday / 11-5
LITERATURE INTO FILM
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Wise Blood (1979)
The World According to Garp (1982)
Last of the Mochicans (1992)
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Tuesday / 11-10
GENDER
Glen or Glenda (1953)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Tootsie (1982)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
The Accused (1988)
Thelma and Louise (1991)
Bound (1996)
M&M, Chapter 7, "Modes of Screen Reality," p. 214.

Thursday / 11-12
RACE
To Sir, With Love (1967)
The Great White Hope (1970)
Foxy Brown (1974)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Glory (1989)
Boyz 'n the Hood (1991)
Menance II Society (1993)

Tuesday / 11-17
HORROR
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Dracula (1931)
King Kong (1933)
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
Peeping Tom (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
M&M, Chapter 8, "Hollywood International," p. 254.

Thursday / 11-19
HORROR
The Exorcist (1973)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1985)
The Hidden (1986)
Near Dark (1987)
Army of Darkness (1993)
Cemetery Man (1993)
Midnight Kiss (1993)
The Addiction (1995)
Scream (1996)

Tuesday / 11-24
SCIENCE FICTION
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
King of the Rocket Men (1949)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Fly (1958)
The Time Machine (1960)
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Thursday / 11-26
Thanksgiving Holiday

Tuesday / 12-1
SCIENCE FICTION
Alien (1979)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Blade Runner (1982)
Videodrome (1983)
The Terminator (1984)
Brazil (1985)
Aliens (1986)
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1992)
Independence Day (1996)
M&M, Chapter 9, The Cinema in an International Frame,' p. 279.

Thursday / 12-3
ANIME
Early Influences:
Gigantor
Classics:
Akira (1987)
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Kids:
My Neighbor Tortoro (1988)
Martial Arts:
Ninja Scroll (1993)
Sexual Apocalypse:
Legend of the Overfiend (1992)
The Body:
Boah (1989)
The Machine:
Roujin Z (1991)
Anime vs. Live Action:
Wicked City (1992)
Wicked City (1992)
Inexplicable:
Luna Varga (1991)

Tuesday / 12-8
PSYCHOTRONIC!!!!!!
MST3K: Samson vs. the Vampire Women (1961)
Spanish Vampire-Wrestling Excerpt (?)
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)
Mr. Vampire #1 (1986)
Robot Monster (1953)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1962)
A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1981)
Invasion of the Bee Girls (1974)
Deathrace 2000 (1975)
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966)
Class of Nuke 'Em High (1986)

Thursday / 12-10
SCUZZ CINEMA
The Getaway (1972)
The Getaway (1993)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Kalifornia (1993)
2 Days in the Valley (1996)
Love and a .45 (1995)
The Doom Generation (1995)
Hard Boiled (1992)

Final Examinations