Reading questions due Wed. 10/31 by 8pm

This week's readings:

Affron, “Performing Performing: Irony and Affect” (coursepack)
Dyer, “Stars as Signs” (coursepack)
Wikipedia entry on Lana Turner
Optional: Gaby Wood, “In Lana Turner’s Bedroom”

Post your responses in the comments field by 8pm Wednesday night, Oct. 31.

1) Sum up one key idea from Affron’s essay.

2) Dyer is a long essay, and you are responsible for the whole thing. However, we’ll focus the reading responses on the 10 ways character is constructed in the cinema (pp. 120-132). Give an example of how the character of Lora Meredith is constructed in five (5) of the ways Dyer identifies on p. 121.

Everybody must include an example of how mise-en-scène helps to construct her character, but the other four areas are your choice (from Dyer’s list). So, for example, you might tell us how and what we learn about Lora Meredith’s character based on: audience foreknowledge (of Lana Turner), her name (what does the name “Lora Meredith” tell us about her character?), gestures she makes (Mulvey discusses one of these from the opening scene; find another example), actions she takes in the film, and mise-en-scène (i.e., what do the visual details of a certain setting—say, her apartment, some part of her home, the stage, or her dressing room—tell us about her character?) Be very specific: e.g., don’t just tell us “Lora wants attention” as an “action” she takes; instead, give us a specific action and how it constructs an aspect of her character.
3) Every reading provides a critical tool we’ll try out on the film under discussion. So, suggest one scene from IMITATION OF LIFE for us to look at in class. What "research question" would you like to ask about that scene? Explain how and why Dyer’s or Affron’s approach or ideas might be helpful or interesting to use when analyzing the scene. Be very specific.

Imitation of Life: accept no imitations

This is spelled out in the syllabus, but just in case, I'll repeat it here. There are two versions of Imitation of Life, so be sure to see the correct version by Thursday for class discussion.

1959 (d. Douglas Sirk in color)--this is the one we'll be discussing

1934 (d. John Stahl in black & white)--feel free to see this too, but we'll focus on the other

Room change

Film 320 will meet for the remainder of the semester in Mitchell B65, in the southeast corner of the building. (If you enter at the staircase that faces the Union, you'd make a right and go toward the end of the hallway.)

Reading responses due 10/24

This week's readings:

• Fred Camper, “The Epistemologist of Despair” (coursepack)
• Laura Mulvey, “Repetition and Return: Textual Analysis and Douglas Sirk in the Twenty-first Century” (coursepack)
• "Irony" (entry in UChicago's critical theory glossary)

Post your responses in the comments field by 8pm Wednesday night, Oct. 24.

1) Sum up one key idea (each) from Camper and Mulvey's essays.

2) Give one specific example of an ironic image (from a film assigned thus far in class) and explain why it's ironic, based on the critical theory glossary you read.

3) Every reading provides a critical tool we’ll try out on the film under discussion. So, suggest one scene from IMITATION OF LIFE for us to look at in class. What "research question" would you like to ask about that scene? Explain how and why Camper's or Mulvey's approach or ideas might be helpful or interesting to use when analyzing the scene. Be very specific.


See the bottom of the first posted reading questions for "tips" on figuring out the answer to question 2, on method.

Reading questions due Wed. 10/17 by 8pm

Man Ray, Observatory Time--the Lovers

This week's readings:

1) Keathley, “The Cinephiliac Moment and the Panoramic Gaze” (coursepack)
2) Re-read Keathley's bit on Judy's Lips in "Five Cinephiliac Anecdotes" (earlier in coursepack)

3) Martin's "Delirious Enchantment" (available as a .pdf in the "Contents" area of D2L) is optional reading for this week. We'll refer to it in class, but Keathley's essay is more important for our purposes, as a model of critical method.

Post your responses in the comments field by 8pm Wednesday night, Oct. 17. Don't forget to pose a "research question" about a specific scene for discussion in class.

1) Sum up one (1) key idea of Keathley's essay ("The Cinephiliac Moment").

2) What "counts" as a "cinephiliac moment," and what doesn't? Why and how can a cinephiliac moment be used for serious film analysis?

3) Suggest one scene from Rebel without a Cause for us to look at in class. [NOTE: some of you have been suggesting scenes without doing this next part, but that's not sufficient.] What "research question" would you like to ask about that scene? Explain how and why this author's approach might be helpful or interesting to use when analyzing the scene. Be very specific.

First visual essay due 10/11

Good luck! The assignment (and tips for practicing close analysis) appear now on the D2L site in the "contents" area. Read the assignment carefully. Be sure to have a clear thesis statement, include images in a purposeful way, and demonstrate that you're engaging with the models of close analysis encountered thus far in the course.

Your essay should appear on the blog you personally created for use with this course; you MUST provide your BLOG ADDRESS by the beginning of class 10/11.

In the spirit of collaboration that's so important to this course, post your blog's address in the comments field of this post. I'd like everyone to see others' work, get ideas about how to integrate images into an argument, see how other people might be working differently with the same scenes they are, leave considerate, constructive feedback, etc., much as you would in a production course. (If there are any privacy concerns around this, let me know: send me an email). You'll get feedback from me privately and separately.

Side note: I will be giving midterm feedback on your reading responses very soon.

Reading responses due Wed. 10/10 by 8pm

This week's readings:

Wood, "Finding the Father in Rebel without a Cause" (click the title to view the essay)
Doane, "The Voice in the Cinema" (in coursepack)

Post your responses in the comments field by 8pm Wednesday night, Oct. 10. Don't forget to suggest a scene for viewing in class.

1) Sum up one key idea of each of the readings.

It's pretty obvious that both authors are using psychoanalysis, but they do it in different ways and to different purposes. Wood pyschoanalyzes the characters and their relationships. Doane applies psychoanalysis to understand the viewer/film relationship in the cinematic experience. So, let's focus question 2 more narrowly on Doane:

2) What does she mean by "phantasmatic body," and how does sound/image continuity relate to that?

3) Suggest one scene from Rebel without a Cause for us to look at in class. What "research question" would you like to ask about that scene? Explain how and why these authors' approaches or ideas might be helpful or interesting to use when analyzing the scene. Be very specific.

See the bottom of the first posted reading questions for "tips" on figuring out the answer to question 2, on method.

Reading questions due Wed. 10/3 by 8pm

Reading responses due Wed. 10/3 by 8pm

This week's readings, from the course reader:

Stern, "A Glitter of Putrescence"

Post your responses in the comments field by 8pm Wednesday night, Oct. 3. Don't forget to suggest a scene for viewing in class.

1) Sum up one key idea of Stern's chapter.

2) Describe Stern's method of analysis. (See below for details)

3) Every reading provides a critical tool we’ll try out on the film under discussion. So, suggest one scene from TAXI DRIVER for us to look at in class. What "research question" would you like to ask about that scene? Explain how and why Stern's approach or ideas might be helpful or interesting to use when analyzing the scene. Be very specific.

See the bottom of the first posted reading questions for "tips" on figuring out the answer to question 2, on method.