Week 1 Intro
9/2
Week 2 Bonnie & Clyde (1967; Arthur Penn,
director
9/7 no class on Monday
Week 3 The Godfather (1971; Francis Ford Coppola,
director; Mario Puzo, screenwriter)
9/14
Week 4 The Grifters (1991; Stephan Frears,
director; Donald E. Westlake, screenwriter)
9/21
Week 5 Taxi Driver (1976; Martin Scorsese, director; Paul
Schrader, screenwriter)
9/28 no class on Wednesday
Week 6 Dirty Harry (1971; Don Siegal, director;
Harry Julian Fink, screenwriter)
10/5
Week 7 The Long Goodbye (1973; Robert Altman, director; Leigh Brackett, screenwriter) 10/12
Week 8 Chinatown (1974; Roman Polanski, director;
Robert Towne, screenwriter)
10/26
Week 9 Blue Velvet (1986; David Lynch, director and
screenwriter)
11/2
Week 10 House of Games (1987; David Mamet, director
and screenwriter)
11/9
Week 11 Fargo (1996; Ethan Cohen, director; David
and Ethan Cohen, screenwriters)
11/16
Week 12 Thanksgiving week; final essay drafts due
11/23
Week 13 One False Move (1991; Carl Franklin,
director; Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, screenwriters)
11/30
Week 14 Lone Star (1996; John Sayles, director and
screenwriter)
12/7
Week 15 last class
12/14
There will be a showing of the movie of
the week in Mudd 050 on Sunday, from Noon to 2 pm. Movies are also
available on 24 hour reserve from the Reserve Room. AV, on the
foruthfloor of Mudd, also has a copy of each movie for viewing during
the hours AV is open.
Typically Monday & Wednesday will be discussions with some lecture and Friday lecture.
1) I expect you to attend class. I take attendance. We only have 39 meetings during the semester, it isn't that hard to show up. I expect you to keep track of your own attendance as well; "I didn't realize I'd missed that many classes" is not an excuse.
You're allowed 2 unexcused absence, which is absence for reasons other than illness or family emergency. "I forgot, I hadn't read the material, I was working on a paper for another class, I'm in a production of The Sunshine Boys and we had rehearsal, my fish was depressed, I don't do Mondays etc. etc. etc." are not excusable absences. After the 2 allowed unexcused absence your grade starts to go down.
After a total of 7 unexcused absences, don't bother to come back because you've just No Entry-ed the course.
2) You have to participate in the class. Participation doesn't mean simply talking a lot, it means being engaged in the interchange among the members of the class: asking good questions, responding to other people's questions, thinking before you talk. Talking in groups such as a class is a skill, every bit as much as writing is. Its a skill worth having, because in fact a lot of work in all institutions gets done in that way. Being able to talk effectively in a group is, as they say, an important "self-empowerment." I know that a number of people have trouble speaking up in class. You should feel as free to consult me on strategies and methods for doing that as you'd to consult me about your writing.
3) See the movies before class. I haven't put a large number of readings on reserve, partly because I think these movies provide both the terms for interpretation and discussion as well as the object for them. I expect you to see each movie twice; you must be sure to see each movie before we begin discussing it.
4) You have to form, with other members of the course, a discussion group that meets outside of class once a week. Some groups prefer to meet before discussions and/or lectures, other prefer to meet after. That's up to each group to decide. Groups should be at least 4 and no more than 5 people.
Academic or emergency incompletes are yours to take if you want, as long as you are in good standing in the course. You don't need to tell me the story, unless you want to; I trust that you wouldn't take an incomplete without a good reason. "Good Standing" means that you have completed all the work assigned for the first module and at least some of the work for the second
1. "Why crime movies are interesting and important, part one" 750 words. See attached assignment sheet.
2. Three short essays on a particular movie one for each section of the course. You can request a movie; if you don't get the movie you really really really want to write about, it'll be a good experience to have to think about something else. 500 words maximum; in other words, stop when you've finished page two. These essays are exercises in concision and will require a lot of thought before you write the final version.
3. Midterm: "Why crime movies are interesting and
important, part 2" reflections on and revisions of your initial
thoughts.
750-1000 words
4. Final essay. 2000+ words, written in three stages
The comments on your writing will be, as one former student put it, "ambiguous." I don't do much "this is good, that's bad" commenting. The comments I make will be directed to making you think about what you're writing about, raising issues you may want to consider in revising, or writing about in the next essay. For specific advice on how to revise, what to do with a particular argument, etc., we should set up a conference.
You won't receive any grades over the course of the semester. This isn't because the grade is unimportant (if it was unimportant we wouldn't give it, would we?) but because the work in the course is part of a process, rather than a sequence of discrete units. If I am trying to encourage you to use your writing to be experimental and speculative, leading to your final essay, it makes little sense to grade it along the way. But if you want a sense of how you're doing, you should feel free to come and speak to me about your work. I will be able to tell you if you are making what I see as reasonable progress, what things you may want to work on, what things you seem to be doing best. I won't be able to be extremely precise about a grade equivalent. On a rough scale, though, I would say that if you are doing intelligent analysis of the works we consider and are able to state your own views clearly, that is C- to C+ work. If you are able to interpret the material we're working with, discuss not only what is "said" but what its significance might be, you would be in the B- to B range. If in addition you can demonstrate a capacity for self-reflective critical work (thinking about your own way of thinking and what it means to think as you do) and the value of what you are thinking about, you would be in the B+ to A range. So these are the kinds of mental activity you will be doing in the course: analysis & response, interpretation, self-reflection, and evaluation. Just so you know, I consider a B- to be a perfectly good grade; C's are okay, too.
First Assignment: "Why movies about crime and criminals are interesting and important"
As this course is about crime and criminals, it's important to begin by thinking about what assumptions and attitudes you bring to this material. Why does this topic seem important to you? I don't mean just that it seems "so cool" or some such thing, but what makes it worth studying? Obvious reasons might be that crime is a concern in contemporary culture, raising issues about ethics and the relations of people to society and each other, the nature of justice, and the meaning of human desire. But as I just said that, you'd have to go further and say what all that might actually mean.
This isn't a sociology course; we're going to be dealing with the subject of crime and criminals through their representation and use as tropes, signs, and conventions in fictional movies, mostly mainstream ones which were meant as entertainment and exercises of artistic technique, though I think their makers also had serious artistic and cultural concerns as well. Why is it valuable to think about crime movies? If you want to say that movies are some kind of evidence about culture, I guess you can, but as movies are part of culture you'll have to go farther than that. Why is one part of culture "good evidence" about other parts of it? And what makes movies particularly "good evidence?"
You could also say that these unique works of imagination illuminate the issues of morality and the individual's relation to society through the complexity and sophistication of their art, but I've just said that, too, so if you're going to take this approach you're going to have to be more specific. What makes a movie (or any work of art) the source for unique insights or ideas about our lives and our values?
This essay should be about 750 words. It's due on Tuesday morning, September 8th by noon at my office, Rice 114.
English 270 The Scene of the Crime
Pat Day Rice 114 Office Hours: MW 2:30-3:25 T 2:30-4:30 & by arrangement
phone 8574 email: william.patrick.day http://www.oberlin.edu/~pday
Week 1 Intro
9/2
Part One: The Usual Suspects
Week 2 Bonnie & Clyde (1967; Arthur Penn, director
9/7 no class on Monday
Week 3 The Godfather (1971; Francis Ford Coppola, director; Mario Puzo, 9/14 screenwriter)
Week 4 The Grifters (1991; Stephan Frears, director; Donald E. Westlake, 9/21 screenwriter)
Week 5 Taxi Driver (1976; Martin Scorsese, director; Paul Schrader, 9/28 screenwriter)
no class on Wednesday
Part Two: Watching the Detectives
Week 6 Dirty Harry (1971; Don Siegal, director; Harry Julian Fink, 10/5 screenwriter)
Week 7 The Long Goodbye (1973; Robert Altman, director; Leigh 10/12 Brackett, screenwriter)
Fall Break
10/17-10/25
Week 8 Chinatown (1974; Roman Polanski, director; Robert Towne, 10/26 screenwriter)
Week 9 Blue Velvet (1986; David Lynch, director and screenwriter)
11/2
Part Three: Double Vision
Week 10 House of Games (1987; David Mamet, director and screenwriter)
11/9
Week 11 Fargo (1996; Ethan Cohen, director; David and Ethan Cohen, 11/16 screenwriters)
Week 12 Thanksgiving week; final essay drafts due
11/23
Week 13 One False Move
11/30
Week 14 Lone Star (1996; John Sayles, director and screenwriter)
12/7
Week 15 last class
12/14
General Requirements of the Course.
Typically Monday & Wednesday will be discussions with some lecture and Friday lecture.
Attendance Policy
I expect you to attend class. I take attendance. We only have 39 meetings during the semester, it isn't that hard to show up. I expect you to keep track of your own attendance as well; "I didn't realize I'd missed that many classes" is not an excuse.
You're allowed 2 unexcused absence, which is absence for reasons other than illness or family emergency. "I forgot, I hadn't read the material, I was working on a paper for another class, I'm in a production of The Sunshine Boys and we had rehearsal, my fish was depressed, I don't do Mondays etc. etc. etc." are not excusable absences. After the 2 allowed unexcused absence your grade starts to go down.
After a total of 7 unexcused absences, don't bother to come back because you've just No Entry-ed the course.
2) You have to participate in the class. Participation doesn't mean simply talking a lot, it means being engaged in the interchange among the members of the class: asking good questions, responding to other people's questions, thinking before you talk. Talking in groups such as a class is a skill, every bit as much as writing is. Its a skill worth having, because in fact a lot of work in all institutions gets done in that way. Being able to talk effectively in a group is, as they say, an important "self-empowerment." I know that a number of people have trouble speaking up in class. You should feel as free to consult me on strategies and methods for doing that as you'd to consult me about your writing.
3) Seeing the movies. I haven't put a large number of readings on reserve, partly because I think these movies provide both the terms for interpretation and discussion as well as the object for them. I expect you to see each movie twice; you must be sure to see each movie before we begin discussing it.
4) You have to form, with other members of the course, a discussion group that meets outside of class once a week. Some groups prefer to meet before discussions and/or lectures, other prefer to meet after. That's up to each group to decide. Groups should be at least 4 and no more than 5 people.
Incompletes Policy
Academic or emergency incompletes are yours to take if you want, as long as you are in good standing in the course. You don't need to tell me the story, unless you want to; I trust that you wouldn't take an incomplete without a good reason. "Good Standing" means that you have completed all the work assigned for the first module and at least some of the work for the second
Writing Assignments
·Written work must be handed in on time.
· Late essays will be accepted at the discretion of the instructor
·All work must be handed in in order to get credit for the course.
·Essays must be typed, double spaced, stapled together,with pages numbered.
· Backs of previously used paper is fine for drafts; final version should be printed on both sides of the sheet.
·Essays must have a title, though they don't have to have a cover sheet.
· References should be in the following form: (Wordsworth, "Preface" p. 2)
with full citation in end notes
Writing Assignments for the Course
1. "Why crime movies are interesting and important, part one"
750 words. See attached assignment sheet.
2. Three short essays on a particular movie one for each section of the course. Sign up for a movie; if you don't get the movie you really really really want to write about, it'll be a good experience to have to think about something else.
500 words maximum; in other words, stop when you've finished page two. These essays are exercises in concision and will require a lot of thought before you write the final version.
3. Midterm: "Why crime movies are interesting and important, part 2"
reflections on and revisions of your initial thoughts.
750-1000 words
4. Final essay. 2000+ words, written in three stages
Proposal: a 250-500 words description of what you want to write about; this should include the topic--sexuality in Bonnie and Clyde, for instance and a brief explanation of why its interesting--but also a statement about the subject of your essay, what issues and concerns you think you can address by writing about this moive from this angle. Due Friday of week 10.
First Draft of the term essay. Due week 12. I'll read and comment on this draft. It should be as complete as possible, but I don't expect a "finished" product. You'll exchange this draft with two other people in the class and provide each other with written comments.
Final Draft. Due at the end of Reading Period; comments from readers are included with the final draft.
How I comment on your written work.
The comments on your writing will be, as one former student put it, "ambiguous." I don't do much "this is good, that's bad" commenting. The comments I make will be directed to making you think about what you're writing about, raising issues you may want to consider in revising, or writing about in the next essay. For specific advice on how to revise, what to do with a particular argument, etc., we should set up a conference.
Grading
You won't receive any grades over the course of the semester. This isn't because the grade is unimportant (if it was unimportant we wouldn't give it, would we?) but because the work in the course is part of a process, rather than a sequence of discrete units. If I am trying to encourage you to use your writing to be experimental and speculative, leading to your final essay, it makes little sense to grade it along the way. But if you want a sense of how you're doing, you should feel free to come and speak to me about your work. I will be able to tell you if you are making what I see as reasonable progress, what things you may want to work on, what things you seem to be doing best. I won't be able to be extremely precise about a grade equivalent. On a rough scale, though, I would say that if you are doing intelligent analysis of the works we consider and are able to state your own views clearly, that is C- to C+ work. If you are able to interpret the material we're working with, discuss not only what is "said" but what its significance might be, you would be in the B- to B range. If in addition you can demonstrate a capacity for self-reflective critical work (thinking about your own way of thinking and what it means to think as you do) and the value of what you are thinking about, you would be in the B+ to A range. So these are the kinds of mental activity you will be doing in the course: analysis & response, interpretation, self-reflection, and evaluation. Just so you know, I consider a B- to be a perfectly good grade; C's are okay, too.
First Assignment: "Why movies about crime and criminals are interesting and important"
As this course is about crime and criminals, it's important to begin by thinking about what assumptions and attitudes you bring to this material. Why does this topic seem important to you? I don't mean just that it seems "so cool" or some such thing, but what makes it worth studying? Obvious reasons might be that crime is a concern in contemporary culture, raising issues about ethics and the relations of people to society and each other, the nature of justice, and the meaning of human desire. But as I just said that, you'd have to go further and say what all that might actually mean.
This isn't a sociology course; we're going to be dealing with the subject of crime and criminals through their representation and use as tropes, signs, and conventions in fictional movies, mostly mainstream ones which were meant as entertainment and exercises of artistic technique, though I think their makers also had serious artistic and cultural concerns as well. Why is it valuable to think about crime movies? If you want to say that movies are some kind of evidence about culture, I guess you can, but as movies are part of culture you'll have to go farther than that. Why is one part of culture "good evidence" about other parts of it? And what makes movies particularly "good evidence?"
You could also say that these unique works of imagination illuminate the issues of morality and the individual's relation to society through the complexity and sophistication of their art, but I've just said that, too, so if you're going to take this approach you're going to have to be more specific. What makes a movie (or any work of art) the source for unique insights or ideas about our lives and our values?
This essay should be about 1000 words. It's due on Tuesday morning, September 8th by noon at my office, Rice 114.
Short Essays Groups for English 270, Scene of the Crime
The Usual Suspects
Bonnie & Clyde 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The Godfather 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The Grifters 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Taxi Driver 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Watching the Detectives
Dirty Harry 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The Long Goodbye
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Chinatown 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Blue Velvet 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Double Vision
House of Games 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Fargo 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
One False Move 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Lone Star 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
English 270 The Scene of the Crime
Pat Day Rice 114 Office Hours: MW 2:30-3:25 T 2:30-4:30 & by arrangement
phone 8574 email: william.patrick.day http://www.oberlin.edu/~pday
Week 1 Intro
9/2
Part One: The Usual Suspects
Week 2 Bonnie & Clyde (1967; Arthur Penn, director
9/7 no class on Monday
Week 3 The Godfather (1971; Francis Ford Coppola, director; Mario Puzo, 9/14 screenwriter)
Week 4 The Grifters (1991; Stephan Frears, director; Donald E. Westlake, 9/21 screenwriter)
Week 5 Taxi Driver (1976; Martin Scorsese, director; Paul Schrader, 9/28 screenwriter)
no class on Wednesday
Part Two: Watching the Detectives
Week 6 Dirty Harry (1971; Don Siegal, director; Harry Julian Fink, 10/5 screenwriter)
Week 7 The Long Goodbye (1973; Robert Altman, director; Leigh 10/12 Brackett, screenwriter)
Fall Break
10/17-10/25
Week 8 Chinatown (1974; Roman Polanski, director; Robert Towne, 10/26 screenwriter)
Week 9 Blue Velvet (1986; David Lynch, director and screenwriter)
11/2
Part Three: Double Vision
Week 10 House of Games (1987; David Mamet, director and screenwriter)
11/9
Week 11 Fargo (1996; Ethan Cohen, director; David and Ethan Cohen, 11/16 screenwriters)
Week 12 Thanksgiving week; final essay drafts due
11/23
Week 13 One False Move
11/30
Week 14 Lone Star (1996; John Sayles, director and screenwriter)
12/7
Week 15 last class
12/14
General Requirements of the Course.
Typically Monday & Wednesday will be discussions with some lecture and Friday lecture.
Attendance Policy
I expect you to attend class. I take attendance. We only have 39 meetings during the semester, it isn't that hard to show up. I expect you to keep track of your own attendance as well; "I didn't realize I'd missed that many classes" is not an excuse.
You're allowed 2 unexcused absence, which is absence for reasons other than illness or family emergency. "I forgot, I hadn't read the material, I was working on a paper for another class, I'm in a production of The Sunshine Boys and we had rehearsal, my fish was depressed, I don't do Mondays etc. etc. etc." are not excusable absences. After the 2 allowed unexcused absence your grade starts to go down.
After a total of 7 unexcused absences, don't bother to come back because you've just No Entry-ed the course.
2) You have to participate in the class. Participation doesn't mean simply talking a lot, it means being engaged in the interchange among the members of the class: asking good questions, responding to other people's questions, thinking before you talk. Talking in groups such as a class is a skill, every bit as much as writing is. Its a skill worth having, because in fact a lot of work in all institutions gets done in that way. Being able to talk effectively in a group is, as they say, an important "self-empowerment." I know that a number of people have trouble speaking up in class. You should feel as free to consult me on strategies and methods for doing that as you'd to consult me about your writing.
3) Seeing the movies. I haven't put a large number of readings on reserve, partly because I think these movies provide both the terms for interpretation and discussion as well as the object for them. I expect you to see each movie twice; you must be sure to see each movie before we begin discussing it.
4) You have to form, with other members of the course, a discussion group that meets outside of class once a week. Some groups prefer to meet before discussions and/or lectures, other prefer to meet after. That's up to each group to decide. Groups should be at least 4 and no more than 5 people.
Incompletes Policy
Academic or emergency incompletes are yours to take if you want, as long as you are in good standing in the course. You don't need to tell me the story, unless you want to; I trust that you wouldn't take an incomplete without a good reason. "Good Standing" means that you have completed all the work assigned for the first module and at least some of the work for the second
Writing Assignments
·Written work must be handed in on time.
· Late essays will be accepted at the discretion of the instructor
·All work must be handed in in order to get credit for the course.
·Essays must be typed, double spaced, stapled together,with pages numbered.
· Backs of previously used paper is fine for drafts; final version should be printed on both sides of the sheet.
·Essays must have a title, though they don't have to have a cover sheet.
· References should be in the following form: (Wordsworth, "Preface" p. 2)
with full citation in end notes
Writing Assignments for the Course
1. "Why crime movies are interesting and important, part one"
750 words. See attached assignment sheet.
2. Three short essays on a particular movie one for each section of the course. Sign up for a movie; if you don't get the movie you really really really want to write about, it'll be a good experience to have to think about something else.
500 words maximum; in other words, stop when you've finished page two. These essays are exercises in concision and will require a lot of thought before you write the final version.
3. Midterm: "Why crime movies are interesting and important, part 2"
reflections on and revisions of your initial thoughts.
750-1000 words
4. Final essay. 2000+ words, written in three stages
Proposal: a 250-500 words description of what you want to write about; this should include the topic--sexuality in Bonnie and Clyde, for instance and a brief explanation of why its interesting--but also a statement about the subject of your essay, what issues and concerns you think you can address by writing about this moive from this angle. Due Friday of week 10.
First Draft of the term essay. Due week 12. I'll read and comment on this draft. It should be as complete as possible, but I don't expect a "finished" product. You'll exchange this draft with two other people in the class and provide each other with written comments.
Final Draft. Due at the end of Reading Period; comments from readers are included with the final draft.
How I comment on your written work.
The comments on your writing will be, as one former student put it, "ambiguous." I don't do much "this is good, that's bad" commenting. The comments I make will be directed to making you think about what you're writing about, raising issues you may want to consider in revising, or writing about in the next essay. For specific advice on how to revise, what to do with a particular argument, etc., we should set up a conference.
Grading
You won't receive any grades over the course of the semester. This isn't because the grade is unimportant (if it was unimportant we wouldn't give it, would we?) but because the work in the course is part of a process, rather than a sequence of discrete units. If I am trying to encourage you to use your writing to be experimental and speculative, leading to your final essay, it makes little sense to grade it along the way. But if you want a sense of how you're doing, you should feel free to come and speak to me about your work. I will be able to tell you if you are making what I see as reasonable progress, what things you may want to work on, what things you seem to be doing best. I won't be able to be extremely precise about a grade equivalent. On a rough scale, though, I would say that if you are doing intelligent analysis of the works we consider and are able to state your own views clearly, that is C- to C+ work. If you are able to interpret the material we're working with, discuss not only what is "said" but what its significance might be, you would be in the B- to B range. If in addition you can demonstrate a capacity for self-reflective critical work (thinking about your own way of thinking and what it means to think as you do) and the value of what you are thinking about, you would be in the B+ to A range. So these are the kinds of mental activity you will be doing in the course: analysis & response, interpretation, self-reflection, and evaluation. Just so you know, I consider a B- to be a perfectly good grade; C's are okay, too.
First Assignment: "Why movies about crime and criminals are interesting and important"
As this course is about crime and criminals, it's important to begin by thinking about what assumptions and attitudes you bring to this material. Why does this topic seem important to you? I don't mean just that it seems "so cool" or some such thing, but what makes it worth studying? Obvious reasons might be that crime is a concern in contemporary culture, raising issues about ethics and the relations of people to society and each other, the nature of justice, and the meaning of human desire. But as I just said that, you'd have to go further and say what all that might actually mean.
This isn't a sociology course; we're going to be dealing with the subject of crime and criminals through their representation and use as tropes, signs, and conventions in fictional movies, mostly mainstream ones which were meant as entertainment and exercises of artistic technique, though I think their makers also had serious artistic and cultural concerns as well. Why is it valuable to think about crime movies? If you want to say that movies are some kind of evidence about culture, I guess you can, but as movies are part of culture you'll have to go farther than that. Why is one part of culture "good evidence" about other parts of it? And what makes movies particularly "good evidence?"
You could also say that these unique works of imagination illuminate the issues of morality and the individual's relation to society through the complexity and sophistication of their art, but I've just said that, too, so if you're going to take this approach you're going to have to be more specific. What makes a movie (or any work of art) the source for unique insights or ideas about our lives and our values?
This essay should be about 1000 words. It's due on Tuesday morning, September 8th by noon at my office, Rice 114.
Short Essays Groups for English 270, Scene of the Crime
The Usual Suspects
Bonnie & Clyde 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The Godfather 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The Grifters 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Taxi Driver 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Watching the Detectives
Dirty Harry 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The Long Goodbye
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Chinatown 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Blue Velvet 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Double Vision
House of Games 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Fargo 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
One False Move 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Lone Star 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9