English 4640/6640: Film and Literature Fall 2000 Instructor: Hugh Ruppersburg Office: 310F New College Telephone: 542-1561 E-mail: hruppers@uga.edu Web: http://ben.franklin.uga.edu/dstaff/admin/hugh.htm Hours: 8:15-9:15 M, T, Th, F; make an appointment to insure I=m availableBmy schedule changes frequently. English 4640/6640 will be a general study of how to read films. I would like to conduct it as a literature class, working on the premise (however misinformed) that films are narratives with all the basic elements of literature, that they have meanings that can be examined and discussed using the same methods we use to talk about literature. The class will also consider the relationship between films and the literary works they are often based on or influenced by. With a few exceptions, we=ll look primarily at American films. Class will be conducted on a discussion basis, covering a movie each week. Every Monday evening we will screen the film to be discussed that week. Your attendance at the screening is required. During the semester you will present one in-class project, will write two additional short essays (3-5 pages), and contribute at least two on-line comments of substance each week to the WebCT bulletin board set up for this class. In place of the in-class project, graduate students will write a research paper and present it in abbreviated form to the class. The course will make extensive use of WebCT. Class meeting time: 2nd period (9:30-10:45), Tues/Thurs. Required film screening: Monday evenings, 6:50, 265 Park Hall Tentative Schedule August 17: Introduction August 22-24: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) August 29-31: A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951) September 5-7: The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955) September 12-14: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) September 19-21: Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973) September 26-28: Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) October 3-5: Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979) October 10-12: Bladerunner (Ridley Scott, 1982) October 17-19: A Room with a View (James Ivory, 1986) October 24: Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994) Oct. 31-Nov. 2: The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997) November 7-9: He Got Game (Spike Lee, 1998) November 14-16: Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998) November 21: Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1999) November 28-30: Mansfield Park (Patricia Rozema, 1999) December 5-7: Magnolia (P. T. Anderson, 1999) Final Examination: December 14, 9:30AM. Students who choose to take the final exam must submit their final exam assignment to my office (310F New College) by 12:30 PM on this date. Details about the exam will be available later in the semester. Texts:         Corrigan, Timothy. Film and Literature (bookstore) Monaco, James. How to Read a Film, 3rd ed. (bookstore; optional but useful) Banks, Russell. The Sweet Hereafter (bookstore) Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness (web site) Forster, E. M. A Room with a View (web site) Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night and The Tempest (web site) Attendance: I expect all students to attend all classes. Participation: This is a discussion class. Your participation in class discussions and on-line exchanges will be an important part of the class and of your final grade. Grades: The two essays and class project will count 20% each. In-class and web site participation count 20% each. WebCT: Course information, the syllabus, assignments, some texts, notes, web site links, and other information will be posted in the WebCT web site. I=ll ask you to upload class assignments to the site and to post your presentations there. We will correspond with each other on the site about the class. Using the bulletin board, we will conduct on-going conversations about the films we discuss and will often extend in-class discussions to the bulletin board. The WebCT site for this class can be accessed from any computer with Internet access. It=s easy to learn and use. You do not need your own computer to use it: there are plenty of computers available on campus. Information on how to access and use WebCT will be given out in class. You should visit this web site several times each week. I=ll expect all students to post at least two comments of substance to the site each week. Use the address below to reach the WebCT home page for this course: http://webct.uga.edu/public/ENGL4640HR/index.html Academic Honesty: I support the University's policy on academic honesty. The University defines academic honesty as follows: "Academic Honesty" means performing all academic work without cheating, lying, tampering, stealing, receiving assistance from any other person or using any source of information which is not common knowledge (unless that assistance or use is authorized by the person responsible for supervising that academic work or fairly attributed to the source of assistance or information). "Academic Dishonesty" means knowingly performing, attempting to perform, or assisting any other person in performing any academic work, which does not meet this standard of academic honesty. Further information is available in the booklet on academic honesty, "A Culture of Honesty," which I=ll distribute in class. You=ll also find this information at the following web address: http://www.uga.edu/~vpaa/polproc/ahpol/main.html. All information in this syllabus is tentative and subject to change. Any changes will be announced in class and posted on the web site.