University of Montana, Fall 2007
Philosophy 105: Philosophy and Film
Philosophy and Film
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:10-3:00 p.m., Gallagher Business Building 201
Film Screenings: Tuesday, 5:10-7:40 p.m. and 8:10-10:40 p.m., Gallagher Business Building 201
This course provides a topical introduction to philosophy. Our focus will be aesthetics, which raises questions such as: what is art? what makes something a work of art? what makes something a good work of art? what makes one work of art better than another? We will explore these questions as they pertain to film in particular. Thus we will explore questions such as: is film an art? are only some films works of art? what makes a film a work of art? We will also raise questions about the particular films that we watch in this course such as: is this a good film?, and if so, what makes this particular film a good film?
Course Requirements
1. Attendance, Participation, Quizzes 10%
2. Unit 1 Exam (Monday, October 1) 25%
3. Unit 2 Exam (Monday, October 29) 25%
4. Unit 3 Exam (to be given with the final exam) 25%
5. Final Exam (Monday, December 10, 1:10-3:10 p.m.) 15%
Required Readings
Books
These are available at the UM bookstore (and are also on two hour reserve in Mansfield Library).
1. Marcia Muelder Eaton, Basic Issues in Aesthetics (Waveland; ISBN 157766034X)
2. V. F. Perkins, Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies (Da Capo; ISBN 0306805413)
3. George M. Wilson, Narration in Light: Studies in Cinematic Point of View (Johns Hopkins; ISBN 0801837502)
Additional Readings
These are individually available via Electronic Reserve. I have made them available in this format instead of a coursepack through the bookstore because this is significantly less expensive (through the bookstore the cost would likely be three to four times as high). I recommend that you print the entire list of articles at the beginning of the semester. To make this easier, I will make available through both Electronic Reserve and Blackboard a single PDF file with the required readings, and a second PDF with the recommended readings. Unless you have your own printer, there are four convenient ways to print:
(1) Campus Quick Copy (in the UC)—this is the cheapest if you print double-sided pages: $0.09 per single-sided page; $0.13 per double-sided page (or $0.065 per side);
(2) IT computer labs (www.umt.edu/it/learning/Computerlabs.htm)— $0.10 per page (discount punch cards can be purchased in the UC game room, reducing the price to $0.083 per side, but there’s no discount for double-sided printing);
(3) Kinko’s (30 West Broadway)—this is the cheapest if you print single-sided pages: $0.08 per side, but there’s no discount for double-sided printing and you must provide them with a PDF file on a CD or USB flash drive (to print it yourself from Kinko’s is $0.49 per page!);
(4) Mansfield Library—this is the most expensive: $0.15 per single-sided page; $0.20 per double-sided page.
I recommend that you do your printing at Campus Quick Copy. In addition to being the cheapest (for double-sided printing), they will also bind the readings and add a cover for a nominal fee (if you have your own printer, you can still have them bind your readings). To ensure that you print double-sided, be sure to select the “properties” button when the printer window appears; then under “Print on Both Sides” indicate that you want the pages to “flip on the long edge.” This will copy the pages in a manner suitable for a portrait binding (as opposed to landscape).
Coursepack I: Required Readings
These are required additional readings for the course.
1. James Conant, “Some Exchanges About Films” (1996).
2. Randy Rasmussen, “The Lady from Shanghai: Lethal Habits,” Orson Welles: Six Films Analyzed, Scene by Scene (2006), 104-135.
3. Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich, “The Lady from Shanghai,” This is Orson Welles (1992), 190-198.
4. Carole Zucker, “ ‘God Don’t Even Hear You,’ or Paradise Lost: Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven,” Literature/Film Quarterly 29 (2001): 2-9.
5. Nestor Almendros, “Days of Heaven,” A Man with a Camera (1984), 167-186.
6. Rudolph Arnheim, “Film and Reality”; “The Making of a Film”; “The Complete Film” (excerpts from Film as Art), Film Theory and Criticism, 6th ed. (2004), ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, 322-331; 183-186.
7. Eric Rohmer, “Ajax or the Cid?,” Cahiers du Cinéma: The 1950s (1985), ed. Jim Hillier, 111-115.
8. Sigfried Kracauer, “Basic Concepts”; “The Establishment of Physical Existence,” Theory of Film (1960), 27-59; 316-319.
9. Robert Kolker, “Taxi Driver,” A Cinema of Loneliness, 3rd ed. (2000), 216-244.
10. Noël Carroll, “The Specificity Thesis,” Philosophical Problems of Classical Film Theory (1988), 80-90.
11. Chris Rodley, “David Lynch on Mulholland Drive,” Lynch on Lynch, rev. ed. (2005), 266-294.
12. Sigmund Freud, “On Dreams,” The Freud Reader (1989), ed. Peter Gay, 142-172.
13. William Rothman, “Shadow of a Doubt,” Hitchcock: The Murderous Gaze (1982), 174-244; 358-362.
14. Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol, “Shadow of a Doubt,” Hitchcock: The First Forty-Four Films (1979), 70-74.
15. Andrew Klevan, “Supporting Plots and Conjuring Plots: Shadow of a Doubt,” Film Performance (2005), 84-102.
16. William Rothman, “Psycho,” Hitchcock: The Murderous Gaze (1982), 246-341; 362-365.
17. Robin Wood, “Psycho,” Hitchcock’s Films Revisited, rev. ed. (2002), 142-151.
18. Leo Braudy, “Acting: Stage vs. Screen” (excerpt from The World in a Frame, 191-201), Film Theory and Criticism, 6th ed. (2004), ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, 429-435.
19. Robin Wood, “Vertigo,” Hitchcock’s Films Revisited, rev. ed. (2002), 108-130.
20. William Rothman, “Vertigo: The Unknown Woman in Hitchcock,” The “I” of the Camera (1988), 152-173.
21. V. F. Perkins, “Where is the World?: The Horizon of Events in Movie Fiction,” Style and Meaning: Studies in the Detailed Analysis of Film (2005), ed. John Gibbs and Douglas Pye, 16-41.
22. Robin Wood, “North by Northwest,” Hitchcock’s Films Revisited, rev. ed. (2002), 131-141.
23. Marian Keane, “The Designs of Authorship: An Essay on North by Northwest,” Wide Angle 4 (1980), 44-52.
24. Stanley Cavell, “Comedies of Remarriage and Melodramas of the Unknown Woman,” excerpt from the introduction to Contesting Tears: The Hollywood Melodrama of the Unknown Woman (1996), 3-7; 9; 10-11; 12.
25. Stanley Cavell, “The Same and Different: The Awful Truth,” Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage (1981), 229-263.
26. Stanley Cavell, “Summary of The Awful Truth,” Cities of Words (2004), 373-377.
27. Andrew Klevan, “Suggesting Perspectives: The Awful Truth,” Film Performance (2005), 32-38.
28. Stanley Cavell, “Photograph, Screen, Star” (excerpt from The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film, 16-29), The Cavell Reader (1996), ed. Stephen Mulhall, 156-166.
29. Stanley Cavell, “The Importance of Importance: The Philadelphia Story,” Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage (1981), 133-160.
30. Stanley Cavell, “Summary of The Philadelphia Story,” Cities of Words (2004), 35-38.
31. Andrew Klevan, “Staging Perspectives: The Philadelphia Story,” Film Performance (2005), 38-46.
32. Stanley Cavell, “Naughty Orators: Negation of Voice in Gaslight,” Contesting Tears: The Hollywood Melodrama of the Unknown Woman (1996), 46-78.
33. Stanley Cavell, “Summary of Gaslight,” Cities of Words (2004), 102-108.
34. Peter Brooks, “Melodrama,” The Melodramatic Imagination (1976), 11-14.
35. Stanley Cavell, “Summary of Letter from an Unknown Woman,” Cities of Words (2004), 384-389.
36. Robin Wood, “Ewig hin der Liebe Glück [Love’s Happiness is Gone Forever],” Personal Views: Explorations in Film (1976), 114-132.
37. V. F. Perkins, “Letter from an Unknown Woman,” Movie 29/30 (1982): 61-72.
38. Sander Lee, “A Therapeutic Autobiography: Annie Hall,” Eighteen Woody Allen Films Analyzed: Anguish, God and Existentialism (2002), 35-55.
Estimated Quick Copy cost (not including binding): $32.00
Coursepack II: Recommended Readings
These are recommended additional readings for the course (so are not required, but I think you may find them to be of interest).
1. Stanley Cavell, “Days of Heaven,” The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film, enlarged ed. (1979), xiv-xvi.
2. Charles Bitsch, “Interview with Nicholas Ray,” Cahiers du Cinéma: The 1950s (1985), ed. Jim Hillier, 120-124.
3. Kevin Jackson, “Paul Schrader on Taxi Driver,” Schrader on Schrader (1990), 115-120.
4. François Truffaut, “Hitchcock on Shadow of a Doubt,” Hitchcock, rev. ed. (1985), 151-155.
5. François Truffaut, “Hitchcock on Psycho,” Hitchcock, rev. ed. (1985), 266-283.
6. François Truffaut, “Hitchcock on Vertigo,” Hitchcock, rev. ed. (1985), 243-248.
7. Andrew Klevan, “Vertigo: Accounting for Melodrama—the Sceptical Tragedy as Expressed in Film,” Disclosure of the Everyday: Undramatic Achievement in Narrative Film (2000), 13-17; 31-33.
8. François Truffaut, “Hitchcock on North by Northwest,” Hitchcock, rev. ed. (1985), 249-257.
9. William Rothman, “North by Northwest: Hitchcock’s Monument to the Hitchcock Film,” The “I” of the Camera (1988), 174-187.
10. Stanley Cavell, “North by Northwest,” Cavell on Film (2005), ed. William Rothman, 41-58.
11. Andrew Klevan, “The Awful Truth: Relatedness and Repetition,” Disclosure of the Everyday: Undramatic Achievement in Narrative Film (2000), 22-30; 34-35.
12. Stanley Cavell, “Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Moments of Letter from an Unknown Woman,” Contesting Tears: The Hollywood Melodrama of the Unknown Woman (1996), 80-113.
13. Stig Björkman, “Woody Allen on Annie Hall,” Woody Allen on Woody Allen (1994), 75-93.
Estimated Quick Copy cost (not including binding): $7.00
Required Films
You are required to attend a weekly film screening: Tuesdays, 5:10-7:40 or 8:10-10:40 p.m., Gallagher Building 201. I recommend that you purchase a notebook to record your impressions of the films as you watch them and immediately afterwards. I also encourage you to watch these films a second (or even third) time; for additional viewings, DVDs are on reserve in Mansfield Library. Note: Viewing DVDs outside of class is not a substitute for the required weekly film screening.
T 8/28 The Lady from Shanghai (1947; 87 min). Directed by Orson Welles, with Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, and Everett Sloane.
T 9/4 Days of Heaven (1978; 95 min). Directed by Terrence Malick, with Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, and Sam Shepard.
T 9/11 Rebel Without a Cause (1955; 111 min). Directed by Nicholas Ray, with James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo.
T 9/18 Taxi Driver (1976; 113 min). Directed by Martin Scorsese, with Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, and Harvey Keitel.
T 9/25 Mulholland Drive (2001; 145 min). Directed by David Lynch, with Naomi Watts and Laura Harring.
T 10/2 Shadow of a Doubt (1943; 108 min). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten.
T 10/9 Psycho (1960; 109 min). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, and Vera Miles.
T 10/16 Vertigo (1958; 128 min). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes.
T 10/23 North by Northwest (1959; 136 min). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason.
T 10/30 The Awful Truth (1937; 91 min). Directed by Leo McCarey, with Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, and Ralph Bellamy.
T 11/6 The Philadelphia Story (1940; 112 min). Directed by George Cukor, with Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart.
T 11/13 Gaslight (1944; 114 min). Directed by George Cukor, with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, and Joseph Cotten.
T 11/27 Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948; 86 min). Directed by Max Ophuls, with Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan.
T 12/4 Annie Hall (1979; 93 min). Directed by Woody Allen, with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton.
Film Resources
Internet Movie Database (http://imdb.com): Information about movies, including release dates, directors, actors, etc.
Movie Review Query Engine (http://www.mrqe.com): Online database of movie reviews.
Metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com): A second online database of movie reviews.
Film Reference (http://www.filmreference.com): Bibliographic references and encyclopedic entries on films, directors, actors, etc.
Turner Classic Movies (http://www.tcm.com): Best source for classic movies on cable TV.
Electronic Reserve
To obtain readings via Electronic Reserve, go to http://eres.lib.umt.edu/eres.
Blackboard
This course has a site on Blackboard. The PDFs for Coursepack I and II can be found in a folder labeled “Course Materials.” For more information on how to access Blackboard, go to http://umonline.umt.edu/StudentInfo/welcome.htm.
Attendance, Participation, Class Etiquette
Attendance and Participation: Your attendance and participation are crucial for the success of this class and will play a significant role in determining whether or not our time together proves to be intellectually challenging and fulfilling. As many of you probably know, it is a university requirement that you attend all class meetings for courses in which you are enrolled (http://www2.umt.edu/catalog/policy_procedure.htm). In my experience, students also get the most out of those classes that they regularly attend. In this course I will regularly take attendance. Everyone may miss three classes, no questions asked (and no justifications/explanations required). After that, each absence will reduce your attendance/participation/quiz grade by 10% (that is, 1% of your final grade).
Etiquette: As a courtesy to me and to your fellow classmates, during class please do not (1) talk to your nearby classmate while I or others are speaking; (2) peruse other reading materials (such as newspapers, crossword puzzles, etc.) or play computer games; or (3) use your cell phone. Cell phones should be turned off or placed on vibrate—and should not be taken out during class. If you know that you will have to leave class early, please sit near an exit so you can minimize how disruptive this will be for others.
Quizzes
On occasion I may give short quizzes. These will be unannounced and may not be made up if you are not in class that day.
Unit Exams
You will be given three unit exams during the term. Each unit exam is worth 25% of your final grade. In general, there will be no makeup exams except for extreme cases, such as severe medical illness (which must be documented by a doctor’s note).
Final Exam
You will be given a comprehensive final exam at the end of the term. It will be worth 15% of your final grade.
The Art of Reading
Reading, like writing, is an art that can only be acquired through extensive and intensive practice. In general, you should plan to read each assignment for this course two times before you come to class: (i) read it through once to get a sense of the overall shape of the discussion and what the chief issues and questions seem to be; (ii) then read it a second time, reading more slowly and with an eye to how the different parts hang together. As Thoreau put it, “To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written….[T]his only is reading, in a high sense, not that which lulls us as a luxury and suffers the nobler faculties to sleep the while, but what we have to stand on tip-toe to read and devote our most alert and wakeful hours to” (“Reading,” Walden).
Academic Dishonesty
I will not tolerate cheating in this course. Cheating, like other forms of academic dishonesty such as plagiarism, is a violation of the University of Montana Student Conduct Code (http://ordway.umt.edu/SA/VPSA/index.cfm/name/StudentConductCode). When you cheat, you harm your fellow students by giving yourself an unfair advantage, and you harm yourself by failing to take yourself seriously. Anyone caught cheating on a unit exam or the final exam will receive a failing grade (“F”) for the course and be referred to the appropriate University officials for further sanctions, including possible expulsion.
Schedule of Readings and Written Assignments
(Subject to change with advance notice)
BIA = Basic Issues in Aesthetics
FF = Film as Film
NL = Narration in Light
CPI = Coursepack I: Required Additional Readings
CPII = Coursepack II: Recommended Additional Readings
I. Introduction to the Aesthetics of Film
Week 1
M 8/27 Introduction
Reading (In-Class): Conant, “Some Exchanges About Films” (CPI #1)
Film (In-Class): Turner Classic Movies Short, “The Difference Between Letterbox/Widescreen and Pan-and-Scan”
T 8/28 Film: The Lady from Shanghai
(Recommended Film: Touch of Evil)
W 8/29 Discuss The Lady from Shanghai
Reading: (1) Rasmussen, “The Lady from Shanghai: Lethal Habits” (CPI #2);
(2) Welles and Bogdanovich, “The Lady from Shanghai” (CPI #3)
F 8/31 Read and Discuss: (1) Wilson, “Film, Perception, and Point of View” (NL, 1-15);
(2) Wilson, “Morals for Method” (NL, 202‑207)
Week 2
M 9/3 No Class (Labor Day)
T 9/4 Film: Days of Heaven
(Recommended Film: Badlands)
W 9/5 Discuss Days of Heaven
Reading: (1) Zucker, “ ‘God Don’t Even Hear You,’ or Paradise Lost: Terrence
Malick’s Days of Heaven” (CPI #4);
(2) Almendros, “Days of Heaven” (CPI #5)
Recommended Reading: Cavell, “Days of Heaven” (CPII #1)
F 9/7 Read and Discuss: Perkins, “The Sins of the Pioneers”; “Minority Reports” (FF, 9-39)
Week3
M 9/10 Read and Discuss: Arnheim, “Film and Reality”; “The Making of a Film”; “The Complete Film” (CPI #6)
T 9/11 Film: Rebel Without a Cause
(Recommended Film: In a Lonely Place)
W 9/12 Discuss Rebel Without a Cause
Reading: (1) Wilson, “Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause” (NL, 166-190);
(2) Rohmer, “Ajax or the Cid?” (CPI #7)
Recommended Reading: (1) Perkins, FF, 84; 91;
(2) Bitsch, “Interview with Nicholas Ray” (CPII #2)
F 9/14 Read and Discuss: Kracauer, “Basic Concepts”; “The Establishment of Physical Existence” (CPI #8)
Week 4
M 9/17 Read and Discuss: Eaton, “Defining the Issues” (BIA, 1-13)
T 9/18 Film: Taxi Driver
(Recommended Film: Mean Streets)
W 9/19 Discuss Taxi Driver
Reading: Kolker, “Taxi Driver” (CPI #9)
Recommended Reading: Jackson, “Paul Schrader on Taxi Driver” (CPII #3)
F 9/21 Read and Discuss: Carroll, “The Specificity Thesis” (CPI #10)
Week 5
M 9/24 Read and Discuss: Wilson, “Coherence and Transparency in Classical Narrative Film” (NL, 39-61)
T 9/25 Film: Mulholland Drive
(Recommended Film: Blue Velvet)
W 9/26 Discuss Mulholland Drive
Reading: Rodley, “David Lynch on Mulholland Drive” (CPI #11)
F 9/28 Read and Discuss: Freud, “On Dreams” (CPI #12)
Week 6
M 10/1 Unit 1 Exam (In-Class)
II. Hitchcock
T 10/2 Film: Shadow of a Doubt
(Recommended
Film: Suspicion)
W 10/3 Discuss Shadow of a Doubt
Reading: (1) Rothman, “Shadow of a Doubt” (CPI #13);
(2) Rohmer and Chabrol, “Shadow of a Doubt” (CPI #14);
(3) Klevan, “Supporting Plots and Conjuring Plots: Shadow of a
Doubt” (CPI #15)
Recommended Reading: Truffaut, “Hitchcock on Shadow of a Doubt” (CPII #4)
F 10/5 Read and Discuss: Perkins, “Technology and Technique”; “Form and Discipline” (FF, 40-70)
Week 7
M 10/8 Read and Discuss: Eaton, “Artist-Centered Aesthetic Issues” (BIA, 14-33)
T 10/9 Film: Psycho
(Recommended Film: Strangers on a Train)
W 10/10 Discuss Psycho
Reading: (1) Rothman, “Psycho” (CPI #16);
(2) Wood, “Psycho” (CPI #17);
(3) Perkins, FF, 107-115; 132-133
Recommended Reading: Truffaut, “Hitchcock on Psycho” (CPII #5)
F 10/12 Read and Discuss: Braudy, “Acting: Stage vs. Screen” (CPI #18)
Week 8
M 10/15 Read and Discuss: Eaton, “Viewer-Centered Aesthetic Issues” (BIA, 34-51)
T 10/16 Film: Vertigo
(Recommended Film: Marnie)
W 10/17 Discuss Vertigo
Reading: (1) Wood, “Vertigo” (CPI #19);
(2) Rothman, “Vertigo: The Unknown Woman in Hitchcock” (CPI #20)
Recommended Reading: (1) Truffaut, “Hitchcock on Vertigo” (CPII #6);
(2) Klevan, “Vertigo: Accounting for Melodrama—the Sceptical Tragedy as Expressed in Film” (CPII #7)
F 10/19 Read and Discuss: Perkins, “Where is the World?: The Horizon of Events in Movie Fiction” (CPI #21)
Week 9
M 10/22 Read and Discuss: Eaton, “Art and Language” (BIA, 53-75)
T 10/23 Film: North by Northwest
(Recommended Film: Notorious)
W 10/24 Discuss North by Northwest
Reading: (1) Wilson, “Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest” (NL, 62-81);
(2) Wood, “North by Northwest” (CPI #22);
(3) Keane, “The Designs of Authorship: An Essay on North by
Northwest” (CPI #23)
Recommended Reading: (1) Truffaut, “Hitchcock on North by
Northwest” (CPII #8);
(2) Rothman, “North by Northwest: Hitchcock’s
Monument to the Hitchcock Film” (CPII #9);
(3) Cavell, “North by Northwest” (CPII #10)
F 10/26 Read and Discuss: Wilson, “Some Modes of Nonomniscience” (NL, 82-102)
Week 10
M 10/29 Unit 2 Exam (In-Class)
III. Comedy and Melodrama
T 10/30 Film: The Awful Truth
(Recommended Film: His Girl Friday)
W 10/31 Discuss The Awful Truth
Reading: (1) Cavell, “Comedies of Remarriage and Melodramas of the Unknown
Woman” (CPI #24);
(2) Cavell, “The Same and Different: The Awful Truth” (CPI #25);
(3) Cavell, “Summary of The Awful Truth” (CPI #26);
(4) Klevan, “Suggesting Perspectives: The Awful Truth” (CPI #27)
Recommended Reading: Klevan, “The Awful Truth: Relatedness and Repetition” (CPII #11)
F 11/2 Read and Discuss: Cavell, “Photograph, Screen, Star” (CPI #28)
Week 11
M 11/5 Read and Discuss: Eaton, “Aesthetic and Artistic Objects and Their Contexts” (BIA, 76-103)
T 11/6 Film: The Philadelphia Story
(Recommended Film: Bringing Up Baby)
W 11/7 Discuss The Philadelphia Story
Reading: (1) Cavell, “The Importance of Importance: The Philadelphia
Story” (CPI #29);
(2) Cavell, “Summary of The Philadelphia Story” (CPI #30);
(3) Klevan, “Staging Perspectives: The Philadelphia Story” (CPI #31)
F 11/9 Read and Discuss: Perkins, “ ‘How’ Is ‘What’ ” (FF, 116-133)
Week 12
M 11/12 No Class (Veterans Day)
T 11/13 Film: Gaslight
(Recommended Film: Stella Dallas)
W 11/14 Discuss Gaslight
Reading: (1) Cavell, “Naughty Orators: Negation of Voice in
Gaslight” (CPI #32);
(2) Cavell, “Summary of Gaslight” (CPI #33);
(3) Brooks, “Melodrama” (CPI #34)
F 11/16 Read and Discuss: Perkins, “Participant Observers” (FF, 134-157)
Week 13
M 11/19 Read and Discuss: Eaton, “Interpretation and Criticism” (BIA, 104-124)
T 11/20 No Film
W 11/21 No Class (Thanksgiving Break)
F 11/23 No Class (Thanksgiving Break)
Week 14
M 11/26 Perkins, “Direction and Authorship” (FF, 158-186)
T 11/27 Film: Letter from an Unknown Woman
(Recommended Film: Now, Voyager)
W 11/28 Discuss Letter from an Unknown Woman
Reading: (1) Wilson, “Max Ophuls’ Letter from an Unknown
Woman” (NL, 103-125);
(2) Cavell, “Summary of Letter from an Unknown Woman” (CPI #35);
(3) Wood, “Ewig hin der Liebe Glück [Love’s Happiness is Gone Forever]” (CPI #36);
(4) Perkins, “Letter from an Unknown Woman” (CPI #37);
Recommended Reading: Cavell, “Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Moments of Letter from an Unknown Woman” (CPII #12)
F 11/30 Read and Discuss: Wilson, “On Narrators and Narration in Film” (NL, 126-144).
Week 15
M 12/3 Read and Discuss: Eaton, “Aesthetic Value” (BIA, 125-147)
T 12/4 Film: Annie Hall
(Recommended Film: Manhattan; Bonus Recommendation: Burning Annie)
W 12/5 Discuss Annie Hall
Reading: Lee, “A Therapeutic Autobiography: Annie Hall” (CPI #38)
Recommended Reading: Björkman, “Woody Allen on Annie Hall” (CPII #13)
F 12/7 Read and Discuss: (1) Perkins, “The Limits of Criticism” (FF, 187-193);
(2) Wilson, “Morals for Method” (NL, 191-207)
Final Exam: Monday, December 10, 1:10-3:10 p.m. (Part I: Unit 3 Exam; Part II: Comprehensive Exam