Special Topics in Film
Contemporary Directors
TEXT:
Cheshire, Ang Lee (pocket)
**denotes reserve reading
Weekly Schedule
9/5 Introduction: How to Read a Film
Ang Lee
Read: Cheshire, "Ang Lee: The
Master Chef"
9/9 The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Read:
Cheshire "The Wedding Banquet;" Eng, "The
Wedding
Banquet:
You're not invited"** Shi, "Globalization and Minoritisation:
Ang
Lee and the politics of Flexibility"**
9/16 Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Read:
Cheshire, "Sense and Sensibility;" North,
"Conservative
Austen,
Radical Austen;"** Hoberg, "Her First and Last: Austen's
Sense and
Sensibility, Persuasion and their Screen Adaptations"**
Nixon,
"Balancing the Courtship Hero"** Samuelian, "Piracy
is our
only
Option"**
9/23 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
Read: Cheshire,
"Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon;" Armentano,
"Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon"**
Mira Nair
9/30 Salaam Bombay (1989)
Read:
Stuart, "Mira Nair"** Sharma, "Body Matters, The
Politics of
Provocation
in Mira Nair's Films;"** Arora, "The Production of
Third
World
Subjects for First World Consumption"**
10/7 Mississippi Masala
(1991)
Read:
Bhavnani, "Organic Hybridity or Commodification of
Hybridity"** Ballal, "Illiberal Masala;"**
Bose and Varghese,
"Mississippi
Masala, South Asian Activism and Agency;"**
Malta,
"Emigrants Twice Displaced"**
10/17 Monsoon Wedding
(2001)
Read:
McNab, "Henna and Cellphones"**
6-8 page Paper due 10/21
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
10/21 Delicatessen
(1991)
Read: Infantino, "Delicatessen, Slices of Postmodern
Life"**
10/28 Alien Resurrection
(1999)
Read: Mulhall, "The Monster's Mother"** Eaton, "Born
Again"**
11/4 Amelie (2001)
11/9-12/7 Student Choice weeks TBA
Final Paper 10-12 pages due 12/11
Reserve Material
FILMS
Sense and Sensibility
DVD2058
Wedding Banquet
VTC3276
Eat Drink Man Woman VTC 3334
Ice Storm
DVD 2048
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon VTC 4595
Salaam Bombay
VTC 3795
Mississippi Masala
VTC 4716
Monsoon Wedding
Delicatessen
VTC 4698
The City of Lost Children VTC 3808
Alien Resurrection
DVD 2049
Amelie
DVD 2052
ARTICLES
"The Wedding Banquet: You're Not Invited" (Eng)
"Globalization and Minoritisation: Ang Lee and The Politics of
Flexibility" (Shih)
"Her First and Last: Austen's Sense and Sensibility..."
(Hoberg)
"Conservative Austen Radical Austen" (North)
"Piracy is our Only Option" (Samuelian)
"Balancing the Courtship Hero" (Nixon)
"Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" (Armentano)
"The Production of Third World Subjects for First World Consumption"
(Arora)
"Body Matters: The Politics of Provocation in Mira Nair's Films"
(Sharma)
"Organic Hybridity or Commodification of Hybridity" (Bhavnani)
"Illiberal Masala Diasporic Distortions" (Ballal)
"Mira Nair: A New Hybrid Cinema" (Stuart)
"Mississippi Masala, South Asian Activism and Agency" (Bose)
"Emigrants Twice Displaced" (Mehta)
"Delicatessen: Slices of Postmodern Life" (Infantino)
"The Monster's Mother: Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien Resurrection"
(Mulhall)
"Mourning Sickness: David Fincher's Alien3" (Mulhall)
Major Links
Internet Movie Database www.imdb.com
Requirements:
In this class we will study the works of 4-5 contemporary directors--that is, directors whose work has appeared in the last 15 years and who are still actively making films today. We will look at a number of issues including the globalization of film production, thematic and technical conventions developed in the '90's, depictions of gender, race, class and ethnicity, and audience expectations. the first three directors are all foreign born, yet they have been successful in making both "art house" films for a small, esoteric audience and cross-over, "Americanized" popular films which have been widely accepted by a more mainstream audience. All have received film festival awards and all have been nominated for academy awards. During the final five weeks of the term we will view films by 1-2 directors chosen by the class during the first week.
Students will hand in weekly 5 page analyses of the week's film. These must incorporate reserve reading/critical material. Papers will be due at the Thursday afternoon discussion. In addition, students will write 2 formal papers: 6-8 pages due 10/21 and 10-12 pages due 12/11. The midterm paper will be a standard essay on Ang Lee and/or Mira Nair. For the final paper students will pick a director, view his/her films (at least three) and write a well-developed analysis of the thematic and filmic qualities of their chosen director's films.
Grading:
Weekly
papers 30%
Midterm paper
20%
Final
paper
40%
Discussion
10%