ENGLISH 403

LITERATURE AND FILM

TEXTS:

Stoker, Dracula
Chandler, The Big Sleep
Boccaccio, Decameron
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Woolf, Orlando

Schedule:

9/1 Introduction—Film vs. Literature

PART ONE: The Problem of Historical Interpretation

How Many Decades Does it Take to Catch a Vampire?:

Dracula through the Century

9/3 Dracula—the novel. Narrative Strategy and Victorian History

9/6 MORNING CLASS

Dracula and Victorian Sexuality.

READ Craft, "Kiss me with those Red Lips"** Waller, "Into the Twentieth  Century"**

9/6 SCREENING DOUBLE FEATURE

Murnau, Nosferatu (1922)

Browning, Dracula (1931)

READ: Cook, "German Expressionism"** Kracauer, "Introduction;"** "A Procession of Tyrants"** Waller, "Dracula: The Vampire Play (1927), Dracula (1931) and Dracula (1979)"** Konigsberg, "How many Draculas does it take to Change a Lightbulb?"** Wood, Murnau’s Midnight and Sunrise’** Cardullo, "Expressionism and Nosferatu"**

9/13 MONDAY SCREENING

Herzog, Nosferatu, The Vampire (1979)

READ: Waller, "Nosferatu, Symphony of Horror and Nosferatu the Vampire"part 1** part 2; Elsaesser, "Herzog’s Germany"**

9/20 MONDAY SCREENING

Coppola, Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1994)

READ: TBA

VAMPIRE PROJECT DUE 9/27 7-8 pages

PART TWO: THE HOLLYWOODIZATION OF LITERATURE

9/27 Hollywood and Censorship

MONDAY MORNING CLASS: Chandler, The Big Sleep

MONDAY SCREENING: Hawks, The Big Sleep (1946)

READ: Fontana, "Chivalry and Modernity in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep"** Kuhn, "The Big Sleep: Censorship, Filmtext and Sexuality"** Ponder, "The Big Sleep"** Lev, "The Big Sleep: Production History and Authorship"** Maxfield, "Love in the Dark: Howard Hawks’s Version of The Big Sleep"**

10/4 Hollywood’s Glamorizing of Literature

MONDAY SCREENING: Hitchcock, Rear Window (1954)

READ: "Rear Window"** Wood, "Rear Window"** Modleski, "The Master’s Dollhouse"** Corber, "Resisting History: Rear Window and the Limits of the Postwar Settlement"** Stempel, "Rear Window: A John Michael Hayes Film"**

10/11 NO CLASS

10/13-15 READ: Boccaccio, Decameron Selections TBA

10/18 Politicization of Literature

MONDAY SCREENING: Pasolini, Decameron

READ: Lawton, "Storyteller’s Art: Pasolini’s Decameron"** Marcus, "Pasolini’s Decameron: Writing with Bodies"** Rumble, "Framing Boccaccio, Pasolini’s Adaptation of the Decameron"**

10/25 Hollywood Extrapolates

MONDAY SCREENING: Kubrick, 2001: Space Odyssey

READ: Clarke, "The Sentinel"** Boyland, "Hal in 2001"** Charlot, "From Ape Man to Space Baby"** Beja, "2001, Space Odyssey"**

 

SECOND PROJECT DUE 11/1 8+ pages

SETTING THE STAGE FOR TWO HAMLETS

11/1-5 Shakespeare’s Hamlet

11/1 Zeffirelli’s Hamlet

READ: MacDonald , "(Re)Writing Shakespeare for Film"** Crowl, "Zeffirelli’s Hamlet: The Golden Girl and a Fistful of Dust"**

11/8 Branagh’s Hamlet

READ: Raymond, "Adapting the Bard: An Interview with Kenneth Branagh"** Crowdus, "Sharing Enthusiasm for Shakespeare"**

11/15 TBA

11/22 TBA

11/29 Student Choice

12/6 POV Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and Literary History. Sally Potter’s Orlando--A

Feminist Rereading?

READ: Degli-Esposti, "Sally Potter’s Orlando and the Neo-Baroque Scopic Regime"** Hankins, "Two Orandos: Controversies in Film and Fiction"** Barret, "Response, "Decamping Sally Potter’s Orlando"** Humm, "Postmodernism in Orlando"**

12/13 FINAL PROJECT DUE

Other texts on Reserve:

Griffiths, "Adaptations as Imitations Part 1"; "Part 2"
Klein and Parker, "Introduction: Film and Literature"
Todd, "The Classic Vampire"
Michaels, "Nosferatu or Phantom of the Cinema"
Gallagher, "Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep"
Rabinowitz, "Rats behind the Wainscoting"
Smith, "Raymond CHandler and the Business of Literature"
Harvey, "Woman's Place: The absent Family in Film Noir"
Buhler, "Double Takes: Kenneth Branagh gets to Hamlet"
Mayne, "Readership and Spectatorship"

OBJECTIVES:

In this course we will explore the relationship between literary texts and film texts, looking at the way adaptation both enhances and redefines literature. We will examine primarily narratives and narrative films in order to gain insight into the different strategies and vocabularies used by these media. We will also examine the relationship between author and auteur/director, including the economic, historical and social pressures that influence film production and attempt to understand how differences in consumption of the "product" affect interpretation. Finally, we will need to explore in detail the way visual changes bring about thematic differences. Can the director ever "faithfully" adapt a text or will the film always and for ever stand on its own apart from its source material?

 

FORMAT

This course is divided into three major sections. In the first unit on Dracula we will look at the way history and film style change one text over time. The second section will look at Hollywood’s influence on film adaptation, including censorship and the hypersexualizing of texts. In the third section we will examine the political choices of some more recent directors. You will note that several weeks remain open. As a class we will vote on films for those weeks.

Logistically this course will be more difficult to negotiate than a traditional film course because of the reading involved. You must pay careful attention to the syllabus. Most weeks we will see a film on Monday evening then discuss it Wednesday and Friday during morning class. However, occasionally we will meet on Monday during the morning class time, especially if we need to discuss a literary work before the screening. You are required to attend all sessions. More than 2 absences will count against your final grade. Short 4-5 page informal papers will be due on Wednesday of each week. They must incorporate the reserve reading in some way even if you are writing on a text rather than a film. Papers which do not include the readings will not be accepted. At the end on each section students will hand in a major paper/ project. Students may choose their own topics (clear them with me) or use an assigned topic. Participation in class discussion will count towards your final grade. Grades will be computed as follows:

 

Weekly Papers 30%

Project 1 15%

Project 2 20%

Project 3 25%

Participation 10%

 

ELECTRONIC RESERVES

Most of the reserve reading for this course has been scanned onto the Library’s electronic reserve system. To gain access to this material type www.academics.smcvt.edu/kshea into the address box of your internet access page. Do not use the "search" box. You should end up at the English Department’s film home page. Click on the appropriate course (EN 403 1999—Literature and Film). This will bring you to the syllabus. Click on the article you wish to read. Acrobat Reader will open, then the text will appear. You may read the text on line or print it out (quality is superior to photocopying). Use the print button on the Acrobat tool bar. Theoretically you should be able to print to any printer. If you encounter problems print to a 5si printer (Help Desk or Circulation Desk). These are larger and have more memory. Because the scanned articles are actually graphics, they print fairly slowly. Be patient. Do not hit the print command more than once. You will simply slow down the system. Contact the Help Desk, Circulation Desk or me with any problems.

 

SOURCES

All material must be cited. For informal papers using material from the reserve list, you may use an internal citation (author’s name page #) following the quotation and/or paraphrase. For other material or formal papers you must use standard MLA form—an internal citation plus a works cited page. All internet sites must contain full web address. For reviews rather than articles or for basic info about any film, check out the Internet Movie Database www.us.imbd.com , but please cite sources!