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ENGL1065 Introduction to Film
John Friedlander
Telecourse Version: American Cinema Southwest Tennessee Community
College
COURSE GUIDE
Welcome to American Cinema, our telecourse presentation of ENGL1065, Introduction to Film. You are beginning an interesting course that will enrich your appreciation of films and strengthen your analytical thinking and writing skills as well. And if you enjoy films as I do, you’ll find a lot of pleasure in the course.
Your learning in the course will grow primarily from your study of the textbook, John Belton’s American Cinema/American Culture, and the learning that develops from your own informal and formal writing. Your learning will be supported and supplemented by the connected televised program, American Cinema, a series of presentations that weave together pieces of interviews with clips from representative films, and by the Study Guide for American Cinema by Ed Sikov. You will also view and write about complete films that you select yourself, either at theaters or at home with rented videotapes.
If you haven’t taken a telecourse before, you may learn a lot from the extra freedom—and extra responsibility—of independent study. You can adapt the presentations to your own schedule, repeat them if you need to (either through your own recordings of the programs, or through copies available at the college), and select your own feature films for study. But please note that this route to learning also requires a fair amount of discipline, since you must keep up with the class without the support of regular classroom meetings or regular contact with other students in the same class.
You’ll have plenty of help in your learning from this Course Guide; from a separate, detailed Schedule of Assignments; from Sikov’s Study Guide; from the main textbook, and from the broadcasts; and I’ll be glad to help you in any way I can. I look forward to sharing the semester with you—I’m confident that you will find it rewarding.
Sincerely,
P.S. This course guide and the accompanying schedule of assignments are fairly complex—which means not only that they require careful reading, but also that occasional errors may have slipped by me. If you see anything that looks doubtful, suspicious, or outright stupid, please call me for clarification!
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Introduction to Film (Telecourse version) is a fine arts elective designed to help develop a better understanding and appreciation of movies. The student will view regularly broadcast or videotaped programs in the American Cinema series, study a connected text and Study Guide, and privately view several full-length films during the semester. Through viewing and study, through two examinations, and through a variety of formal and informal writing assignments, the student will be encouraged to observe films more closely, to become an active participant in the art of the film experience, and to become more aware of the connections between American film and American culture.
Prerequisite: English Composition I
Hours required: Class & Lab—4, Credit—3
Belton, John. American Cinema/American Culture.
2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Sikov, Ed. Study
Guide for American Cinema. 2nd. ed.** New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
**delayed in shipping--scheduled to arrive at our
Macon bookstore this Friday, June 3.
Fowler, H. Ramsey, and Jane E. Aaron. The Little, Brown Handbook. 9th ed.
New York: Pearson-Longman, 2004. [or another equivalent college writing handbook]
Films/Videotapes: In addition to the course programs broadcast on Memphis Cablevision (and available on tape—on a limited basis—at Southwest’s Macon Cove Academic Support Center and library), students will need to view a variety of films, usually requiring either the rental of videotapes (from local libraries or commercial outlets) or the viewing of films at local theaters.
General
Course Goals
As part of the lower division core of general education requirements in
the TBR system, “the goal of the Humanities and/or Fine Arts requirement is
to enhance the understanding of students who, as citizens and educated members
of their communities, need to know and appreciate their own human cultural
heritage and its development in a historical and global context. Also, through study of Humanities and/or
Fine Arts, students will develop an understanding, which they otherwise
would not have, of the present as informed by the past.”
Students completing Introduction to Film should demonstrate the ability
to
Emerging only at the end of the 19th century, film is a modern art form, but a powerful and influential form of cultural and creative expression. Students will analyze films as texts and works of art in a variety of ways, exploring key elements such as mise en scène, cinematography, editing, and sound, techniques related to these elements, and basic cinematic terminology.
2. Explain the ways in which humanistic and/or artistic expression throughout the ages expresses the culture and values of its time and place.
Movies provide vivid records of the culture and values of time and place, and students will view, discuss, and write about films made in different periods, showcasing different cultural and aesthetic assumptions and values. The student will recognize the wide variety in types and purposes of films, and some of the characteristics of major styles and genres.
3. Explore global/cultural diversity.
Students will view and discuss
movies that explore diverse cultures. In
on-campus sections, students often view movies made outside the United States,
movies that depict diverse customs and may explore themes or aesthetics that
diverge from those of mainstream U.S. movies. In this telecourse version, students will explore cultural
diversity through the variety of cultures and subcultures examined within
American cinema (particularly noticeable in the "countercurrents" of
the 1990s, but also in the influences upon American films noirs from German
Expressionism and upon the film school generation from the French New Wave).
Ideally, class discussions will also explore global and cultural
diversity in the reactions and values diverse students express.
The student will appreciate some of the influences that affect the way
different viewers understand and respond to films, and the student will be
able to acknowledge as reasonable some responses to films that may
conflict with his or her own responses.
4. Frame a comparative context through which they can critically assess the ideas, forces, and values that have created the modern world.
Like any form of literature, movies examine and reflect the ideas, forces, and values that shape our world. Combat films, for example, may justify participation in a given war, or question it; films noirs may explore a loss of values or lost confidence in values that affected perceptions of the world particularly in the United States from the 1930s through the late1950s; Westerns may directly or indirectly promote or attack the doctrine of Manifest Destiny—the idea that the United States was destined to reach from the Atlantic to the Pacific, justifying not only exploration but acquisition; romantic comedies may promote models for attractiveness and standards of acceptable or unacceptable language or behavior. Individual films like Modern Times or Citizen Kane may question the impact of capitalism. By viewing, discussing, and writing about a variety of films, students will find both context and stimulus for exploring ideas and values in the modern world.
5. Practice the critical and analytical methodologies of the Humanities and/or Fine Arts.
In writing journals, formal papers, and examinations, students in Introduction to Film will gain practice in forming impressions, shaping those impressions into interpretations or judgments, and defending their interpretations and judgments with clear reasoning and specific evidence from the works they examine. In some assignments, students may explore the differing views of established critics. As a part of building critical thinking skills and forming aesthetic values, the student will understand the possibility of disliking a film and admiring it at the same time.
Student success in achieving these outcomes will be measured chiefly by related examinations and writing assignments, but also by behaviors that reflect active engagement in learning, such as attendance, promptness in completing assignments, and attention to corrections.
Student
Responsibility:
Although this course will offer instruction, resources, and opportunities for learning, neither the instructor nor the class can do the learning for you. I will strive to support you through the design and presentation of the course, and through feedback about your work; in general, though, your learning will be proportional to your own effort and commitment.
Southwest Tennessee Community College is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for all qualified students with disabilities. The student is responsible for contacting the Counseling Office to arrange for appropriate accommodation. When the disability has been documented and verified, a counselor will contact the faculty member regarding any special accommodation to be provided.
Computers located in classrooms and laboratories are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
If you do not plan to complete the course, be sure to file your request to withdraw with the Records Office before the “Last Day to Withdraw from Classes with a Grade of “W,” as specified in the college’s academic calendar. A "W" for the course protects your grade average; if you simply cease attending or try to withdraw after that date, a grade of “F” must be assigned for the course.
This syllabus and the accompanying schedule of assignments are intended
to be accurate and consistent, but occasionally the needs of individual
classes, complications such unscheduled closings of the college, or even
simple errors may require changes at the instructor’s discretion.
Any changes to policies or assignments will be announced via e-mail or
post.
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When you first examine this course guide, you may think the process is pretty complicated, and there’s a lot to do (there is!), and you’re all on your own in a harsh and unfeeling universe (you’re not!). But things will settle down within a couple of weeks to a fairly straightforward and regular process that you will find understandable and helpful. You will find me available to lend support and advice throughout the semester.
Your basic activities will be (1) studying assignments in your texts, (2) viewing ten 60-minute and three 30-minute television programs, (3) viewing from six to nine feature films of your own choice, (4) writing both informal reactions to what you see and a couple of formal papers, and (5) completing a midterm examination and a final examination on campus. Specific assignments are described in the Course Schedule which you can request via E-mail, and instructions for the two formal papers are available separately on this site. We will schedule two discussion/review meetings on campus during the term; these discussion groups will allow you to present questions and share observations with your colleagues. Your attendance at those meetings is optional, but encouraged.
In any given week, you should begin by reviewing the Schedule of Assignments to plan your activities; next, read the appropriate section(s) of your Study Guide (the thinner book, by Ed Sikov) to preview the week’s material; then read the assigned chapter or chapters in American Cinema/American Culture (the thicker book, by John Belton). You should always try to complete your reading in the text before you view the television program(s)—the interviews and film clips in the programs will be much more useful for you if you have already examined the key ideas in the written material. After you have read the text and viewed the program, return to the Study Guide to review the material and try optional exercises or self-tests to check your understanding. In most weeks, you will then select and view one of the films suggested in the Study Guide to explore new ideas about films, and to practice more alert viewing. [The Study Guide recommends screening one of the suggested films before viewing the television program, and you may prefer that approach; try it both ways to see what works best for you.]
You will write at least one informal journal entry almost every week (these are discussed later); the Schedule of Assignments will alert you to those and other writing assignments. Be sure to check due dates for all writing assignments, and please feel comfortable calling, writing or e-mailing me for help, or dropping by my campus office during normally scheduled hours.
Develop the pattern and personal schedule that works best for you. But do keep up with the general Schedule of Assignments and meet the due dates for assignments—late assignments receive fairly severe penalties. You’ll find the course easier and more useful if you can avoid falling behind.
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Your grade in this course will be determined by your grades on the assignments listed below, in the proportions indicated.
Journal entries 20%
Reaction paper 20%
Midterm
examination 20%
(on campus)
Analytical review 20%
Final
examination
20%
(on campus)
Scale: 90 – 100 = A; 80 – 89 = B; 70 – 79 = C; 60 – 69 = D; 59 and below = F.
Late assignments face serious grade reductions:
late journals will receive only half credit (and no credit if over 10
days late); late papers will lose one letter grade (10 points) if
received within the six calendar days following their due date, and two letters (20
points) if received between seven and
fourteen days after their due date.
Papers more than two weeks late will receive zeroes. Assignments
more than two weeks late will receive zeroes. No assignments will be
accepted later than two days before the scheduled final examination.
Examinations missed because of approved excuses may be made up within five calendar days of the original test date. Make-up exams will cover the same material assigned for the original exams, but will differ in form (for example, replacing multiple choice questions with fill-in-the-blank questions and altering or reducing the options for essay questions). Typically, examinations missed without approved excuses will earn a score of zero, though some exceptions and alternative penalties may apply in special circumstances.
You may be taking the telecourse version of this course to accommodate a difficult or unpredictable schedule or to overcome transportation problems—so it would be unhelpful to require physical attendance at meetings other than required examinations. The discussion/review sessions scheduled for the semester are optional. Though your attendance or non-attendance will not affect your grade, I urge you to come to any meetings you can. But please note the following concern:
Some providers of financial aid require that the college report the names of students who receive failing grades because they ceased attending classes; in some cases, those students may be required to repay financial aid they received while not attending classes. If you cease submitting work to me without officially dropping or withdrawing from the course, I will report the date of the last work I receive from you as the last day of your attendance for the course.
EVALUATING
YOUR WORK
Journal
entries will earn
full credit as long as they are thoughtful, relevant, long enough (usually
over 150 words), and received by their due dates. Thoughtful
entries offer clear evidence of your having read the assigned materials and
viewed the assigned or selected programs or films, often citing specific ideas
or images. Late or superficial entries will earn only half credit. Entries more
than ten calendar days late or written about movies not clearly relevant to the unit
will receive no credit. Since
journal entries are primarily tools for thinking, and not prepared for an
audience, they should usually be spontaneous—neither planned nor revised.
(A fuller discussion of journal entries follows later in this
syllabus.)
Formal Papers will be evaluated in three major areas:
Organization: Is there a clear-cut thesis statement that controls the direction of the paper and limits the scope of the ideas presented in it? Are the ideas presented in an orderly sequence that makes sense? Does the paper have a lively introduction that invites further reading? Does the paper have a definite conclusion that draws the ideas together and leaves the reader satisfied?
Development: Are the ideas explored adequately within the limits established by the thesis statement? Is there sufficient detail or enough examples to clarify major points and make them convincing? In the reaction paper, supporting material should be drawn chiefly from the film you choose to discuss. In the analytical review, supporting material should include at least some paraphrases and quotations from professional reviews you will consult.
Mechanics: Does the paper demonstrate control over the essential elements of grammar? Are the sentences clear and smooth? Has the paper avoided major grammatical errors (such as sentence fragments, comma splices, fused or run-together sentences, subject-verb agreement errors, verb form errors)? In the analytical review, are quotations presented in proper form, and is documentation complete and accurate? [You will find fuller instructions on format and documentation in the instructions for that assignment.] A recent handbook of English may be a valuable resource for you in these matters. Remember, too, that our Academic Support Center offers free tutoring and software programs for help with writing difficulties.
Examinations will be evaluated primarily for accuracy and completeness of content, but also for correctness and effectiveness of expression. Both examinations will include combinations of short-answer questions and essay questions. Essay answers will be scored for responsiveness, development, and expression.
Corrections of any mechanical errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation) in your graded papers (the midterm exam, the reaction paper, and the analytical review) will help you improve your writing. I ask that you correct and return your papers promptly after you receive them, making the corrections in red ink on the original papers. To encourage this useful practice, I will raise the score of each assignment by one point if its corrections are complete and prompt. The paper’s score will be unchanged if it is returned late, uncorrected, or incompletely corrected. The score will be lowered two points if the paper is not returned at all.
In this, as in any course, your goal is to learn and to build your skills. But there’s no gain without some pain—you would accomplish little from substituting another’s efforts for your own. I am confident that you wouldn’t waste your time or squander your self-respect with intentional plagiarism.
To prevent any misunderstanding, let me remind you that plagiarism has been committed when a writer presents as his own words written by another person, or when a writer presents as his own ideas belonging to another person, even if the writer presents those ideas in his or her own words.
To avoid any suspicion of plagiarism, be careful to credit any sources you use. If you do outside reading for any paper and use material from your reading in the paper, you must credit the source of the borrowed ideas or words, as well as discovered facts. Many of us have become accustomed to gathering information on the Internet, which is wonderfully convenient—but we need to be on guard against drawing words or facts or ideas from those sources without proper acknowledgment. Students have failed this course for copying portions of online reviews or summaries into their journals, as well for copying such materials in formal papers.
Because a successful telecourse requires good faith, I will assign a failing grade for the course if I detect purposeful plagiarism in any assignment.
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1. Do not panic! If you have questions, drop by my office, send e-mail, or give me a call.
2. All assignments except the journal entries should be either typewritten (double-spaced) or handwritten in ink on loose-leaf notebook paper (write only on the front of each sheet, and write on every other line). Journal entries may be typed or handwritten, in pen or pencil, on any kind of paper, or submitted by e-mail.
3. Carefully proofread your formal papers before sending them in. You may make minor corrections and revisions without recopying a page, but major changes call for a new copy. These assignments may be submitted by e-mail only if they are prepared in Microsoft Word, and e-mailed as attachments. Be sure that you have followed the format instructions given in the individual assignment and in the separate document, “Some Conventions and Mechanics for Writing about Films.”
4. Keep a copy of any paper you submit. We cannot be responsible for any paper lost in the mail.
5. Make sure your paper is clearly identified: include your name, the course number and section (ENGL1065T01), the date, and the name of the assignment in the upper left-hand corner of the first page; add your name and the page number in the upper right corner of each subsequent page.
6. Mail papers to me at this address:
John Friedlander
Department of Fine Arts,
Languages, and Literature
Southwest Tennessee
Community College
5983 Macon Cove
Memphis, TN 38134-7693
Be sure to provide adequate postage, and include a return address on the envelope. You are responsible for mailing the assignments early enough to reach me by their due dates. [Typically, you should allow three business days.]
As an alternative, you can deliver papers directly to my office on Southwest’s Macon Cove campus (Whitehead 25). If I am out of the office when you drop by, it is safe to slide papers under the door.
If you
have e-mail access, you may e-mail questions and journal entries to me at
jfriedlander@southwest.tn.edu.
You may also e-mail the formal papers, but only if they are
prepared in Word and sent as attachments.
Please
DO NOT FAX any documents to me. The
college has fax machines in some public offices, but I cannot rely on
receiving faxes promptly or safely.
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American Cinema/American Culture, 2nd ed. by John Belton (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005) is the main text of the course, your primary source of information, and the source of most of the information explored on the midterm and final examinations. The text is written to accompany the television series, American Cinema, but its organization differs in some instances from the order of the television programs. Unlike the television programs, it presents material with a single voice (rather than through varied interviews and film clips) in well-organized chapters. As Belton explains in the text’s preface, the book “doubles as both a cultural history and an introduction to aesthetics and film form.” The writing is occasionally challenging—you’re likely to find yourself rereading some paragraphs a couple of times to better grasp their content— but it is consistently interesting, thoughtful and worthwhile. Since this text is your main “instructor” for the course, you should develop an early habit of taking careful notes as you read— do more than highlight the text!
As I mentioned earlier, I think it is important that you complete at least a preliminary reading of the relevant chapters in this text before you view the related television programs, so you can gain both background and order for your viewing.
Study Guide for American Cinema, 2nd ed. by Ed Sikov (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005) functions as an intermediary between Belton’s text and the television programs, providing brief overviews of the ideas they share, and guiding you toward better understanding. It will also help you with the experience of participating in a telecourse, clarifying the objectives of the course, and offering advice for successful completion of the course.
You should always read the unit overviews and study plans in the Study Guide before reading the related chapter(s) in the Belton text, and before viewing the television programs. You should also usually select films for private viewing and review from the Study Guide’s suggestions for each unit.
PLEASE NOTE: The Study Guide offers many suggestions for writing assignments and projects to help you use and retain the information you are acquiring, as well as several “self-tests” to help you check your understanding. These are tools for your use—you may choose to try some of the exercises and assignments, and you will probably want to try all of the self-tests (to prepare for the course exams), but they are generally not required. The only assignments you are required to complete are itemized in the attached Schedule of Assignments.
The television programs you will be watching in American Cinema are not presented as organized lectures and do not directly duplicate your text, but they are an important complement to the reading material—it really helps to see what the book is talking about, and to hear the way other experts in the field think about the same material. All of the main programs offer a combination of light narration and assorted interviews, intercut with relevant film clips. They are consistently interesting, and bring to life many of the ideas explored in the text, but they will sometimes seem a bit scattered or random in their presentation. You will get much more out of the programs if you have already read and thought about the relevant chapter(s) in the text, and the overview and study plans from the Study Guide. Different experts in the interviews have different, sometimes conflicting views, and you will want to weave those different views together into a broader understanding.
American Cinema is televised on Memphis Cablevision and (in some semesters) on broadcast television (WKNO, channel 10). Broadcast days and times will be identified on a separate broadcast schedule, which students may request via E-mail.
Some videotape copies of all the programs are also available at the Academic Support Center on Southwest’s Macon campus. Borrowing of individual tapes (for a 10-day period) is on a first-come basis, and requires a bar-coded Southwest photo I.D. You can telephone the center for further information at (901) 333-4107. An additional set for on-campus viewing is available in the Freeman library. The tapes can also be rented from RMI, Inc. (1-800-745-5480) for a $55 fee (plus shipping).
As the Study Guide suggests, it is wise to take at least occasional notes as you view the television programs, making connections between the programs and the text, writing down questions that occur to you, or noting the names of films you want to follow up on, or ideas for paper topics. I will expect you to grasp and recall the broad ideas presented in the videos, but you will not be asked to recall specific factual information from the broadcasts.
As you will see in the schedule of assignments, our broadcasts begin with two supplemental short programs that will provide you with some useful perspective before the main programs begin. “Film Language” is a 30-minute presentation on the design and filming of a single scene in a movie, introducing several technical terms and processes that are discussed without much explanation in some of the main programs, and which may help you better analyze and write about films yourself. “Thinking and Writing about Film” lets you watch and listen as three film experts take different approaches to analyzing parts of a film. This should give you an early sense of some of the aspects of film an active viewer may explore.
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During most weeks of the semester you will select and view a full feature film, usually one of the many suggested in your Study Guide. Reading about films and filmmaking and looking at assorted film clips will help you learn a lot about film as art and film as a reflection of culture—but you need to connect the theories and generalizations to whole films! Of course, most of us take film courses because we enjoy movies, so this part of the course requirements is usually the best part.
Although you will control your own film selection and viewing, I do have a few requests:
First, choose films that will connect with the course material—when we’re studying romantic comedies, for instance, choose a romantic comedy. You cannot earn credit for journal entries on irrelevant films. (Suggestions in your texts are usually good choices.)
Second, give the films a full and fair viewing—either view current releases in theaters, or rent good tapes and watch them without interruption or distraction. Avoid commercial television broadcasts, which not only destroy the pacing and interrupt the mood of films with advertising, but also edit films both for time constraints and to “sanitize” films for family audiences.
Finally, take occasional notes as you view films for the course—take note of a particularly powerful image, for example, or note elements that recall (or contradict) what you’ve read or seen or heard in the course materials. Part of the purpose of note-taking is to make you more conscious and active in your viewing, encouraging you to look not just at the story and characters, but also at how the film is made, what its underlying messages and values are. (In my “real life,” I don’t take notes or analyze movies as I watch—I just give myself up to them; but taking notes and analyzing a few movies as you will do this semester can make you far more alert to all movies, and will lead not only to more sophisticated understanding, but also to more pleasure from a greater variety of movies.)
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Throughout the course, I will ask you to write “journal responses”—informal reactions to material that you have read or viewed, including the films you select for screenings. These journal responses will help you in several ways. They will help you to involve yourself in the ideas of the course and to find opinions about the films you view. They will help you prepare for writing assignments and examinations. They will give you low-stress practice in writing, free from the concerns of spelling, mechanics and neatness expected in regular graded assignments. And they will be a way to boost your grade for the semester—it is easy to get an “A” for your journals if you take them seriously, and they will count for 20% of your semester grade.
Your journal entries will be your own informal, written responses to the films you view and sometimes to the television programs. You don’t have to analyze the films or programs, or summarize them—just record your own reactions and associations. If you like or dislike a film or program, say that; but write also about what you dislike or enjoy, why you like or dislike something. You should feel free to digress, to write about ideas or experiences that the films or programs may recall or stimulate. Journal entries are not meant for an audience, but for your own use as tools and resources.
Even though the journal format is informal, you want to do some fairly serious thinking about the movies and programs you react to; your responses should usually mention specifics from the films or programs, and normally will run between 150 and 200 words per entry (some are much longer).
Any serious, relevant effort will earn full credit. Be sure to note, though, that skimpy or superficial entries, those that don’t really respond to the film or program, and those that are submitted late will receive only half credit. Entries over ten days late will earn no credit. Entries discussing films that are not related to the week’s topics will receive no credit.
Mechanics for the journal are informal—you may write in ink or pencil if you choose, or use a typewriter or a computer, even send them by e-mail—whatever you are comfortable with (though I will not accept faxes!). You may use any type of paper, without double spacing.
Each journal entry should be separately labeled, with your name and the name of the film or program you’re responding to. You will submit the entries individually, as they are assigned, not in a folder or notebook. I will return your journals to you at irregular intervals, usually when I have other documents to send you.
The main goals of the journal entries are to strengthen your involvement in viewing films and programs, to encourage a habit of reflection, to build your sense of writing as a method for thinking, to get a little practice for your other papers, and to reduce your anxieties about writing. But the journal is also, as I mentioned earlier, a relatively sure and simple way to improve your course grade.
Just in case my description of a journal entry is a little fuzzy for you, here’s a sample response to the 1932 film, Scarface, which I wrote the morning after I saw the film.
John Friedlander
ENGL1065T01
9/8/95
Unit 1: Hollywood Style
Journal 3: Scarface
This film was pretty vivid to me. I remember watching lots of 30’s gangster films when I was a kid, especially those with Bogart and Cagney and Robinson, and I remember a couple of films with Paul Muni—one where he was a dead criminal sent back by the devil to take the place of a judge, and another where he was some sort of WWII resistance fighter—but I never saw this one, and I’m sure I would have remembered it. The plot is pretty relentless—a chain of ambition linked by one murder after another (and most of the murders marked by some sort of on-screen X, sometimes in shadows, other times in light reflections, once in a Roman numeral door number for an apartment, once in a marked strike on a bowling score). Muni creates a really distinct character, not an over-the-top psycho like Cagney was, but still a clear sociopath with enough occasional charm to keep him interesting. The scar on his face is shaped like an X. In keeping with Hollywood Style, we do identify with a central character and follow a linear plot. I particularly liked the two main women in the film—Poppy, a fairly sophisticated and unredeemed mistress who goes where the money is, for example, is just as she is; I think most contemporary films would try to make this character either more repugnant or redeemed by some partly good side. Scarface’s sister, played by Anna Dvorak seems pretty hot for an 18-year-old. Her sinuous dance to attract George Raft is really in-your-face sensuality. Anyway I could go on for a while, but I’m sure I’ve done my 150 words, and I’ve got other stuff to do.
Somebody just stopped by and got me talking about Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers—as different as they are in their technical resources and graphic presentation from Scarface, they still have a lot in common with it.
[OK, that’s more than 200 words—but it should give you some sense that journals are casual, and nothing like some final comment or complete review. I actually enjoy writing them, once I can get myself started—and in this instance, I had plenty more to say, and said some stuff I’m not sure I agreed with even a couple of hours later. On a different day I might have focused on different interests, and might have made still more direct connections with text and program discussions of “Hollywood Style” (a good idea to help you strengthen your learning).]
During the semester, we will meet on campus twice to compare reactions to the course material and review any concerns or questions you may have developed. These meetings are chiefly opportunities to meet classmates and discuss what interests or concerns you. Although I won’t be making any formal presentations, I’ll be glad to answer (or try to answer) any questions that may emerge in the sessions, and the discussions often provide useful reviews. The sessions are scheduled to precede your examinations. I look forward to meeting with you.
Dates and times for the discussion sessions are listed in the Course Schedule, which students can request via E-mail.
I’ll be glad to answer your questions and offer you help with assignments by telephone or e-mail, as well as through office meetings during my regular hours on campus. I truly welcome your visits. You will find my current office address, office hours, e-mail address and telephone numbers on a separate page.