CULS5218 Practical and Critical Film Criticism Writing

Transcription

1 CULS5218 Practical and Critical Film Criticism Writing (1 st Term, ) Time: 6:45pm 9:30pm, Wed. Classroom: Rm 201, YIA Lecturer: Dr Li Tiecheng Office: 313 Leung Kau Kui Building Office Hour: Thur 4:00pm-6:00pm Course Description: In this course, students will acquire the skill to read film texts against their specific discursive background, and to dissect, deconstruct and critique the ideology behind the cinematic images; also will learn to integrate one s cinematic experience in terms of emotion and reason, and to develop one s unique style in film criticism writing. In the course of teaching, three aspects will be highlighted including the critical, functional and practical ones, and students ability for critical exchanges and practical writing training in film criticism will be emphasized. COURSE CONTENT & SCHEDULE PART I: Textual Analysis Approaches Week 1 (6/9). Introduction to the course Lecture: Course Introduction 1. Christopher Nolan, Memento (2000) 2. Alison Klayman, Ai Weiwei Never Sorry (2012) Week 2 (13/9). The Narrative Approach: Film Language and Narrative 1 Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (1941) 1

2 1. Seymour Chatman, what novels can do that films cannot (and vice versa), Film Theory and Criticism, 6 th, Andre Bazin, The Evolution of the Language of Cinema, Film Theory and Criticism, 6 th, Week 3 (20/9). The Narrative Approach: Film Language and Narrative 2 1. Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (1941) 2. Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, etc. V/H/S/2 (2013) 1. Christian Metz: Notes Toward a Phenomenology of the Narrative in Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema. Translated by Michael Taylor (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991), Nicholas, Rombes: The Camera as Narrator V/H/S/2, Filmmaker, (7 Jun 2013) Week 4 (27/9). Critical Writing Workshop Guest Speaker s LecturerTBA Films: Kurosawa AkiraRashomon1950 Reading: 1. 1 * Submission: Assignment 1 To write a film review.english: 2 pages, or Chinese: no more than 1000 words Week 4 Sept 28 (Thur) Evening. Screening and Talk: Beijing Besieged by Waste () Guest Speaker: Wang Jiuliang () Time and Venue: TBA Week 5 (4/10). The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Week 6 (11/10). 2

3 The Semiology of the Cinema Robert Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) 1. Jerome Ashmore, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as Fine Art, College Art Journal, Vol. 9, No.4, (summer 1950), Peter Wollen, The Semiology of the Cinema, in Signs and Meaning in the Cinema (London: British Film Institute, 2013), Stuart Hall, Encoding, Decoding, in The Cultural Studies Reader, edited by Simon During (New York and London: Routledge, 1993), Week 7 (18/10). Cinema as eye: Look and gaze, Darkness and Light(1999) 1. Tomas Elsaesser, Malte Hagener, Cinema as eye: Look and gaze, in Film Theory: an Introduction Through the Senses (New York: Routledge, 2010), Vol.2,No.2(2005 9)55-60 * Submission: Assignment 2 To write a film text analysis.english: 2-3 pages, or Chinese: no more than 1500 words PART II: Auteurship and Genre Week 8 (25/10). Auteur Theory I: The Case of An LI An Li, Lust Caution ( (2007) 1., 2. 3

4 3. Week 9 (1/11). Auteur Theory II: The Case of Takeshi Kitano Films: Takeshi Kitano, Hana-bi (1997) Takeshi Kitano, Kikujiro (1999) 1. Darrell William Davis, Reigniting Japanese Tradition with Hana-Bi, Cinema Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4, (Summer, 2001): Sean Redmond, Time, Space and Whatever, in The cinema of Takeshi Kitano : flowering blood, (London ; New York : Wallflower Press, 2013) Week 10 (8/11). The Genre Analysis & the Action Film Films: Ip Man (Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster)(2010), The Legend Is Born: IP Man)(2010), (The Grandmaster) (2013), (Ip Man: The Final Fight)(2013) Reading: 1. 2, Types, Cycles as Genres, Film Theory and Criticism, 5 th, * Submission: Assignment 3 To write a critical essay.english: 4 pages, or Chinese: no more than 2000 words Week 11 (15/11). 4

5 Critical Writing Workshop Guest Speaker s LecturerTBA PART III: Practice Week 12 (22/11). The Fixing of the Truth Films: Jia Zhangke, 24City (2008) 1. Kevin B. Lee, 24 City, Cinéaste, Vol. 34, No. 4 (FALL 2009), p Paul Henley, The Fixing of the Truth, in The Adventure of the Real, (Chicago: University of Chicago,2009), Week 13 (29/11). Viewpoint 1: Genre Analysis & Semiology 1. Johnnie To, Drug War (2012). 2. Tat-Chi Yau, Expect The Unexpected (1998) 1. David Bordwell, Mixing business with pleasure: Johnnie To s DRUG WAR, David Bordweell s website on cinema, July 8, e-tos-drug-war/ Week 14 (6/12). Viewpoint 2: Auteur Theory Johnnie To, Drug War (2012). 2. ( ) 3. / 5

6 Week 16 (20/12). * Submission: Assignment 4 To write a critical essay.english : 8-9 pages, or Chinese: no more than 4000words Assessment - Attendance and participation % - Group Presentation % - Assignment 1: Film Review % (English: 2 pages, or Chinese: no more than 1000 words) - Assignment 2: Film Text Analysis % (English: 2-3 pages, or Chinese: 1500 words) - Assignment 3: A Critical Essay % English: 4 pages, or Chinese: no more than 2000 words - Assignment 4: Final Paper % (English: 8-9 pages, or Chinese: no more than 4000words) Learning Outcomes After completing the course successfully, students would be able to read and analyze deeply in divers ways of critical thinking on a single film or a group of films, such as the views of genre, auteurship, and spectatorship, and grasp the ways to utilize these different analytical frameworks for the writing of film criticism. Supplementary Readings 1. Andre Bazin. What is cinema? Berkeley: University of California Press, David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction, 6th edition. 3. Haskell, Molly. From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, New York: Holt, Joseph M. Boggs, Dennis W. Petrie. The Art of Watching Films, Boston: McGraw-Hill, Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, ed. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, 6th Edition. New York: Oxford UP, Marsh, C. and Ortiz, G. Explorations in Theology and Movies and Meaning. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, Tim Bywater, Thomas Sobchack. An Introduction to film criticism: major critical approaches to narrative film, New York: Longman, Wright Will. Six Guns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western. Berkeley: University of California Press,

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