GLOBAL STUDIES: POLITICS AND FILM Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth Politics and Film (CTY Catalog Course Description) As early masterworks like Sergei Eisenstein s Battleship Potemkin (Russia, 1925) and Fritz Lang s Metropolis (Germany, 1927) illustrate, film has always been a key medium for exploring and confronting urgent political and social concerns around the world. By dramatizing important, controversial events and situations, directors place viewers into narrative contexts that allow them to experience people and circumstances that might otherwise remain somewhat remote. This course examines films from different cultures and traditions that deal with some of the most pressing international political issues of our time. From Spike Lee s exploration of identity and conflict in the urban landscape in Do the Right Thing (United States, 1988) to Jia Zhangke s poignant portrait of globalization in The World (China, 2004), students analyze crucial works of world cinema within the complex social and historical contexts which give rise to such films. Beginning with a classic of political filmmaking, Gillo Pontecorvo s The Battle of Algiers (Algeria, 1967), students learn the language of contemporary film criticism and focus on critical issues such as poverty and violence, the just use of force, imperialism, and oppression based upon race, ethnicity, nationality, class, gender, and sexuality. Students also consider how directors approach political issues from different perspectives and narrative techniques. This course is divided into 4 units: 1.) Film and Revolution, 2.) Film and Globalization, 3.) Film and Feminism, and 4.) Film and Mass Culture. Students study six complete films in depth, and write and revise four formal critical essays. Through intense discussion and analytical writing, students grapple with some of the most prescient issues that our world faces today and gain the foundational skills necessary to successfully engage the ever-increasing complex global society in which we all live. Reading (for purchase): Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film. Ninth ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. Additional Reading: Ted Morgan, My Battle of Algiers (selections) Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, Towards a Third Cinema A.O. Scott, What is a Foreign Movie Now? + Lynn Hirschberg, What is an American Movie Now? (New York Times) Jenny Kwok Wah Lau, Globalization and Youthful Subculture: The Chinese Sixth-Generation Films at the Dawn of the New Century. Arjun Appadurai, Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy bell hooks, Bone Black: memories of girlhood (selections) Patricia White, Feminist Film in the Age of the Chick Flick: Global Flows of Women s Cinema Fredric Jameson, Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture (selections) 1
Screenings: The Battle of Algiers (Gilles Pontecorvo, 1967, 121 min.) Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989, 120 min.) The World (Jia Zhangke, 2004, 143 min.) Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2009, 120 min.) Girlhood (Celine Sciamma, 2014, 113 min.) Take Care of My Cat (Jae-un Jeong, 2001, 112 min.) The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012, 142 min.) 2
Note: Morning sessions include a 10-minute break. Lunch: 11:45 12:45 Day 0: Sunday, June 28 Evening Introductions Class Rules Intro to Course *Students complete and share questionnaire about film and politics. *Students brainstorm for a classroom social contract and write up class rules. *Honor Code (including plagiarism) * What is politics? idea web *Review course + Discussion of Big Questions Day 1: Monday, June 29 Morning Pre-Assessment Pre-Assessment Debriefing *Pre-assessment: Students view I Am Cuba (Part 1), then write brief essay analyzing clip. *Discussion of film excerpt and essay writing process. Evening Mock Film Analysis Reading: The Basics of Film Analysis Discussion (w/ TA) Film Screening Activity *Deconstruction of a scene from I Am Cuba (Part 1) *Timothy Corrigan, Ch. 1-2 *Review of reading *View clip: I Am Cuba (Part 4) *Small group analysis: individually, students identify topics, themes, or questions about the clip on index cards. Then students break into small groups and compare their cards; then organize their cards and create an outline for an analytical essay. Class reviews outlines: what cards did they keep, what cards did they dispose of? 3
Day 2: Tuesday, June 30 Morning Activity Reading Review: Film Terms Lecture: Understanding Film Language Students present group essay outlines. *Timothy Corrigan, Ch. 3 + Glossary. *Students make a pictorial glossary of film terms, decorate room, and present them to each other. *Discuss film process (especially editing: see Griffith s The Birth of a Nation and Eisenstein s Battleship Potemkin) Activity: The Filmmaking Process *Students write a shooting script for a scene based on a fictional CTY experience. Then students read/perform scripts for each other. Evening How to Write an Essay (w/ TA) *Brief overview of essay structure, including how to write a thesis statement. Day 3: Wednesday, July 1 Morning Film Screening *The Battle of Algiers followed by 10-minute free write and discussion. Film Genre/History: Italian Neorealism Lecture: Revolutionary Filmmaking *View & analyze clips: Paisa (Rossellini, 1946); Bicycle Thief (de Sica, 1948). *What does it mean for film to be revolutionary or radical? View & analyze clips: Godard s Weekend; Solanas + Getino s Hour of the Furnaces. *Intro to Frantz Fanon and Wretched of the Earth. Evening Reading period *Read and Discuss Solanas + Getino manifesto, Toward a Third Cinema. Day 4: Thursday, July 2 4
Morning Film Screening *Do the Right Thing followed by 10-minute free write and discussion. Evening Lecture: Politics of Representation Activity: Group Research Activity: Presentations Activity: Dialogue *Black Independent Cinema and the Spike Lee discourse *Students research the philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. *Students present their research on MLK Jr. and Malcolm X. *Students are given articles to read on Ferguson and Baltimore. Students then debate about different strategies of protest, i.e. nonviolence and violence. Day 5: Friday, July 3 Morning Writing Period (LAB) *Students begin to outline and/or draft essay. Writing Period (LAB) *Students continue to draft essay. Day 6: Sunday, July 5 Evening Writing Period (LAB) Feedback form *Students complete draft of Revolution essay. *Students complete feedback form on Unit I. Day 7: Monday, July 6 Morning Film Screening *The World followed by 10-minute free write and discussion. Reading Period Film Genre/History: 6th Generation *Read and Discuss What is a Foreign Movie Now? and What is an American Movie Now? from The New York Times; Jenny Kwok Wah Lau, Globalization and Youthful Subculture: The Chinese Sixth-Generation Films at the Dawn of the New Century. *View & analyze clips: Yellow Earth (Kaige, 1984); Suzhou River (Ye, 5
Chinese Filmmaking 2000). Evening Reading (w/ TA) Activity *Read and Discuss Arjun Appadurai s Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. *Students continue working on film shooting scripts. Day 8: Tuesday, July 7 Morning Film Screening *Slumdog Millionaire followed by 10-minute free write (reaction to film; which character was the most interesting and why) and discussion. Film Genre/History: Bollywood + Indian Cinema Activity: Small Group Discussion *View and analyze clips: Pather Panchali (Ray, 1958); Om Shanti Om (Khan, 2007). *Students discuss opposing views on Slumdog Millionaire; Listen to NPR conversation about the film. Evening Writing Period (LAB) *Students begin drafting Globalization essay. Day 9: Wednesday, July 8 Morning Writing period (LAB) *Students finish drafting Globalization essay. Writing Workshop *Students break into two groups to begin workshopping papers. Evening Writing Workshop, cont d. *Students continue workshopping papers. Day 10: Thursday, July 9 Morning Film Screening *Girlhood followed by 10-minute free write (reaction to film) and discussion. Activity: Gender Identity and Pop Culture *Students in pairs find a problematic representation of gender in popular magazines and present a progressive alternative to the class. 6
Evening Reading (w/ TA) *Read and discuss bell hooks memoir Bone Black: memories of girlhood (selections) Day 11: Friday, July 10 Morning Lecture: Feminist Filmmaking *What does it mean for film to be feminist? How do we understand women s cinema? *View and analyze clips: All That Heaven Allows (Sirk, 1955); Peeping Tom (Powell, 1960); Semiotics of the Kitchen (Rosler, 1975); Jeanne Dielman (Ackerman, 1983) Reading *Read and discuss Patricia White, Feminist Film in the Age of the Chick Flick: Global Flows of Women s Cinema Writing period (LAB) *Students revise Revolution essay and/or Globalization essay. Day 12: Sunday, July 12 Evening Film Screening *Take Care of My Cat followed by 10-minute free write (reaction to film) and discussion. Day 13: Monday, July 13 Morning Writing period (LAB) 201 *Students begin drafting Feminism essay. Writing period (LAB) 201 from 1-2pm Activity: Film Script *Students work on essays. *Students complete and perform film scripts. Evening Writing Workshop *Students workshop critical essays. 7
Day 14: Tuesday, July 14 Morning Writing Period (LAB) Lewis Library *Students revise Feminism essay, Revolution essay, and/or Globalization essay. Reading *Students read and discuss Fredric Jameson, Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture (selections) Evening Lecture: Film and Mass Culture *Ideology and contemporary Hollywood cinema *View and analyze clips: Jaws (Spielberg, 1975); Independence Day (Emmerich, 1996); Avatar (Cameron, 2009); District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009) Day 15: Wednesday, July 15 Morning Film Screening *The Hunger Games followed by 10-minute free write (reaction to film) and discussion. Writing period (LAB) Lewis Library *Students begin drafting Mass Culture essay. Revise other essays. Evening Activity: Simulation *Students develop a Film Pitch and present to the class. Day 16: Thursday, July 16 Morning Post-assessment/SPEs *View I am Cuba (Part 3) and write essay. Activity: Simulation (Con t.) *Conclusion to course *Students develop a Film Pitch and present to the class. * What is politics? idea web + discussion 8
Day 17: Friday, July 17 Morning Film (student selection) *The Devil Wears Prada (Frankel, 2006) 9