This final course in the film history sequence is designed to introduce students to a sense of modern film history and the multiple permutations of cinema around the globe. It presents film history from a global perspective, concentrating primarily on the development of new national and transnational cinemas. The course continues to chart the development of the American studios since the mid-1970s while examining the effects of media consolidation and convergence. Moreover, the course seeks to examine how global cinemas have reacted to and dealt with the formal influence and economic domination of Hollywood filmmaking on international audiences. The class will consist of lectures, screenings, and discussions.

NOTE: History of Cinema III is not designed to teach students how to make their own films or to provide students with an opportunity to watch contemporary movies and then chat casually about why they are “boring” or “cool.” Please keep the above goals in mind throughout the quarter.

Required Texts

• Film History, 3^rd ed. (Bordwell and Thompson)
• Supplemental readings may be found on the course site(s).
• ALL FILMS ARE CONSIDERED REQUIRED TEXTS AS WELL.

HOLLYWOOD’S SECOND WIND: THE NEW HOLLYWOOD

Mar-27: Introduction, aka. The Fastest History of Film Ever (Beginnings to 1965-ish)
READING: None; bask in the glory of an assignment-free day.
SCREENING: Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967; 112m) or The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967; 106m).

Mar-29: Cursing! Blood! Boobs! A Newfangled Hollywood Indeed
READING: Chapter 21 (472-83 only) and “Sex and Sensation” (online).

NEW GERMAN CINEMA

Apr 3: The New German Cinema
READING: Chapter 23 (531-35; 571-73 only) and “New German Cinema” (online).
SCREENING: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974; 93m).

Apr-5: Focus on Fassbinder (and Douglas Sirk)
READING: “All that Fassbinder Allows” (Criterion Collection essay) and “Fassbinder and Spectatorship” (online).

HOLLYWOOD AND THE MODERN BLOCKBUSTER

Apr-10: The Monster That Ate (and Won’t Stop Devouring) Hollywood
READING: Chapter 22 (483-end only) and “Jaws” (PBS online).
SCREENING: Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985; 116m).

Apr-12: Triumph, the Glorious Past, and Multiculturalism in The Reagan Era
READING: “Dreams and Nightmares in the Hollywood Blockbuster” (online).

EAST ASIAN CINEMA

Apr-17: Hong Kong Cinemas
READING: Chapter 27 (647-52 only) and “The Return of the Father: Hong Kong New Wave and Its Chinese Context in the 1980s” (online).
SCREENING: The Killer (John Woo, 1989; 110m).

Apr-19: Moving North: From John Woo to Zhang Yimou
READING: “Reinventing Masculinity: The Spectacle of Male Intimacy in the Films of John Woo” (online), Chapter 27 (637-43 only), and “Beyond the Fifth Generation: An Interview with Zhang Yimou” (Bright Lights Film Journal, online).

Apr-24: Mainland Chinese Cinemas
READING: “The Right to Copy and the Digital Copyright: Hero, House of the Flying Colors, and China’s Cultural Symptoms” (online) and “Hero: China’s Response to Globalization” (Jump Cut journal, online).
SCREENING: Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2000; 99m).

Apr-26: Exam 1 (Weeks 1-5).

INDEPENDENT CINEMA IN HOLLYWOOD

May-1: American Cinema and the Entertainment Economy in the ’80s and After
READING: Chapter 28.
SCREENING: Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989; 100m) or Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992; 99m).

May-3: Vitality in America Filmmaking: Cinema On the Fringes
READING: A reading TBA based on the screening (class vote) and either “The New American Independent Cinema” or “Sex, Lies, and Marketing” (online).

UPDATE (April 30): Our TBA reading is “Tarantino’s Incarnational Theology: “Reservoir Dogs,” Crucifixions, and Spectacular Violence,” and we’ll also be reading “Sex, Lies, and Marketing.”  As always, both are available on D2L.

BRITISH CINEMA

May-8: Traveling Back Across the Pond…
READING: Chapter (418-20 only) and “British Cinema: The Search for Identity” (online).
SCREENING: Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994; 117m) or The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997; 91m).

UPDATE (May 7): Our TBA reading to accompany The Full Monty is “Performing the Crisis: Fathering, Gender, and Representation in Two 1990s Films,” found on D2L.

May-10: British Humor and Romance
READING: “The Limiting Imagination of National Cinema” (online) and a reading TBA based on screening (class vote).

INDIAN CINEMAS

May-15: Mass Output and Art Cinema: Alternatives to Bollywood
READING: Chapter 26 (621-26 only), “South Asian Diaspora in Film” (online), and “The New Bollywood: No Heroes, No Villains” (online).
SCREENING: Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair, 2001; 114m).

May-17: Just Bollywood
READING: “Bollywood Cinema: Making Elephants Fly” and “Monsoon Wedding: Raining on Tradition” (online).

LATIN AMERICAN CINEMAS

May-22: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Cuba
READING: Chapter 26 (613-21 only) and “National, Regional, and Global: New Waves of Latin American Cinema.”
SCREENING: City of God (Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles, 2002; 130m).

May-24: Verbal and Visual Language in City of God
READING: “Talking Bullets: The Language of Violence in City of God” and “Aesthetics and Ethics in City of God: Content Fails, Form Talks” (online).

GLOBAL FILM CULTURE AND TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING

May-29: Moving Toward a Global Film Culture
READING: Chapter 29.
SCREENING: Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993; 127m).

May-31: More on HollyWORLD…
READING: “Transmedia Storytelling 101” (Henry Jenkins’ blog), “In China Movie Pact, More 3-D, Less Reality,” and other short columns TBA (online).

Jun-7: Exam 2 (Weeks 6-10)
FINAL TIME: 2:45-5:00pm. Same classroom.