COSF 186: The Film Industry

Fall 2003

Section ID 482724

T/Th 8-9:20am

WLH 2005

Professor: Lisa Cartwright

lisac@ucsd.edu

Office hours: T/Th 11-12 MCC 124B or by appt.

Teaching Assistants:

Ricardo Guthrie

raguthrie@ucsd.edu

Office hours: W11-12 MCC 133 or by appt..

Lukasz Maslanka

lmaslank@ucsd.ed
Office hours: Tues. 2-3pm, tables near Peabody Coffee Cart, Social Science Building (SSB) courtyard, Northwest campus across from IRPS, on the way to REMAC stadium

Description:

We will investigate the social organization of the film industry throughout its history (1895-2003). The class is divided into two units:

1) US film industry history, 1895-2003

2) Global and other national, international, and regional industries and contexts, emphasizing the period 1960-2003

Some issues and frameworks:

Changes in the organization of film production, distribution, and exhibition
Modes of production and their social meaning
Industry technology and its social meaning
Censorship, regulation, and classification (ratings)
The relationships among film style, culture, government and industry policy, modes of production, and technological change
The changing relationships among studios, producers, directors, writers, actors, editors, censors, distributors, audience, and subject matter of the films

Goals:

1) Gain a clear picture of the history of the US film industry in national and international contexts

2) Gain an introductory and broad sketch of global industries and markets through a few examples of national, regional, and diasporic industry models

3) Understand the relationship between the film industry and other aspects of culture

Requirements:

1) Do assigned reading by Thursday class each week

2) 4 in-class quizzes, 25% each, schedule below

3) Seven films are required viewing and will be watched in part in class. They are available for full screening in the Film and Video Reserve Library, lower Geisel. You must reserve screening time by calling (858) 534-3075.

Accommodations:

Students wishing to request classroom or assignment accommodations for disability-related needs: please contact Professor Cartwright by email or in person to discuss arrangements as early as possible in the quarter. If physical or mental health or disability issues arise during the course of the quarter that impact your work in the class please do not hesitate to contact Professor Cartwright so that possible accommodations may be discussed.

Quiz schedule:

10/14, 10/28, 11/13, 12/4

IMPORTANT: All quizzes are on Thursdays. Quizzes are inclusive of the material covered in the week of the quiz. So it is a very good idea to keep on schedule with your reading.

Online student discussion list:

COURSE ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUP & SYLLABUS ACCESS
To subscribe to our film industry course discussion list or to access the syllabus, go to www.communication.ucsd, select COURSES and scroll down to COSF 186. Click on COSF 186 for syllabus. To subscribe to discussion list, click on
Subscribe to the SF 186 class mailing list

Reading:

Reading is to be completed before Thursday class each week. 3 books plus a few essays, total 40-65 pages per week.

Books available at Geisel circulation desk reserve and for purchase at Groundwork Books, (858) 252-9625, in Student Union behind Mandeville Center.

Essays are on Roger course reserve system (electronic). Some are available in recommended books at Groundwork and at Geisel book reserve as noted.

See Geisel circulation desk for information on how to access electronic reserve readings

Books:

The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960, David Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson, Columbia University Press, 1985

"CHC" in schedule below, used weeks 1-5, is a specialized textbook.

The Oxford History of World Cinema, Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, editor, Oxford University Press, 1996

"OH" in schedule below. This book is relevant to all weeks, short essays by different authors and lots of pictures, gives a broad overview of world cinema. This is a good book to keep as a reference guide after the course is over.

Film Policy: International, National, and Regional Perspectives, Albert Moran, editor, Routledge, 1996

"FP" below. Used weeks 6-10, this is a reader of topical essays by different authors.

Films:

The Jazz Singer (dir. Alan Crosland/Warner Brothers, USA, 1927)

It's All True (dir. Richard Wilson/Paramount Pictures/Les Films Balenciaga, USA, 1993, 86 min.)

Fantasia (dir. James Algar and Samuel Armstrong, composer Leopold Stokowski/Walt Disney, USA 1941, 120m)

Blackboard Jungle (dir. Richard Brooks/MGM, 1955, 102m)

Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, England/France//India, 1988, 113m)

Soong jia huang chao [The Soong Sisters] (dir. mabel Cheung/Golden Harvest, Hong Kong, 1996, 128m)

Atanarjuat [The Fast Runner] (dir. Zacharius Kanuk/ Igloolik Isuma Productions in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada, 2001)

Recommended to see on your own at Geisel Film and Video Reserve:

The Three Caballeros (dir. Norman Ferguson/Disney, 1945, 73m)

Saludos Amigos (dir. Norman Ferguson/Disney, USA, 1942, 42m)

The Magnificent Ambersons (RKO Pictures/dir. Orson Welles, USA 1942, 88m)

TOPIC, READING, FILM, & QUIZ SCHEDULE

Note: quizzes are inclusive of all work covered including the current week

Week 1: Thursday, 9/25

Introduction

OH 43-53

Part 1: US film industry history

a. Silent era

Week 2: 9/30, 10/2

Mode of Production to 1930

CHC 87-95, 113-153

Week 3: 10/7, 10/9

Technology and Style to 1930/The Coming of Sound

OH 220-234

CHC 194-213, 243-261, 298-308

Week 4: 10/14, 10/16 QUIZ 1 10/14

Mode of Production 1930-60: US and Latin America

CHC 311-319 & 320-338

John King, "From Sound to 'New Cinema': 1930s-1950s," Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America, 31-64 (Roger essay or Geisel book reserve)

http://www.ambersons.com/main.htm

Week 5: 10/21, 10/23

Technology and Style 1930-60: The case of sound

CHC 349-64

OH 211-19, 248-59, 483-4

Fantasia (dir. James Algar and Samuel Armstrong, composer Leopold Stokowski/Walt Disney, USA 1941, 120m)

Week 6: 10/28, 10/30 QUIZ 2 10/28

Censorship, Industry Self-regulation and Film Classification

OH 235-47, 490-96

Doherty, "Classical Hollywood Cinema," Pre-Code Hollywood, Columbia, 1999, 319-346

Classification and Ratings Administration, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Movie Ratings System," http://www.filmratings.com/questions.htm

Recommended reading: Wyatt, "The Stigma of X," Controlling Hollywood, ed. Mathew Bernstein, Rutgers 2000, 238-259 (Roger essay or Geisel book reserve)

Blackboard Jungle (dir. Richard Brooks/MGM, USA, 1955, 104m)

Week 7: 11/4, 11/6

US industry 1960 to present: Hollyworld/Independents/Synnergy

FP 23-62

OH select approx. 15 pages, your choice, from 466-575

Recommended: FP 72-84, CHC 367-385

Part 2: New notions of "national" cinema

Week 8: 11/13 QUIZ 3 11/13

Note: No Class 11/11 for Veteran's Day Holiday

The idea of "national" cinema

FP 128-147

Week 9: 11/18, 11/20

National cinema: The case of India

FP 148-171

Hayward, "Framing National Cinemas," Cinema and Nation, ed. Mette Hjort and Scott MacKenzie, Routledge 2000, 88-101 (Roger essay or Geisel book reserve)

OH 678-689

RECOMMENDED: Gokulsing and Dissanayake, "Cinema and Society," Indian Popular Cinema, 37-53 (Roger or recommended at Groundworks)

Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, England/France//India, 1988, 113m)

Week 10: 11/25 Note: No Class 11/27 for Thanksgiving Holiday

Beyond "national": Hong Kong's film industry

OH 704-11

Chu, "Hong Kong Film Production," Hong Kong Cinema: Colonizer, Motherland, and Self, Routledge 2003, 42-62 (Roger)

Fu and Desser, "Introduction," The Cinema of Hong Kong, Cambridge 2000, 1-16 (Roger)

Recommended: Bordwell, Planet Hong Kong, Harvard 2000 (Geisel reserve)

Song jia huang chao [The Soong Sisters] (dir. Mabel Cheung/Golden Harvest Limited, Hong Kong, 1996, 128m)

Week 11: 12/2, 12/4 QUIZ 4 12/4

"Local" production: contemporary regionalism and indigenous independents

FP 234-248 & 262-71

Use the Web to research press coverage of The Fast Runner including:

http://www.indiancountry.com/?1023111017

Recommended: Gokulsing and Dissanayake, "Regional Cinemas of India," Indian Popular Cinema, 123-133 (Roger or recommended at Groundworks)

Atanarjuat [The Fast Runner] (dir. Zacharius Kanuk/ Igloolik Isuma Productions in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada, 2001, 172m)