FILM 290-01: Senior Seminar
Hollywood and Political Culture from Nixon to Reagan
Fall 2005
Class Meeting: W 12:30-3:00pm, Buttrick 015
Weekly Screenings: Mondays 4-7pm OR Tuesdays 7-10pm, BH 102
Paul Young
Office: 419 Benson 2-2347
Email: paul.d.young@vanderbilt.edu
Office Hours: Mon 1:30-3:00p, Tues 10:00a-11:30p, and by appointment
Textbooks:
- All required and recommended textbooks are (gasp) in at the VU Bookstore, with the exception of Herr, Dispatches, which we will not dig into for several weeks.
- First books you need to buy: Wood, Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan; Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint; Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
Course Description:
Senior Seminars in Film Studies are taught once per year on a rotating basis by instructors from multiple departments. Each instructor chooses a research interest on which to base the course, and establishes a seminar/workshop environment in which students become experts—not only on the topic at hand, but also in the practices of critical, theoretical, and historical film research; intellectual discourse; and writing a substantial essay fit for revision into a publishable piece. Rigorous preparation and equally rigorous class discussion are required. REGISTRATION RESTRICTED TO FILM MAJORS AND MINORS ONLY.
This course traces Hollywood’s representations of American politics and political issues from the height of the Vietnam era to near the end of the Cold War. Weekly screenings of films from all genres, both high-gloss studio productions and the edgier independent fare distributed by Hollywood during the box-office dry spell of the late sixties and early seventies, will be supplemented by novels and political writings by such authors as Joan Didion, Erica Jong, Michael Herr, Hunter S. Thompson, Philip Roth and Don DeLillo. Films that directly and indirectly target political events and ideological debates (such as The Deer Hunter, Easy Rider, All the President’s Men, Platoon) will share the screen with films that reflect and refract the ideologies of everyday life (Shaft, Sixteen Candles, Back to the Future).
Notes on Grading:
Attendance and participation are mandatory in seminars. Small seminars can be the most rewarding capstone experiences a senior can have—but that won’t happen by itself. I only lecture in seminars when it’s necessary for the sake of transition and/or immediate background (on a specific film, filmmaker, genre, or economic or social factor, for example) so the onus is on each of you to do background work on your own and prepare to hit the ground running during our Wednesday sessions. This is not a threat! Rather, it’s crucial that you know the ground rules now, so that you can gain the most possible value from the seminar.
Week-by-week maintenance.
- To make the seminar work to the best of all possible ends for everyone, you will need to do the following:
- Read and view all syllabus materials every week, in time for the Wednesday meeting;
- Prepare, in your notes, questions, comments, interpretations, insights, and (did I mention this already?) questions for every single time we meet, or the seminar periods will be useless to you (and to your poor colleagues, who can’t hold up a rigorous discussion for an entire session without your engagement!)
- Read 50-60 pages of non-assigned historical and/or critical matter each week. I’ve placed a number of historical works on Print Reserve for this course at Central (Heard) Library, including volumes from the History of the American Cinema series and Peter Biskind’s rollicking Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, which can be checked out for a couple of days at a time. Don’t feel constrained by what’s on Reserve, however. Historical works on US culture—the Vietnam conflict, for example—can be more than a little useful and are surely relevant!
- Use ACORN, the Film Literature Index, and the MLA Index (these latter two can be accessed via ACORN under “Articles and Databases”) to find other sources by film, author, director, studio, topic, etc. Keep a detailed bibliography on notecards or on your computer; from time to time I’ll ask you to share bibliographic information with your colleagues in the seminar.
- Each week, in addition to the scheduled screening, view one Recommended film, or a film of your choosing related to the film and readings that week. (see #5, below).
- Film journal (weekly):
- Buy a cheap but bulk-friendly binder, and gain access to a hole-puncher.
- For each “Recommended” film you watch, type 2-3 pages of single-spaced notes. These notes are to be freeform, but use the following questions as rules-of-thumb: What thematic, formal, aesthetic, or (?) comparisons and contrasts can be readily made between this supplemental film and the screened film for that week? Who seems to have been the intended (sub-) audience for this film? How can you tell? What connection(s) might this film have with American cultural and political currents of the moment?
- Each Wednesday, bring your binder to class and pass it on to the next person in the queue (I’ll establish one on 31 Aug). Read all the notes in the binder carefully and make annotations on the notes themselves (questions, insights, suggestions, etc.) Then, when the next Wednesday rolls around, clip your notes for that week into the binder and pass it along to the next person in the queue.
Tentative Grade Breakdown:
General participation
(discussion, maintenance work, etc.) 30%
1 short midterm paper (3-5 pp) 10%
Discussion presentation (1) 10%
Final Research Presentation/Discussion (1) 10%
Seminar research paper (15-25pp) 40%
Course Calendar:
W 24 Aug Introduction
In class: Medium Cool (Haskell Wexler 1969)
NOTE: Everyone journals on Medium Cool next week; recommendations begin next week.
SCREENING : (Mon 8/29 and Tues 8/30)
The Graduate (Mike Nichols 1967)
W 31 Aug Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint (1969)
SCREENING : (Mon 9/5 and Tues 9/6)
Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper 1969)
RECOMMENDED: Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson 1970); Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby 1972); Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn 1967), Little Big Man (Penn 1970), The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah 1969), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman 1971), MASH (Altman 1970), The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanavich 1971), The Last Movie (Hopper 1971)
W 7 Sept Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem (esp. the titular essay)
SCREENING: (Mon 9/12 and Tues 9/13)
Shaft (Gordon Parks, Sr. 1971)
RECOMMENDED: Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles 1971), Superfly (Gordon Parks, Jr. 1972), Coffy (Jack Hill 1973), Cotton Comes to Harlem (Ossie Davis 1970), Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse/Bruce Lee 1974), Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero 1968)
W 14 Sept Huey P. Newton, “In Defense of Self-Defense” and “The Correct
Handling of a Revolution” [handouts]
Tom Wolfe, “Radical Chic” [handout—TBA]
SCREENING: (Mon 9/19 and Tues 9/20)
Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese 1976)
RECOMMENDED: Mean Streets (Scorsese 1973), Straw Dogs (Peckinpah 1971), The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola 1972), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper 1974), What’s Up, Doc? (Bogdanovich 1972), The Long Goodbye (Altman 1973)
W 21 Sept Robin Wood, “The Incoherent Text,” and “The American Nightmare”
from Hollywood from Vietnam…
Norman Mailer, from Why are We In Vietnam? [handout]
SCREENING: (Mon 9/26 and Tues 9/27)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks 1977)
Note to LRC: I will supply VHS tape.
RECOMMENDED: The Stepford Wives (Bryan Forbes 1975), Sisters (Brian De Palma 1973), Klute (Alan J. Pakula 1971), Blowup (Michelangelo Antonioni, UK/US 1966), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Scorsese 1974)
W 28 Sept Erica Jong, Fear of Flying (1973)
SCREENING: (Mon 10/3 and Tues 10/4)
All the President’s Men (Pakula 1976)
RECOMMENDED: The Parallax View (Pakula 1974), The French Connection (William Friedkin 1971), The Godfather: Part II (Coppola 1974), The Conversation (Coppola 1974), The Day of the Jackal (Fred Zinnemann 1973), Network (Sidney Lumet 1976)
W 5 Oct Bernstein and Woodward, All the President’s Men (1974)
SCREENING: (Mon 10/10 and Tues 10/11)
Star Wars (George Lucas 1977—ORIGINAL ’77 RELEASE PRINT)
Note to LRC: I will supply VHS tape.
RECOMMENDED: Jaws (Steven Spielberg 1975), Duel (Spielberg 1971—made for TV), 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick 1968), King Kong (John Guillermin 1976), Saturday Night Fever (John Badham 1977), Rocky (John G. Avildsen 1976)
W 12 Oct Wood, “Papering the Cracks” from Hollywood from Vietnam …
Jimmy Carter, “Alleged Malaise” speech [handout]
SCREENING: (Mon 10/17 and Tues 10/18)
The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino 1978)
RECOMMENDED: National Lampoon’s Animal House (John Landis 1978), American Graffiti (George Lucas 1973), Coming Home (Hal Ashby 1978), Halloween (John Carpenter 1978), First Blood (Ted Kotcheff 1982), Dawn of the Dead (Romero 1978)
W 19 Oct selection from Inventing Vietnam collection [TBA]
Wood, “Two Films by Michael Cimino”
Herr, Dispatches (selection TBA)
SCREENING: (Tues 10/25 ONLY)
Private Benjamin (Howard Zieff/Nancy Meyers 1980)
RECOMMENDED: Norma Rae (Martin Ritt 1979), Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma 1980), Gloria (John Cassavetes 1980), An Unmarried Woman (Paul Mazursky 1978), Annie Hall (Woody Allen 1977), It’s Alive (Larry Cohen 1974)
W 27 Oct Robin Wood, “Images and Women”
Betty Friedan, “The Problem That Has No Name” [chap. 1 of The
Feminine Mystique—Recommended textbook/Reserve]
Katharine MacKinnon, “Sexy Girls Rape” [handout—TBA]
SCREENING: (Mon 10/31 and Tues 11/1)
Trading Places (John Landis 1983)
RECOMMENDED: Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (Joe
Layton/Richard Pryor 1982), The Brother from Another Planet (John Sayles 1984), Rocky II (Sylvester Stallone 1979), Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone 1982), 48 Hrs. (Walter Hill 1982)
W 2 Nov Alan Nadel, Flatlining on the Field of Dreams (intro and Trading Places chap.)
Ronald Reagan, “Shining City on a Hill” speech [handout]
The Reagan Administration, “Welfare Queens” statements/reporting [handout]
SCREENING: (Mon 11/7 and Tues 11/8)
Sixteen Candles (John Hughes 1984)
RECOMMENDED: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling 1982), Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks 1983), Risky Business (Paul Brickman 1983), Stripes (Ivan Reitman 1981), The Breakfast Club (Hughes 1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Hughes 1986), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven 1984)
W 9 Nov TBA [John Hughes crit?!]
Jay McInerney, excerpt from Bright Lights, Big City [handout]
SCREENING: (Mon 11/14 and Tues 11/15)
Platoon (Oliver Stone 1986)
RECOMMENDED: Apocalypse Now (Coppola 1979—ORIGINAL RELEASE VERSION), Good Morning Vietnam (Barry Levinson 1987), Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick 1987), Top Gun (Tony Scott 1986), An Officer and a Gentleman (Taylor Hackford 1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos 1985)
W 16 Nov selection from Inventing Vietnam
Tim O’Brien, from The Things They Carried (1990) [handout]
November 19-November 27: Thanksgiving Break
SCREENING: (Mon 11/28 and Tues 11/29)
Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis 1985)
RECOMMENDED: Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan 1981), The Big Chill (Kasdan 1983), Field of Dreams (Phil Alden Robinson 1989), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis 1988), Less Than Zero (Marek Kanievska 1987), Forrest Gump (Zemeckis 1994) Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne 1987), Wall Street (Oliver Stone 1987)
W 30 Nov Nadel, Flatlining, on Back to the Future
Don DeLillo, from White Noise (1984) [handout]
Fredric Jameson, “Nostalgia for the Present” [handout]
FINAL RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS:
Mon 5 Dec (during screening time—we’ll negotiate this time slot)
AND
Wed 7 Dec (classtime)
