Film Studies (FILM) 403.10 L01

TOPIC IN THE DIRECTOR'S CINEMA

STEVEN SODERBERGH

Winter 2008

Screenings (Labs), Tuesdays 15:30 - 18:20

Lectures, Thursdays 15:30 - 17:20

Location: PF 126

Instructor: Lee Carruthers

Office

Location: TBA

Office Phone: TBA

E-Mail: Lee.Carruthers@ucalgary.ca

Web Page: TBA

Office Hours: BY APPOINTMENT

 

Additional Information

Viewing Requirements

This course has one weekly screening time (Tuesdays from 3:30 - 6:20 pm).

You are required to attend the screening so as to be prepared for the Thursday

class. For repeat viewings and/or close analysis, some of the films on the course

are available for rental at local video stores. These resources are not a substitute

for the scheduled screenings, but will prove helpful for completing assignments.

 

Participation Requirements

Attendance and informed participation are essential components of this course

and will help to determine your final grade. Please note that a percentage of your

grade-equal to that of the in-class quiz- is based on participation. To this end,

consistent contributions to in-class discussion are expected. This involves a

simple task to be completed on a weekly basis, as follows:

After the Tuesday screening, go to the Blackboard site to submit a brief

response to the film and/or weekly reading. There will be a general

question or prompt there, for you to consider. Your response can be a

paragraph or so in length; it should focus on a detail or raise a specific

question that you'd be willing to talk about in class. These responses are

mandatory and must be submitted by Wednesday PM (no later). They will

serve as a cue for Thursday's discussion.

 

Course Description

This course considers the films of Steven Soderbergh as a director engaged in a creative refashioning of older film traditions. Beginning with the critical acclaim of Sex, Lies and Videotape through to the commercial success of films such as Ocean's Eleven, we will identify the key stylistic and thematic preoccupations of his work from 1989 to the present. Significantly, however, this course situates Soderbergh's directorial style and achievements within the wider framework of international film history. To this end, we will view his films specifically in relation to important cinematic antecedents and/or influences, screening titles from diverse directors such as John Boorman, Richard Lester, Ken Loach, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais and Andrei Tarkovsky.

 

Objectives of the Course

This course has three main objectives:

1. Generally, to examine a range of films by director Steven Soderbergh so as to

identify the stylistic and thematic preoccupations evidenced across his work.

2. Specifically, to develop and utilize keen film-analytical skills that will allow us to

approach these films as complex, aesthetic objects.

3. Finally, to understand Soderbergh's work as reflexive and historical- that is, as

responsive to older film traditions, precedents and practices.

 

Readings

There are two sources for the course readings:

The course reader, available for purchase at the University Bookstore

On the Blackboard course webpage, under ‘Course Documents".

The location of each reading is designated below by the letters CR (Course Reader) or B (Blackboard). All readings are mandatory (unless listed as ‘Recommended'). Please note that the readings are directly tied to the tasks of the course; if you have not completed the reading you will not be able to complete the assignments.

 

Assignments and Evaluation

Grades will be determined as follows:

In-class Quiz week 4 15%

Brief Formal Analysis week 6/7 30%

Final Essay week 13 40%

Participation weekly 15%

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment.

Note: Please hand in your essays directly to your instructor if possible. If it is not possible to do so, a daytime drop box is available in SS110; a date stamp is provided for your use.

A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission. Assignments will be

removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox.

 

Registrar-scheduled Final Examination: NO

 

Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

 

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization.

Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre. Visit the website for more details: http://www.efwr.ucalgary.ca/

 

Grading System

The following grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

A+ (96-100); A (92-95); A- (86-91); B+ (81-85); B (77-80); B- (71-76);

C+ (65-70); C (62-64); C- (59-61); D+ (55-58); D (50-54); F (0-49)

 

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic

offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and

possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they

appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be

able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas

begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages

or visual media, and material taken from such sources.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you

have any questions regarding how to document sources.

 

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is

your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss

your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the

course.

 

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

 

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

 

Ethics

Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews,

observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following

university research ethics guidelines. Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research. For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see the U of C Research Ethics "Information for Applicants," sections 3.0 to 9.0, inclusive:

http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/research/html/ethics/info_undergrad.html

 

Schedule of Screenings, Lectures and Readings

UNIT ONE, Independent Cinema and the Idea of Authorship

Week 1 January 15th & 17th

Introduction

Screening sex, lies, and videotape (Soderbergh, 1989) 100 min.

Reading

Soderbergh- Bio and Overview B

John Caughie, "Introduction" in Theories of Authorship, pp. 9-16 CR

"Andrew Sarris" in Theories of Authorship, pp. 61-66 CR

Recommended:

Lisa Perrin, "Sex, Lies and Marketing: Miramax and the Development of the Quality

Indie Blockbuster". Film Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 2. (Winter, 2001-2002), pp. 30-39

Stuart Klawans et al, "Round Table: Independence and the Cinema," October, Vol. 91.

(Winter, 2000), pp. 3-23.

Week 2 January 22nd & 24th

Screening: À bout de souffle (Breathless) (Godard, 1960) 90 minutes

Reading:

Jean-Luc Godard- Bio and Overview B

David Bordwell, "Narrative Alternatives to Classical Filmmaking: À bout de souffle

(Breathless)." Excerpt from Film Art, eighth edition (New York:

McGraw Hill, 2006), pp. 397- 401 CR

Richard Raskin, "Five Explanations for the Jumpcuts in Godard's Breathless" P.O.V.,

Issue No. 6. B

Recommended:

David Bordwell, "The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing." Excerpt from Film Art, eighth

edition, pp. pp. 218-260.

5

UNIT TWO, Imitation and Inspiration: The Classical Hollywood Style

Week 3 January 29th & 31st

Screening Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) 102 minutes

Reading

Richard Maltby, "Case Study: Casablanca" in The Oxford Guide to Film Studies, edited

by John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson, Oxford UP 1998, pp 283-286. CR

David Bordwell et al, "The Classical Hollywood Style" in The Classical Hollywood

Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (New York: Columbia University

Press, 1985) pp. 3-69. CR

QUIZ PREP: LIST OF FORMAL TERMS

Week 4 February 5th & 7th

Screening The Good German (2006) 105 min.

Reading

Robert P. Kolker, "The Film Text and Film Form." In The Oxford Guide to Film Studies,

edited by John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson, Oxford UP 1998, pp. 11-22. CR

"Degraded Dupes, Steven Soderbergh." B

See http:// www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49360

IN-CLASS QUIZ: formal terms

Week 5 February 12th & 14th

Screening Criss Cross (Siodmak, 1949) 88 minutes

Reading

Robert Siodmak- Bio and Overview

Foster Hirsch, "The Crazy Mirror: Noir Stylistics," in Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen

(New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., Ltd., 1981), pp. 71-111. B

>>> READING WEEK <<<

Week 6 February 26th & 28th

Screening The Underneath (Soderbergh, 1995) 99 minutes

Reading NO READING: IN-CLASS FORMAL ANALYSIS (SUBMIT NEXT WEEK)

6

UNIT THREE, Cinematic Time Travel: Appropriating Art Cinema Stylistics

Week 7 March 4th & 6th

Screening Hiroshima, Mon Amour (Resnais, 1959) 90 minutes

Reading

Jim Hillier (ed.), "Hiroshima, notre amour." In Cahiers du Cinéma: the 1950s

(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U.P. 1985), pp. 59-70. CR

David Bordwell, "Authorship and narration in art cinema". In Film and Authorship,

edited by Virginia Wright Wexman (New Jersey: Rutgers U.P., 2003), pp. 42-49. B

Week 8 March 11th & 13th

Screening The Limey (Soderbergh, 1999) 89 minutes

Reading

Maureen Turim, "Definition and Theory of the Flashback." In Flashbacks in Film:

Memory and History (London & New York, Routledge, 1989), pp 1-20. CR

Recommended:

Maureen Turim, "Disjunction in the Modernist Flashback", pp.189-246

Week 9 March 18th & 20th

Screening Petulia (Richard Lester, 1968) 105 minutes

Reading

Richard Lester- Bio and Overview B

David Bordwell, "Narration and Time" in Narration and the Fiction Film (University of

Wisconsin Press, 1985), pp. 74-98 CR

Week 10 March 25th & 27th

Screening Solaris (Soderbergh, 2002) 99 min.

Reading

Gilles Deleuze, "Sheets of Present and Peaks of Past: fourth commentary on Bergson."

From Cinema 2: The Time-Image, translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Robert Galeta,

(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985) pp. 98-125. CR

7

Week 11 April 1st & 3rd

Screening Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972), 169min.

Reading

Tarkovsky- Bio and Overview B

Petr Kral, "Tarkovsky, or the burning house, " translated by Kevin Windle.

See http://www.screeningthepast/classics/c10301/pkc112.htm B

UNIT FOUR, Reinventing Genre: The ‘New' Heist Film

Week 12 April 8th & 10th

Screening Ocean's Eleven (2001) 116 minutes

Reading

Fred Jameson, Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (excerpt).

(Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1991). B

Linda Hutcheon, "Irony, Nostalgia and the Postmodern". University of Toronto, 1998. B

Week 13 April 15th & 17th

Screening Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955) 122 min.

Reading

Noel Carroll, "The Future of Allusion" Hollywood in the Seventies (and Beyond)."

October, Vol. 20, Spring 1982, pp. 51-81. B

T.S. Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent." From The Sacred Wood (London:

Methuan and Co., 1920). B

Michael Sragow,"Jules Dassin's Rififi." Capsule from The New York Times, September

16, 2000 B