Texas A&M - Central Texas
ENGK 341 Religion and Film
Fall 2014
Instructor:
Office:
Phone:
Email:
Office Hours:
Dr. Allen H. Redmon
Associate Professor of English
Founder’s Hall, 217-P
254.519.5750
allen.redmon@tamuct.edu
By appointment. The best way to contact me is through my
TAMUCT email account. Messages sent to my TAMUCT account
will usually receive a response within 24 hours if not much sooner.
Phone calls will be returned within one week. Emails sent through
Blackboard will not normally receive a response.
To access online components of this course,
1) Visit https://tamuct.blackboard.com/webapps/login/
2) Enter your user name and password
3) Find our course
This is not an online course; however, some materials and some assignments may be
moved to Blackboard. Should some part of our course work best online, we may even
move entire class sessions online. Online sessions will be announced at least one class
before they occur.
UNILERT
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quickly via email and text message. By enrolling in UNILERT, university officials can
quickly pass on safety-related information, regardless of your location. Please enroll
today at TAMUCT.org/UNILERT
To access our online components, please visit the following link
(http://tamuct.blackboard.edu); click, “Course Log-In”; enter your username and
password; and, find our course.
NOTE: If you are logging in the first time, your username is your university email
address (name@go.tarleton.edu) and your password is your university ID (UID). If you
do not have login credentials for Blackboard (i.e. a username and password) you must
resolve this immediately. No one—including your instructor—can do this for you. You
will need to contact the good folks in our IT department.
Course Description
This course explores cultural and historical contexts through film. The course utilizes
insights from cultural studies, a field that considers the ways in which cultural
expressions are constructed, religious studies, a field that studies the varied
manifestations of religious beliefs and behaviors within human culture, and, lastly, film
studies, a field that investigates the formal strategies moving pictures employ to realize a
host of meanings. Prerequisite: Freshman Comp I and II.
Learning Objectives of Course
Students who successfully complete this course will have…
 Listed the particular interests of cultural, religious, and film studies
 Utilized the central concepts of these fields to investigate film
 Demonstrated the ways in which cultural artifacts like film remain open for
negotiation
 Differentiated a range of religious functions of film from more general
meanings
 Appraised a particular set of films according to the arguments introduced in
our readings and discussions
 Written an effective essay equally informed by the priorities of cultural,
religious, and film studies
Required Textbooks
Lyden, John C. Film as Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals. New York: New York
University Press, 2003. Print.
Technology Requirements
This class will have some online components. As such, you will need reliable and
regular access to a computer and the Internet.
Blackboard supports the most common operating systems:
PC: Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000,
Mac: Mac OS 10.6 “Snow Leopard®”, Mac OS 10.5 “Leopard®”, Mac OS 10.4
“Tiger®”
Check browser and computer compatibility by following the “Browser Check” link on
the TAMU-CTBlackboard logon page. (http://tamuct.blackboard.com) This is a
CRITICAL step as these settings are important for trying to see online components.
For technological or computer issues, students should contact the TAMU-CT
Blackboard Support Services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:
Support Portal: http://www.ct.tamus.edu/bbsupport
Online chat (through the support portal at: http://www.ct.tamus.edu/bbsupport)
Phone: (855)-661-7965
For issues related to course content and requirements, contact your instructor.
Technology issues are not an excuse for missing a course requirement – make sure your
computer is configured correctly and address issues well in advance of deadlines.
Course Calendar
The anticipated activities for each class are as follows:
Aug 25
Introductions
Aug 27
Noah (2014)
Sept 3
Chapter 1 and 2
Sept 8
The Lego Movie (2014)
Sept 10
Chapter 3
Sept 15
Chapter 4
Sept 17
Day of Wrath (1943)
Sept 22
Chapter 5; Takva: Man’s Fear of God (2006)
Sept 24
Chapter 6 and 7
Sept 29
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Oct 1
Chapter 8 and 9
Oct 6
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Oct 8
Chapter 10: E.T. (1982)
Oct 13
Chapter 11: T2 (1991)
Oct 15
Chapter 12: The Shining (1980)
The anticipated due dates for the six essay assignments this course will assign are as
follows (all essay assignments will be submitted over email and will be due before 6am
on the date listed):
Sept 2
Opening Response
Sept 10
Religious Response
Sept 24
Interreligious Response
Oct 1
Negotiating Heroism
Oct 8
Negotiating Experience
Oct 18
Comprehensive Exam
This schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the professor. All changes will be
announced in class. Students who miss class will need to contact their professor before
the next class to see if a schedule revision has occurred. Failure to hear a schedule change
does not excuse one from the implications of that change.
Assignments
This course will have three types of essay assignments: response essays, negotiation
essays, and a comprehensive essay.
1. Response Essays:
Response essays will be prompt-based essays that ask you to respond to one
particular film (or films in the case of the last response essay). The “opening
response” will respond to Noah; the “religious response” will respond to The Lego
Movie; the “interreligious response will respond to Day of Wrath and Takva. The
prompts and expectations for each response essay will be distributed during the
class in which we watch the assigned film. Each response essay is worth 10% of
your final grade.
2. Negotiation Essays:
Negotiation essays will also be prompt-based essays that ask you to respond to
one particular film while being mindful of Lyden’s arguments. The “Negotiating
Heroism” essay will consider Miller’s Crossing in relation to chapters 6 and 7
most specifically (and chapters 1-5 more generally); The “Negotiating
Experience” essay will consider Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in relation
to chapters 8 and 9 (and, again, more generally, 1-5). The prompts and
expectations for each negotiation essay will be distributed during the class in
which we watch the assigned film. Each negotiation essay is worth 20% of your
final grade.
3. Comprehensive Exam Essay:
The comprehensive essay will be a prompt-based essay that asks you to apply the
insights of the semester to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. The prompts and
expectations for this assignment will be distributed during the class in which we
watch The Shining. The comprehensive exam is worth 30% of your final grade.
All essays should be formatted according to the expectations of MLA (see this link if you
have questions about format—https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/).
Grading Rubric and Conversion
Each assignment will be weighed as follows:
Opening Response Essay
10%
Religious Response Essay
10%
Interreligious Response Essay
10%
Negotiating Heroism Essay
20%
Negotiating Experience Essay
20%
Comprehensive Exam Essay
30%
TOTAL
100%
Final grades will be computed according to the following scale:
A= 90%
B= 80%
C= 70%
D= 60%
F= 59% or less
Students will earn the letter grade their percentage designates. 89%, for instance, is a B.
Please take every assignment seriously to avoid the frustration of just missing a grade.
Late Work
Late work will not be accepted in this class. All assignments are due at 6am on the day
they are due. An assignment that arrives at or after 6:01 is late. Late assignments will
forfeit all formal credit.
Drop Policy
If you discover that you need to drop this class, you must go to the Records Office and
ask for the necessary paperwork. Professors cannot drop students. The Records Office
will provide a deadline by which the form must be returned, completed and signed. Once
you return the signed form to the Records Office and wait 24 hours, you must go into
Duck Trax and confirm that you are no longer enrolled. Should you still be enrolled,
please follow-up with the records office immediately. You are to attend class until the
procedure is complete to avoid penalty for absence. Should you miss the deadline or fail
to follow the procedure, you will receive an F in the course.
Incomplete Policy
In some instances, life altering events occur after the drop deadline has passed. The
majority of the class is complete, but the last assignment or two cannot be completed due
to an unexpected occurrence. Should you find yourself in such a situation after the drop
date, please see your instructor immediately to see if an incomplete is possible.
Academic Integrity
Texas A&M University - Central Texas expects all students to maintain high standards of
personal and scholarly conduct. Students found responsible of academic dishonesty are
subject to disciplinary action. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to,
cheating on an examination or other academic work, plagiarism, collusion, and the abuse
of resource materials. The faculty member is responsible for initiating action for each
case of academic dishonesty and report the incident to the Associate Director of Student
Conduct. More information can be found
at http://www.tamuct.edu/departments/studentconduct/facultyresources.php.
Should you compromise your academic integrity in any of the above mentioned ways,
you will forfeit all formal credit on that assignment. A second instance of academic
dishonesty will result in the automatic failure of the course. All instances of academic
dishonesty will be reported to the appropriate offices.
Disability Support Services
If you have or believe you have a disability and wish to self-identify, you can do so by
providing documentation to the Disability Support Coordinator. Students are encouraged
to seek information about accommodations to help assure success in their courses. Please
contact Vanessa Snyder at (254) 501-5836 or visit Founder's Hall 114. Additional
information at http://www.tamuct.edu/departments/disabilitysupport/index.php.
Tutoring
Tutoring is available to all TAMUCT students, both on-campus and online. Subjects
tutored include Accounting, Finance, Statistics, Mathematics, and Writing (APA). Tutors
are available at the Tutoring Center in Founder's Hall, Room 204, and also in the Library
in the North Building. Visit www.ct.tamus.edu/AcademicSupport and click "Tutoring
Support" for tutor schedules and contact info. If you have questions, need to schedule a
tutoring session, or if you're interested in becoming a tutor, contact Academic Support
Programs at 254-501-5830 or by emailing cecilia.morales@ct.tamus.edu.
Chat live with a tutor 24/7 for almost any subject on your computer! Tutor.com is an
online tutoring platform that enables TAMU-CT students to log-in and receive FREE
online tutoring and writing support. This tool provides tutoring in Mathematics, Writing,
Career Writing, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Spanish, Calculus, and Statistics. To access
Tutor.com, click onwww.tutor.com/tamuct.
Library Services
Information literacy focuses on research skills which prepare individuals to live and
work in an information-centered society. Librarians will work with students in the
development of critical reasoning, ethical use of information, and the appropriate use of
secondary research techniques. Help may include, yet is not limited to: exploration of
information resources such as library collections and services, identification of subject
databases and scholarly journals, and execution of effective search strategies. Library
Resources are outlined and accessed at:
http://www.ct.tamus.edu/departments/library/index.php
Professor reserves the right to amend this syllabus at any time