North Seattle Community College
Integrated Studies Application for New Program
Fall 2011 program applications due Monday, December 13th, 2011
BASIC COURSE INFORMATION
1. Program/Linked Course Title: Madness in Movies: Abnormal Psychology in American Film
2. Proposed Quarter/Year: We are flexible with our scheduling. Our order of preference:
1st choice: Fall 2011
2nd Choice: Spring 2012
3rd Choice: Winter 2012
3. Number of Credits: 10-12
4. Proposed meeting times and days of week: We are somewhat flexible with our times/days.
Our order of preference:
1st choice: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 am- 2:20 pm in CC2153
2nd choice: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10:00 a.m. – 1:20 p.m. in CC 2153
5. Name(s) of Faculty and Divisions:
Brian Holt, Psychology
JC Clapp, English/Humanities
6. Course Abbreviations & Numbers and Course Names:
Students would register for 10 credits of the following (any two of the below courses, for a total
of 10 credits):

ENGL& 102: Composition (5 credits) OR

HUM 110: Introduction to American Film (5 credits) OR

PSYC& 220: Abnormal Psychology (5 credits) OR
Optional 2-credit courses students may choose to also register for:

ENGL& 299: Special Topics in English (2 credits)

PSYC 298: Special Problems in Psychology (2 credits)
Is there a prerequisite for any of your courses? If so, please note:
ENGL& 102 has a prerequisite of a passing grade in ENGL& 101 – we require that all
students enrolling in this program have passed ENGL& 101, regardless of which courses
they are registered for, since we will be expecting ENGL&102 level work.
7. What degree requirements does your course meet?
Composition (ENGL& 102)
U.S. Cultures (HUM 110) – note that the application for the US Cultures designation for
HUM 110 is completed, but the US Cultures subcommittee of CAS is not currently
accepting new applications until after a formal review of the courses currently carrying
the designation is complete. We are prepared and hoping to submit our application to
the subcommittee in time to have the designation by Fall 2011, but we are at the mercy
of the subcommittee’s timeline.
Visual, Literary, and Performing Arts (HUM 110)
Individuals, Cultures, and Societies (PSYC& 220)
Integrated Studies
8. Possible audience and reason to offer this course?
This course would be in high demand for several reasons. There are two fully enrolled sections
of HUM 110 taught each quarter. ENGL& 102 is in demand, as well, and the HUM 110 course
will possibly have the U.S. Cultures designation, which makes it an appealing VLPA course.
PSYC& 220, ENGL& 102, and HUM 110 all fill when offered as stand-alone courses, and we
believe that this particular combination would give many students the exact mix of courses
they need.
9. In what ways will your proposed program speak to IS year-long theme(s)?
Narrative theme: Films tell stories.
The stories we tell ourselves through films reflect and inform our cultural values, and when we
look closely at how “other” is constructed in American films in terms of “normal” and
“abnormal” psychology, we discover what we are afraid of and how we project our fears onto
classes people. In this course we will be analyzing how we tell stories (primarily through the
medium of film) about “crazy” people and how and why films capture the “madman” the way
they do. Throughout this course, then, we will look at the behaviors, theories and causes of
mental disorders and the legal and ethical considerations associated with intervention. There
will be an emphasis on ethical issues of diagnosis and treatment and major diagnostic
categories, specifically in classes of people often marginalized. We will study the language of
film by looking at film technique, film structure (narrative structure), and how specific films
have shaped American perceptions of what’s considered “normal” psychological behavior.
10. You might also want to consider specific elements of the Committee Rubric for Evaluating
New Programs. Some of these include bringing new disciplines and faculty into our program
offerings and providing mentoring for new faculty with experienced IS faculty.
We are bringing a new course, Abnormal Psychology, as well as a new faculty member, Brian
Holt, into an Integrated Studies program, and since JC Clapp has taught several Coordinated
Studies courses, there would be mentoring experience for Brian. We provide five different
degree requirement options (Composition, VLPA, ICS, US Cultures (possibly), and IS). As noted
above, the US Cultures paperwork is going to be given to the US Cultures subcommittee of CAS
during November 2010, so the process is underway to be approved well in advance of Fall
2011. All of the courses in this new program have a strong enrollment history and strong
student demand.
CURRICULUM DESIGN
1. What is the public issue or central question your course is addressing from its
disciplinary perspectives?
We will be analyzing how stories are told (primarily through the medium of film) that
use characters with psychological disorders and behaviors. This will include how and
why films capture the “madman” the way they do, while also looking at how American
Hollywood film-making is an art form, a business, and an influence on culture (with a
particular ideological perspective).
2. What learning outcomes will you cover in your course (both essential learning
outcomes, ELOs, and individual class outcomes)? How will students’ learning be
assessed? Please name the specific ELOs your course will address and beneath each of
these list the specific individual class outcomes that most pertain to that ELO and the
methods of assessment you will use for these outcomes.
ELO -- Knowledge: Facts, theories, perspectives, and methodologies within the discipline
The specific outcomes of PSYC&220 that will address this ELO are:
1. To understand the history, attitudes and treatment toward those labeled with
mental disorders.
2. To understand the definitions, descriptions, theories, causes and treatments of
the disorders covered in this class.
3. With respect to the population of people labeled mentally disordered, apply
what is learned in the class to one’s personal attitudes and behaviors
4. To think critically in reading, writing and listening.
5. To understand the nature of the individual and of the relationship between the
self and the community.
These outcomes will be assessed through the use of exams and written assignments.
ELO -- Intellectual and Practical Skills: Communication and Self-expression
The specific outcomes of ENGL&102 that will address this ELO are:
1. To read critically in order to analyze, discuss, evaluate and respond to texts.
2. To write in order to discover the meanings in texts of others.
3. To write in order to discover one’s own ideas in relation to the texts of others.
4. To develop the skills of writing to communicate ideas to a particular audience. In
this class, that will include other students as well as the teachers.
5. To paraphrase, quote, and cite sources according to conventional MLA form, and
to integrate source materials smoothly into their own words in order to add
support and emphasis to their own writing.
6. To produce writing that has been revised, edited, and proofread, and to submit
the work on time.
7. To continue developing one’s voice as a writer.
8. To conduct limited, focused research and evaluate sources and information.
These outcomes will be assessed by assigning seminar papers, essays, and in-class
writing.
ELO -- Personal and Social Responsibility: Intercultural knowledge and competence
The specific outcomes of HUM 110 that will address this ELO are:
1. Gives students the opportunity to explore the role of film in expressing and
reflecting all aspects of human experience.
2. Introduces the history of the medium and the classics of the art form.
3. Teaches visual communication techniques.
4. Provides critical thinking tools.
5. Gives students the opportunity to explore the role of motion pictures in their
lives and on American Society.
6. Connects the communications medium of film with the philosophies and historic
events which shape America and the world.
7. Provides the intellectual framework to study the contributions of diverse film
makers.
8. Studies the role of ethnically and culturally diverse creators in their communities
and society at large.
These outcomes will be assessed through the use of in-class discussions, film scene
analyses, and short reaction papers.
3. How will your students meet the interdisciplinary outcome for this course?
An issue of interdisciplinary importance is where story telling and psychological
disorders intersect: Most people get their information about Abnormal Psychology
through films. By joining these disciplines, we get to learn about the construction and
narrative within film-making using abnormal psychology as the context. This leads to
students learning how film-making uses accurate as well as inaccurate information
about psychological disorders and behaviors to tell a story. This requires understanding
what psychologists mean by “normal” and abnormal”, as well as learning about
prevalence, causes and treatments of psychological disorders.
But there are deeper consequences to joining these disciplines: students will get to
evaluate their own perceptions of abnormality, to recognize that story telling often uses
extreme examples to make a point, that culturally the concept of a dangerous, shadow
figure (the “bogeyman”) can be projected onto characters and by extension real people,
that cultural values influence perceptions of what motivates a person to act, and to
what degree a person's choices is intentional or not.
Finally, a related issue is the extent to which people use film for self-definition and selfdifferentiation (from others). When a movie portrays something or someone as “crazy”,
does it reinforce the viewer's tendency to exaggerate minor differences between self
and other, between the cultural “us” and “them”? Or on the other hand do these
caricatures in film help viewers keep at arm’s length or in the abstract similarities
between people and cultures, which in the end prevent overcoming of differences?
Describe a fairly central interdisciplinary assignment you will develop for your course.
Explain how the assignment will be assessed.
We intend to have all of our assignments overlap and integrate as much as possible. An
example of the kind of assignment we are planning:
Students will critically analyze and evaluate a film character portrayed with a mental
illness. Students will consider the following types of questions in this critical evaluation:







Applying the diagnostic criteria provided in the DSM-IV or our Psychology
textbook, what is the mental disorder that the film character seems to be
experiencing? Use specific examples from the film to illustrate and explain your
diagnosis.
In what ways does this character behave on screen like a typical, real-world
person dealing with the disorder? In what ways does this character differ from a
typical, real-world case? Provide detailed examples from the film to illustrate
your assessment of how the character is/isn’t portrayed accurately/realistically.
Who is the target audience for the film you chose? Why is this character
appealing to the target audience? Why would the character have been crafted
this way by the film’s director? If the film/character works on more than one
target audience, why and how?
Analyze how the film director uses specific filmmaking considerations to
communicate to the audience that the character is mentally ill (outside of how
the character behaves, how is the character presented?). Discuss how the mise
en scene (setting, casting, costuming, makeup, lighting, composition, use of
space), cinematography (camera perspective, depth of field, visual effects),
editing, and sound (dialogue, sound effects, music) all contribute to how the
character is perceived or “read” by the audience.
What alterations would need to be made by the director to create a more
accurate mentally ill character, based on what you know about abnormal
psychology? What would be lost by making those changes? What might be
gained?
Films are cultural texts that are situated in particular cultural, historical and
economic contexts. How does this particular film and this particular character
reflect and inform the contexts in which it was created?
What messages does this character send about “crazy” people? What social
fears or anxieties might this character be used to assuage? What fears does the
character reinforce? Subvert?
Students will be assessed according to a pre-established rubric that will be attached to
the assignment.
4. List possible texts and online resources for your course.
This table shows the films we are considering having students view while we’re working on
the various filmmaking and psychology topics. There will be excerpts of other films shown in
class, as well. These films were chosen not only to illustrate various psychiatric conditions
(and to allow us to discuss how they are presented), but also for their genre and filmmaking
techniques. We attempted to choose films from various genres, directors, and time periods.
Filmmaking Considerations,
Theme, Topic
Significance of Film Form
(and Introduction to Film
Analysis): brief overview of
studio system, filmmaking,
film production, Form vs.
Content, Conventions, Motif,
Parallels, Structure
Narrative as a Formal
System: Parts of Narrative,
Plot vs. Story (syuzhet vs.
fabula), motivation,
exposition, narration, time,
diegetic vs. nondiegetic
elements
The Shot: Mise en Scene:
setting, the human figure
(casting, acting style,
costuming, makeup, props),
lighting, composition,
staging, movement, balance,
use of space
Film, Year, Director &
Genre
The Shot: Cinematography:
camerawork and camera
placement (slow/fast
motion, camera height,
angle (perspective) and
distance), length of take,
lenses, filters, focal length,
depth of field, film stock,
visual effects, computergeneration, post-production
The Relation of Shot to Shot:
Editing: graphic, rhythmic,
spatial, and temporal
relationships, continuity
editing, crosscutting, tempo,
editing and space/time,
eyeline match, shot
transitions
American Beauty (1999)
Sam Mendes – Family
Drama
Psychiatric Condition or
Topic
Normal vs. Abnormal
Functional vs. Nonfunctional
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Ron Howard – Bio-Drama
Schizophrenia
Citizen Kane (1941) Orson
Welles – Classic Hollywood
Narcissism
Memento (2000)
Christopher Nolan –
Drama/Mystery
Amnesia
The Shining (1980) Stanley
Kubrick -- Thriller
The Godfather (1972)
Francis Ford Coppola –
Gangster Film
Personality Disorders:
Antisocial/psychopath/
sociopath
Personality Disorders:
Antisocial/psychopath/
sociopath
The Silence of the Lambs
(1991) Jonathan Demme -Thriller
Personality Disorders:
Antisocial/psychopath/
sociopath
Taxi Driver (1976) Martin
Scorsese -- Thriller
Personality Disorder:
Paranoid
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Adrian Lyne – Family Drama
Personality Disorder:
Borderline
Psycho (1960) Alfred
Hitchcock – Classic Horror
Dissociative Identity Disorder
(Multiple Personality)
Sound in Cinema: dialogue
(text, volume, pitch, acoustic
qualities, voice-overs), sound
effects (functions and
characteristics), music
(patterns, lyrics, tempo,
volume, instrumentation,
cultural significance)
Documentary, Avant-garde,
Experimental, and Animated
Films: documentary form,
surrealist cinema, animation
Post Traumatic Stress
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Steven Spielberg – War Film Disorder
Film Genres: defining and
analyzing genre, major
American genres (Western,
Film Noir, Action/Adventure,
Science Fiction, Musical,
Drama, Comedy,
Horror/Crime Thriller),
aesthetics, genres as
culturally responsive
artifacts
Film Ideology and Critical
Analysis: race, class, gender,
sexuality, disability,
censorship, rating systems,
stardom, economics
Unforgiven (1992) Clint
Eastwood -- Western
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Spike Lee – Dark
Comedy/Cultural Criticism
Effects of stress and other
environmental (cultural)
factors on behavior
Toy Story (1995) John
Lasseter -- Animated
Diagnosing and treating
abnormal behavior in
children
Case Studies
Aileen: Life and Death of a
Serial Killer (2002) Nick
Broomfield & Joan Churchill
-- Documentary
Case Studies
Case Studies
12 Monkeys (1995) Terry
Gilliam – Science Fiction
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Ridley Scott – focus on
portrayals of women
Stress & Suicide
The Hours (2002) Stephen
Major Depression & Suicide
Daldry – focus on portrayals
of women
We’ll also be using several texts to support the class:
Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology by Ronald J. Comer. Publisher:
Worth Publishers; 5th edition (January 16, 2007)
Film Art: An Introduction by David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson. Publisher: McGraw Hill; 9th
edition (2010)
Fight Club: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk (2005)
MARKETING SUPPORT
1. Provide a description (maximum 60 words) for the quarterly class schedule which can also
be used in any marketing copy:
What does Hannibal Lecter have in common with the Green River Killer? Did A Beautiful
Mind capture schizophrenia? Why has Hitchcock’s Psycho stood the test of time? Does it
help a story for an antagonist to have a psychological disorder? “Madness in Movies”
seeks students who are interested in filmmaking and abnormal psychology and how the
intersection of the two reveal what we believe about ourselves.
Signatures of Faculty and Dean(s) from each division involved:
Signature of faculty
Date
Signature of Faculty
Date
Date
Signature of Faculty
Date
Signature of Faculty
Signature of Dean
Date
Signature of Dean
Date
Signature of Dean
Date
Signature of Dean
Date
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Committee use only:
Approved _____________________________________
Date______________
Not Approved____________
Comments:
Signature of IS Subcommittee Chair
______________________________________________________________________________
________________
Name of IS Subcommittee
Chair_________________________________________________________________________
________________________________
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