FMS 507
Crime and Violence in American Film
Professor:
Email:
Office:
Office Hours:
Dr. Aaron Baker
Aaron.Baker@asu.edu
LL-645
By Appointment
Course Description: Crime and violence have been central elements of American cinema
throughout its history. Popular critic Roger Ebert has commented that “More than anything else,
the American movie audience loves violence.” Every year most of the top ten earning films made
by Hollywood studios involve crime and violence.
In this course we will address three primary aspects of crime and violence in American film: 1)
the limits placed upon them by the Production Code, and how and why those restrictions were
relaxed; 2) how the depiction of crime and violence in American movies conveys attitudes in our
society about their causes and the best responses to these problems; and 3) theories about the
effects on audiences of viewing crime and violence in films.
Although this course is web delivered, it is neither automated nor self-paced. You are expected
to engage in all learning tasks and attend threaded discussions in the Online Seminar.
Reading: There are two required texts that you need to buy for this class: 1) the Crime and
Violence in American Film Textbook from Pearson Publishing and 2) Walter Mosely’s novel
Devil in a Blue Dress. You can buy both either at the ASU bookstore or from an online
distributor such as Amazon.com. A few additional assigned readings (marked on the syllabus
with Bb) can be found on the Assignments page of the course Blackboard site.
Screenings: You are responsible for screening one film per lesson. Some of the films can be
streamed for free from the course website. Others you can purchase through Amazon or see them
on dvd or via streaming from Netflix or another commercial provider. The website
http://www.canistream.it/ is a good resource for finding the best deal on streaming. Public
libraries are also a good place to find many of these titles on dvd.
Academic Dishonesty: In order to avoid plagiarism, your papers must provide full citations for
all references: direct quotes, paraphrased, summaries, or borrowed ideas. While you are
encouraged to develop your thinking with your peers, you cannot use their material without
citing it. Work from other courses will not be accepted in this course without explicit, prior
permission of the professor. Allowing your writing to be copied by another student is also
considered cheating. Please review the Student Code of Conduct for complete guidelines on
academic honesty at http://www.asu.edu/studentlife/judicial/integrity.html.
Course Objectives: After taking this course, students will
1. know how the Hollywood production code impacted the representation of crime and
violence in American film.
2. understand how the outlaw hero character is central to Hollywood’s response to crime.
3. be able to analyze how representations of crime and violence relate to issues of social
difference and inequality, particularly those of race and class.
4. be able to take a position on the influence that film depictions of crime and violence have
on viewers.
GRADED WORK
Participation (100 Points): You are responsible for participating in the online seminar
discussions that take place on the eBoard. At a minimum, you should answer the questions
posted by your professor and provide classmates with constructive feedback for a minimum of
four (4) posts per lesson. All of your posts should be substantive; i.e., thoughtful, developed,
connected to the lesson topic, and more than six sentences long. These posts must keep up with
the progress of the course. Posts will be checked by 10 a.m. the day after they are due and
must be posted by that time to receive credit. You cannot, for example, post to a Lesson after
it has been completed and expect for the posts to be counted toward your participation grade.
The professor will keep track of your participation, including assessing the value of what you
bring to this interactivity. Refrain from flaming or ad hominem comments. Please be rigorous but
constructive.
Paper Proposal (50 Points): Your paper proposal should have the following topic headings: 1)
Project Description (a short summary of the significance of your project); 2) Working Thesis (the
argument you are posing in your paper); 3) Methodology (the strategy you are using to prove
your thesis); and 4) Annotated Bibliography (the primary and secondary sources you will use to
both prove and link your thesis to the field). The bibliography must include five to seven sources.
Four of them must be scholarly (no internet originated sources) and the others can be popular
(newspaper articles, interviews, etc.). The annotation should be brief and include: 1) one or two
sentences summarizing or describing the source (What are its main arguments?) and 2) one or
two sentences evaluating how it fits into your research (How will you use this source in your
research paper?).
Your proposal should be double-spaced, one-inch margins, and no more than three (3) pages.
Your grade will be based on clear and concise writing and adherence to the assignment
guidelines.
First Draft (100 Points): Your first draft should develop and present support for the thesis or
argument from your proposal. It should be double-spaced, have one-inch margins all-around, be
no less than ten (10) pages including endnotes, and follow either the Chicago or MLA Style.
Peer Editing (50 Points): You will read and comment on the first draft done by a classmate. Use
the peer editing worksheet on the Assignments page of the FMS 507 Blackboard site to give your
classmate constructive feedback on her/his essay.
Final Draft (100 Points): The final draft should reflect the comments and feedback you've
received from your professor and peer editor. It should be more than just a revision; it should
reflect substantial refining and reorganizing of your ideas. Your grade will be based on how well
you incorporate suggestions for revision, as well as the clarity and relevance of your thesis, clear
and concise writing, relevant use of sources, and adherence to the assignment guidelines. It
should be double-spaced, have one-inch margins all-around, be between twelve (12) and fifteen
(15) pages including endnotes, and follow either the Chicago or MLA Style.
Grading Scale:
A+ ..... 400 +
Points
A ..... 368 - 399 Points
A- ..... 360 - 367 Points
B+ ..... 352 - 359 Points
B ..... 328 - 351 Points
B- ..... 320 - 327 Points
C+ ..... 312 - 319 Points
C ..... 288 - 311 Points
C- …. 280 - 287 Points
D ..... 240 - 279 Points
E ..... 000 - 239 Points
LEARNING TASKS
This course is comprised of 15 lessons. Each lesson includes all or some of the following tasks:
1. Reading(s):
Assigned Reading(s) on the Topic of the Lesson.
2. Lecture:
Listen to Streaming Audio Lectures with PowerPoint Slides
3. Online
Seminar:
Answer Questions and post comments on the Electronic Bulletin Board
Lesson 01:
Readings:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
What is a crime film?
“Crime Films (Leitch, 2007) Bb;“Genre” (Pramaggiore and Wallis, 2008)
Course Introduction
Lesson 02:
Reading:
Gangster Films
"The Enemy Goes Public: Voicing the Cultural Other in the Early 1930s Talking
Gangster Film" (Munby, 1999)
Little Caesar (LeRoy, 1931)
The Gangster Film
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Lesson 03:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Discuss with Classmates
Discuss with Classmates
Criminology on Film/Film Noir
“Why They Went Bad” (Rafter, 2006) Bb and "The Death Chamber"
(Naremore, 1998)
Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
Criminology on Film/Film Noir
Online
Seminar:
Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 04:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Screening Violence
“Violence and American Cinema: Notes for an Investigation” (Slocum, 2001)
Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, 1967)
Screening Violence
Lesson 05:
Reading:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Justified Violence: The Outlaw Cop
“The Thematic Paradigm” and “The Left and Right Cycles” (Ray, 1985)
Justified Violence: The Criminal Cop in Dirty Harry
Lesson 06:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Discuss with Classmates
Discuss with Classmates
The Gangster and Film Authorship
“The Godfather Wars” (Seal, 2009) Bb;
"Godfather II A Deal Coppola Couldn’t Refuse " (Hess, 1976)
The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
The Gangster and Film Authorship: The Godfather
Discuss with Classmates
Proposal due.
Lesson 07:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Noir History
"Chinatown and Generic Transformation in Recent American Films"
(Calweti, 1995); From City of Quartz (Davis, 1990) Bb
Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
Noir History in Chinatown
Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 08:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Murder in Hollywood
“Hollywood and the Age of Reagan” (Sklar, 1994)
The Player (Altman, 1992)
Murder in Hollywood: The Player
Lesson 09:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Race and the Crime
“Nihilism in Black America” (Cornel West, 1994)
Boyz N the Hood (Singleton, 1991)
Race and Crime: Boyz N the Hood
Discuss with Classmates
Online
Seminar:
Discuss with Classmates
Lesson 10:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Devil in a Blue Dress
Devil in a Blue Dress (Walter Mosely, 1990)
Devil in a Blue Dress (Franklin, 1995)
Adapting Crime: Devil in a Blue Dress
Lesson 11:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Pulp Fiction as Posmodern Crime Film
“Pulp Friction” (Pat Dowell, 1995); From Pulp Fiction (Polan, 2000) Bb
Pulp Fiction (Tarentino, 1994)
Pulp Ficton as Postmodern Crime Film
Discuss with Classmates
Discuss with Classmates
First Draft of Essay due.
Lesson 12:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Whiteness and Crime
“The Matter of Whiteness” (Richard Dyer, 2003)
Falling Down, (Schumacher, 1993)
Whiteness and Crime: Falling Down
Lesson 13:
Reading:
Celebrating the Criminal
“The Heroes of Crime Films” (Rafter, 2006) Bb
“Brad Pitt and George Clooney, the Rough and
the Smooth: Male Costuming in Contemporary
Hollywood.” (Church Gibson, 2005)
Ocean’s Eleven (Soderbergh, 2001)
Criminal Heroes
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Discuss with Classmates
Discuss with Classmates
Peer Editing due.
Lesson 14:
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
Goodfellas and the Gangster Film
“The Society of Transgression: Goodfellas” (Casillo, 2006)
Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
Goodfellas Grangster as Transgressive Consumer
Lesson 15:
Criminal Cops
Discuss with Classmates
Reading:
Screening:
Lecture:
Online
Seminar:
"Beyond the Thin Line of Black and Blue" (Baker, 2004)
The Glass Shield (Burnett, 1994)
Criminal Cops
Discuss with Classmates
Final Draft of Essay due.