English 126: Hitchcock and the Critics
MWF 2:15-3:15 pm in Dante 220
*Film Viewing: Monday 3:30-5:30 pm in Dante 115 (attendance is mandatory)
Instructor: Lisa Manter
Office: Dante 300 Office phone: 631-4462 E-mail: lmanter@stmarys-ca.edu
Office Hours: WF 3:30-4:30 pm and Monday by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
"To speak of Alfred Hitchcock is to evoke a remarkable series of histories: the
history of cinema generally, in which Hitchcock plays an exemplary role as a
technical and stylistic innovator; a history of Hitchcock's films themselves, . . . a
history of film criticism, especially given Hitchcock's status as a primary test case for
auteur theory, which held that commercial films . . . can and should be discussed
in the same terms as were previously reserved for "art" films; a history of
contemporary film theory, understood at least in part as involving a return to more
sociological concerns after the excesses of auteurism; etc."
-- A Hitchcock Reader
The artistic career of the Master of Suspense ranges from the silent period to the seventies. The
films produced during this extensive career have won over popular audiences with their morbid
sense of humor and ability to reveal the dark side of everyday life. But his films aren't just box
office hits; they hold a special fascination for film critics as well. Hitchcock and his films have
helped shape the direction of film criticism: he's been used as a basis for the development of the
French auteur theory, he's been touted as the genius of the psychoanalytic narrative, and both
Marxist and Feminist critics find class and gender to be central motifs for the director. Each
week we will view and discuss a Hitchcock film in light of the criticism that it has generated.
Previous knowledge of film techniques and literary theory aren't necessary (though helpful) -Hitchcock will lead us to an understanding of both.
Required Texts:
Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies.
Deutelbaum, Marshall and Leland Poague, eds. A Hitchcock Reader.
Mast, Gerald, Marshall Cohen, and Leo Braudy, eds. Film Theory and Criticism. 4th ed.
Modleski, Tania. The Women Who Knew Too Much.
Zizek, Slavoj. Everything You Wanted to Know About Lacan (But Where Afraid to Ask
Hitchcock)
LEARNING OUTCOMES & GRADE BREAKDOWN:
This course is part of the Core’s Pathways to Knowledge, fulfilling the part of the Artistic
Understanding Learning Goal that asks students to analyze, interpret and critique works of art,
considering the role of formal methods and techniques, and historical contexts. As part of this
goal, students will be asked to analyze and interpret the form and meaning of selected films.
You will learn to apply discipline-based critical vocabulary and theory to explore Hitchcock’s
works, as well as learn about how these works fit into the history of film and film criticism. We
will do this in two ways: 1) by learning film techniques and film theory, and then 2) by applying
these techniques and theories as tools for analyzing and interpreting specific films.
I. 50% =Technique and Theory
Purpose: To assess your grasp of technical elements and theoretical concepts.
Short Assignments
10%
Midterm (take home)
20%
Final (in-class)
20%
Short Assignments (10%):
1)
Discussion Questions (typed)
2 issues for class debate with a discussion of quotes/scenes for each question
2)
Film Notes (handwritten)
During each viewing you will be expected to take notes on narrative and cinematic details. (N.B.
These are not expected to be neat or even readable except by you.)
3)
Miscellaneous (quizzes, responses, in-class writing)
Midterm (20%): The midterm will focus on film as a medium. What are its specific attributes? How
are various techniques used to create cinematic effects? What is the relationship between these
technological aspects and the meaning of the film? You will be asked to analyze specific scenes from
Hitchcock films.
Final (20%): This will be a two-hour, in-class exam on theoretical concepts and issues raised in the
readings, lectures, and discussion. The exam will include both short answer questions on theoretical
terminology and essay questions that require you to explore the specific implications of various
theoretical approaches as applied to the work of Hitchcock.
II. 50% = Application and Analysis
Purpose: To allow you to apply your knowledge of cinematic techniques and theory to the films.
Participation
Research Essay
20%
30%
Participation (20%): I expect active participation, which involves listening carefully to your fellow
students (C), responding sincerely to their comments (C+/B-), and contributing your own insights and
questions (B/B+). I encourage you to go beyond expectations by working to draw others into the
conversation, directing the discussion towards constructive debate, and drawing together differing threads
of discussion into a coherent argument (A-/A).
Research Essay (30%): An 8-page essay. You will be expected to develop and explore an
argument that addresses the issues of the course and incorporates one or more of the films
and one or more of the articles. More information will be given as the due date approaches.
Late Assignments, Midterms, and Essays:
Short assignments are due at the beginning of class. Midterms and essays are due by the time listed in my
box outside my door (Dante 300) on the day due.
I do not accept late assignments for any reason except excused absences. If you have a problem meeting
a deadline for the take-home midterm or the final essay, you may make arrangements with me to set an
alternate due date, as long as you notify me 48 hours they are not turned in.
You must submit a passing midterm, final essay, and final to pass the course.
Attendance: Any absence will affect your grade. More than 3 absences (either excused or unexcused)
will lower your final grade 1/3 a grade for each absence after the third (e.g. from B to B-). If you cannot
make class and you notify me beforehand (leave a message on e-mail or on my office phone), your
absence will be excused and you will be able to turn in your short assignment the next class period
without penalty.
YOU CANNOT PASS THE COURSE IF YOU MISS MORE THAN 8 DISCUSSION SECTIONS
English 126
Hitchcock and the Critics
Spring 2011
SYLLABUS:
Readings are to be completed for the day they appear on the syllabus. You will be expected to
have not only read them but to have digested them so you can discuss them intelligently in class.
In addition to reading or viewing the appropriate materials, be sure to come to class prepared
with observations, questions, and interpretive insights.
UM=Understanding Movies
HR=A Hitchcock Reader
TM=Women Who Knew Too Much
FT=Film Theory and Criticism
Z=Everything You Wanted to Know
Week 1
Monday
Feb. 7
Class Goals and Expectations
Lecture
Hitchcock and the Critics
VIEWING:North by Northwest (1959) – Dante 115 at 3:30
Wednesday
Feb 9.
Lecture
Reading:
Friday
Feb. 11
Discussion Auteur Theory & North by Northwest
Reading:
Stanley Cavell, “North by Northwest” (HR)
DUE: Discussion questions and film notes
Week 2
Monday
Feb. 14
Lecture
Reading:
The Controlling Hand -- Auteur Theory
“Introduction” (HR), pp. xi-xvii
Ch. 11: Overview, Formalist Film Theories, Auteur Theory (UM)
Andrew Sarris, “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962” (FT)
Spatial Design aka Composition
Chapter 2: Mise en Scène (UM)
VIEWING:Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Wednesday
Feb. 16
Discussion Hitchcock’s American Gothic?
Reading: James McLaughlin, “All in the Family: Alfred Hitchcock’s
Shadow of a Doubt” (HR)
Robin Wood, “Ideology, Genre, Auteur” (FT)
DUE: Discussion questions and film notes
Friday
Feb. 18
Discussion Hitchcock’s Objects
Reading: Mladen Dolar, “Hitchcock’s Objects” (Z)
Week 3
Monday
Feb. 21
Lecture
Reading:
Camera Placement & Angle OR Where’s the Camera?
Chapter 1, pp. 10-16; Ch. 2, pp. 72-77 (proxemics) (UM)
VIEWING: Notorious (1946)
Wednesday
Feb. 23
Discussion Perverting the Fairy Tale: Notorious, Structuralism & Semiotics
Reading: Gilbert Harman, “Semiotics and the Cinema” (FT)
Richard Abel, “Notorious: Perversion par Excellence” (HR)
DUE: Discussion questions and film notes
Friday
Feb. 25
Lecture
The Woman’s Film: Hitchock’s Adaptation of a Feminine Genre
Reading: Molly Haskell, “Female Stars of the 1940s” (FT)
Tania Modleski, “The Woman Who Was Known Too Much” (TM)
Week 4
Monday
Feb. 28
Lecture
Light and Shadows
Reading: Chapter 1, pp. 17-25
VIEWING:
Rebecca (1940)
Wednesday
March 2
Lecture Psychoanalytic Criticism
Reading: Robin Wood, “Male Desire, Male Anxiety: The Essential
Hitchcock” (HR)
Friday
March 4
Discussion Hitchcock and the Female Viewer
Reading: Tania Modleski, “Woman and the Labryinth” (TM)
DUE: Discussion questions and film notes
***Field trip to see The Birds at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre***
Week 5
Monday
March 7
Lecture Lacanian Psychoanalytic Criticism
VIEWING:The Birds (1963) (for those who were not able to make the field trip)
Wednesday
March 9
Discussion Suturing the Wounds of Film
Reading: William Rothman, “Against ‘The System of the Suture’” (FT)
HANDOUT: Final Essay Assignment
Friday
March 11
Discussion Difficult Mothers in Hitchcock
Reading: Margaret M. Horwitz, “The Birds: A Mother’s Love” (HR)
DUE: Discussion questions and film notes (Psycho)
Week 6
Monday
March 14
Lecture
Reading:
VIEWING:
Vertigo (1958)
The Dizzying Camera: Camera Movement
Chapter 3: Movement (UM)
REVISED SYLLABUS
Wednesday
March 16
Lecture Women Looking at Women: Feminist Film Theory
Reading: Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (FT)
DUE: Scene analysis of camera placement and movement in Vertigo
Friday
March 18
Discussion Scoping out Scopophilia
Reading: Marian E. Keane, “A Closer Look at Scopophilia: Mulvey,
Hitchcock, and Vertigo” (HR)
Patrice Petro, “Rematerializing the Vanishing “Lady” (HR)
DUE: Discussion questions and film notes
Week 7
Monday
March 21
Lecture Sound & Subjectivity: Under the influence of “expressionism”
Reading: Robin Wood, “Retrospective” (HR)
Chapter 5: Sound, all; Chapter 1, pp. 2-10 (UM)
VIEWING:
Blackmail (1929)
Wednesday
March 23
Discussion Blackmail & Historical Criticism
Reading: Leland Poague, “Criticism and/as History: Rereading Blackmail”
(HR)
DUE: Discussion questions and film notes
Friday
March 25
Discussion The Importance of the Voice in Blackmail
Reading: Tania Modleski, “Rape vs. Mans/laughter: Blackmail” (TM)
Sergei Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Alexandrov, “Statement on Sound” (FT)
DUE: Discussion questions
Week 8
Monday
March 28
Lecture
The Auteur and the Studio System: The Self-Reflexive Cinema
TAKE-HOME MIDTERM DUE by 3 pm in my office (Dante 300)
VIEWING:Rear Window (1954)
Wednesday
March 30
Lecture
Focusing In On Lenses: Caught looking!
Reading: Thomas Schatz, “The Whole Equation of Pictures” (FT)
Friday
April 1
Discussion Reflecting Back
Reading: Robert Stam and Roberta Pearson, “Hitchcock’s Rear Window:
Reflexivity and the Critique of Voyeurism” (HR)
Miran Bozovic, “The Man Behind His Own Retina” (Z) - optional
DUE: Discussion questions (include Schatz) and film notes
Week 9
Monday
Lecture Editing & Narrative: “The best way to do it is with scissors.”
April 4
BRING Understanding Movies TO CLASS
Revised Syllabus: April 8
Friday
April 8
Week 10
Monday
April 11
Discussion Bound to Be Confused: Bellour’s Chains
Reading: “Part Five: Hitchcock and Film Theory: A Psycho Dossier”(HR)
Raymond Bellour, “Psychosis, Neurosis, Perversion” I-V only(HR)
DUE: Film notes & Discussion questions
Discussion On the Rebound: Bellour’s Chains II
Reading: Raymond Bellour, “Psychosis, Neurosis, Perversion” VI-VIII (HR)
(Group work)
VIEWING:
Psycho (1960) – yes, again!
Wednesday
April 13
Discussion Breaking the Chain
Reading: Leland Poague, “Links in a Chain: Psycho and Film Classicism”
(Handout)
Barbara Klinger, “Psycho: The Institutionalization of Female
Sexuality” (Handout)
DUE: Discussion questions (Poague & Klinger)
Friday
April 15
(Handout)
Lecture & Discussion: The Role of Suture in Film Theory (“Take Two”)
Reading: Kaja Silverman, “On Suture” from The Subject of Semiotics
(Meet with Groups)
DUE: BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FINAL ESSAY
EASTER RECESS!!!
Week 11
Wednesday
April 27
Lecture & Group Discussion The Excesses of the Horror Film
Reading: Linda Williams, “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess” (FT)
Discuss first drafts with peer groups
DUE: FIRST DRAFTS (see “Final Essay” handout)
VIEWING:Frenzy (1972)
Friday
April 29
Week 12
Monday
May 2
VIEWING:
Discussion Has Hitchcock gone too far?
Tania Modleski, “Rituals of Defilement: Frenzy (TM)
DUE: Film notes and discussion questions (Williams & Modleski)
Lecture & Discussion Marxism & Murder
Reading: Frederic Jameson, “Spatial Systems in North by Northwest” (Z)
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction” (FT) - Epilogue only
The 39 Steps (1935) OR class choice
Tuesday, May 4 DUE: FINAL DRAFTS (see “Final Essay” handout) under my door.
Wednesday
May 4
Discussion Film Genres: Horror, Romance, Thriller?
Reading: Leo Braudy, “Genre: The Conventions of Connections” from The
World in a Frame (FT) (only up to Busby Berkeley section, p. 542)
Reread: Robin Wood, “Ideology, Genre, Auteur”
DUE: Discussion questions (Monday and Wednesday’s readings)
Friday
May 6
Workshopping
DUE: Workshop comments (see “Final Essay” handout)
Sign-up for optional conferences
Week 13
Monday
May 9
Workshopping
DUE: Workshop comments (see “Final Essay” handout)
VIEWING:
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Wednesday
May 11
Discussion Hitchcock’s Role in American Culture
Reading: Manthia Diawara, “Black Spectatorship: Problems of Identification
and Resistance” (FT)
Robert Stam and Louise Spence, “Colonialism, Racism, and
Representation” (FT)
Due: “Writing Back to Hitchcock” (letter or other creative form)
Thursday
May 12
DUE: REVISED FINAL ESSAY (See “Final Essay” handout for
complete description of what is due)
Friday
May 13
Lecture and discussion: Playing Games with Hitchcock
Reading: Ina Rae Hark, “Keeping Your Amateur Standing” (handout)
Optional: Thomas Leitch, “Games Hitchcock Plays” (handout)
Review for Final (Bring in questions – at least 2 typed)
In-class: writing up essay questions (Final is May 16, 2-4 pm.)