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American Studies
Spring, 2013
rockland@rci.rutgers.edu
Professor Michael Rockland
732-932-9179
Office hrs. Mondays 10-10:45
12:15-3:45
THE NEXUS OF LITERATURE AND FILM
A definition of a pseudo-intellectual: someone who always
says, "The book was better than the movie."
A problem in most academic film courses is that they are often taught exactly like literature
courses, with films examined as if they were merely another form of literature. But film is not
literature. Literature is little black things called words appearing on somewhat larger white
things called pages. Film is primarily visual. It is probably as close if not closer to painting as to
literature. Apples and oranges would not sufficiently describe the difference between film and
literature because apples and oranges are both fruit. To eternally say, "The book was better than
the movie" is to reveal antiquarian snobbery towards newer art forms and to betray a certain
ignorance of both literature and film.
Nevertheless, film and literature do influence and inform one another. And they do overlap and
intersect. This course concerns itself with that place where they overlap and intersect. To reduce
it to one word, this course is about issues in adaptation, usually literature to film but sometimes
the other way around.
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COURSE LEARNING GOALS
1.To discover the inter-relationships between literature and film, between print culture and visual
culture.
2. To realize that adaptation (usually literature to film, but sometimes the other way around) is a
form of translation and can never be , nor should it be, exact.
3. To consider other forms of such “translation,” such as stage performance to screen and to
understand the vital difference between stage acting and screen acting.
4. To grapple with issues of point of view in literature, stage, and on screen (both film and
television. For example, it could be argued that, in film, point of view is always dictated by
the camera itself
5. To look at screenwriting as an art form separate from other literature and as a mere “blueprint”
for a film. Thus literature or theatre much be “cracked” for its essence in creating a filmscript,
but the film itself often varies appreciably from its script because it is the director who is
“writing” the film and, also, this is true not just because film is visual. Thus there are a series
of translations in making a film.
6. As in every American Studies course, I am eager for you to learn to express yourself with ease,
grace, force, and in a succinct manner—both verbally and in the writing of your papers. Think
of these papers as editorials. Argue for your point of view and support your point of view with
close attention to the materials we are dealing with for each week.
BOOKS (available in Downtown Barnes and Noble and Douglass B & N Bookstores)
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Nathaniel Hawthorne
John Irving
Joseph Conrad
David Mamet
William Shakespeare
Henry James
Anna Quindlen
The Scarlet Letter 0-451-51652-4
My Movie Business 0-345-44-130-3
Heart of Darkness 10-0-486-264-645
Oleana 0-8222-1343-5
Romeo and Juliet 0-553-21305-9
The Turn of the Screw 0-486-26684-2
One True Thing 0-440-22103X
Note: The law requires me to list ISBN numbers of particular editions. But in our course I do not
care what edition you obtain as long as it is not abridged. I also would encourage you to seek out
books on line from Amazon, Abebooks, or Alibris. Some of our books may be available much
more cheaply on line, especially if you save shipping costs by ordering them, as best you can,
from the same service.
ADDITIONAL READINGS
I have placed on electronic reserve all the other readings for this course. This saves you the
xeroxing and permissions costs, which would have been considerable. These readings include
everything from short essays through complete film scripts. As you look at the syllabus, any item
to be read other than the seven works listed above is on electronic reserve. These readings are
quite as important, in some cases more so, than the seven books to be purchased. Please go on
line and print these works out for yourself as a packet and make sure they are with you when
they are to come up in class. This goes for the books too.
To access the readings on electronic reserve, go on the web, access Rutgers, access the Rutgers
libraries, access reserves and connect to it, then enter my name, Rockland, and go to our
course. Be careful: I am teaching another course this semester which also has a long electronic
readings list. Be sure to print out the one for our seminar.
FILMS
A number of short films will be screened in class. Most films, however, will be seen before
class in the new media room of the Douglass Library. These films will be placed on reserve for
two weeks before their discussion date in class and you will watch them on video monitors
(unless you prefer to rent them and see them privately). Virtually all of the feature films are also
available for rental in video stores or from services such as Netflix. You may wish to watch the
films with a friend from the seminar or even make something of a party out of seeing one or
more of the films. In any case, I list below the ample hours of the media room. It is easy to see
the films; the media room is open some 80 hours per week.
Films to be seen before class are indicated in the syllabus with an asterisk (*).
SYLLABUS
Wed. Jan. 23 FILM AND REALITY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
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read: Notes on David Holzman’s Diary
film: David Holzman’s Diary (no asterisk, therefore to be seen in class)
Wed.. Jan. 30
FILM TO LITERATURE: WHEN THE INFLUENCE GOES THE
OTHER WAY
read: script from Four Days on Big City Waters by Charles Woolfolk and
Michael Rockland; “Up the Creek to Manhattan” in New Jersey Monthly and
"Up the Creek to Manhattan" from Snowshoeing Through Sewers by Michael
Rockland
film: Three Days on Big City Waters (again, no asterisk, so to be seen
in class).
Tues. Feb.6
THE NEXUS OF FILM AND LITERATURE: POINT OF VIEW
read: "The Literature/Screen Debate: An Overview," from In Screening the
Novel: The Theory and Practice of Literary Dramatization by Robert Giddings;
"Turning Books into Films: Expert Advice," from the PEN Newsletter; "The
Creative Group," ch. XII in The Art of the Motion Picture, by Jean Benoit-Levy;
"How Films Are Made," by Rene Clair; "Literary Technique and Film
Technique," ch. 4 in Literature and Film, by Robert Richardson; "That Was no
Lady: Pilfering Literature," by Jesse Green, New York Times May 11, 1997; and
“Two Distinct Arts,” by Antonio DiFranco.
film: The Lady in the Lake
(partial screening in class)
Wed. Feb.13 NOVEL TO FILM I
read: My Movie Business: A Memoir, by John Irving
film: The Cider House Rules (*) (reminder: asterisk means to be seen
outside of class.)
Wed. Feb. 20 NOVEL TO FILM II
read: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
film: (*) The Scarlet Letter
NOTE: Those who have not read The Scarlet Letter before are to see the
movie first, read the novel afterwards; those who have read the novel
before are to read it again and then see this particular version of the
movie (the contemporary, Demi Moore/Gary Oldman version only).
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Wed. Feb. 27 SHORT STORIES TO FILM
read: "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge," by Ambrose Bierce; "The
Swimmer," by John Cheever
films: a short story to a short film: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (*) and
a short story to a feature film: The Swimmer (*)
Wed. March 6 NOVEL TO FILM III:
read:
excerpt from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (chapters 28-30)
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film: The Grapes of Wrath (*) and in class part of a filmed version of the play
Wed.. March 13
NOVELA TO FILM: AFRICA IN VIET NAM
read: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
films: Apocalypse Now (*) and Hearts of Darkness (*)
SPRING BREAK
Wed.. March 27
PLAY TO FILM
read: Oleana by David Mamet/ film: Oleana (*)
Wed.,April 3 SHAKESPEARE TO BROADWAY MUSICAL TO FILM
Read: Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
film: West Side Story (*)
Wed. April 10 ADAPTATION AND ITS PERILS
read: “Orchid Fever,” by Susan Orlean, The New Yorker, January 23,
1995 (from which the book The Orchid Thief—with which the movie
Adaptation is concerned-- is derived); “The Best Novelists, The Worst
Movie Adaptations,” by Joseph O’Neill, New York Times, November 11, 2003;
“About Schmidt Has Changed, But Not Its Core,” by Louis Begley and
“The Hours Brought Elation But Also Doubt,” by Michael Cunningham,
New York Times, January 19, 2003; “The Cure for Writer’s Block,” by
Daniel Zalewski. New York Times, December 1, 2002; and “New Yorker
Writer Turns Gun Toting Floozy? That’s Showbiz” by Sarah Boxer, New York
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Times December 19, 2002.
Film Adaptation (*)
Note: see course requirements for special assignment for this session or,
in the alternative, for the April 17th seminar
Wed. April 17
FROM FILM SCRIPT TO FILM
read: the film script of The French Lieutenant’s Woman by Harold Pinter,
including the foreword by John Fowles; excerpt from Point of View in Fiction
and Film: Focus on John Fowles by Charles Garard; "The French Lieutenant's
Woman," from Filming Literature: The Art of Screen Adaptation, by Neil
Sinyard; and “Translating Fowles into Film,” by Leslie Gants.
film The French Lieutenant’s Woman (*)
Note: see course requirements for special assignment for this seminar or,
in the alternative, for the April 17th. seminar.
Wed. April 24 FROM NOVEL TO FILM SCRIPT TO FILM
read: One True Thing, by Anna Quindlen, film script of One True Thing, by
Karen Croner, and “Home Movie,” by Michael Aaron Rockland, New Jersey
Monthly September, 1998.
film: One True Thing (*) and footage from the making of the film
(the latter in class)
Note: We will hold this session at my home in
Morristown, the principal set for the movie One True Thing.We’ll discuss logistics
for this session when we meet, including carpools, time convenient for everyone, etc
Wed. May 1
HOW DOES ONE FILM AMBIGUITY?
read: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Note: See course requirements for special assignment due this day.
for everyone.
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GROUND RULES
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ATTENDANCE. We cannot do without the presence of a single member of the community at
every session. Unexcused absences will be reflected in your course grade. If you are ill or have a
very important reason for missing any session of the seminar, you must reach me by phone or email no later than one hour prior to a seminar meeting. If you do not reach me by one hour before
a seminar meeting it will count as an absence. And please always be on time. In addition, all
absences must be reported to the following university site: http://sims.rutgers.edu
CLASS PARTICIPATION
A large part of your grade will be based on class participation. Be sure you have read everything
assigned before each class and be sure to have seen each film that is on reserve before each class.
If you are unprepared for the seminar, trust me: I'll know.
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS. There will be no examinations given in this course—unless I feel
that some of you are not doing your work. Should that occur I may consider a final exam or pop
quizzes along the way. Hopefully, as in the past, that will not be necessary. Thus, your seven
written assignments are crucial to your grade. Everyone is responsible for writing five short
papers over the course of the seminar. These short papers are due on Tuesdays, the day before
seminar meetings, at any time but no later than 8 p.m. This is so I can read and grade them no
later than our seminar meetings on Wednesdays. You may not send me your papers by e-mail
attachment. Printed out papers are to be placed in the manila envelope provided for this purpose
on the bulletin board outside the American Studies office. You will decide which weeks you
choose to write, beginning with week III, but do not put off writing papers and later find yourself
in trouble. In addition to the copy of your short paper placed in the manila envelope, you are to
bring three other copies and pass them around no later than the beginning of the seminar. The
first thing we will do at each session beginning with week III is read and discuss the papers of
those who have written for that week.
Papers may be one page long but may not be longer than two pages, double spaced. If your paper
on a particular occasion is longer than two pages, edit it down to where it is only two pages long.
No cover sheets, please. Just your title and your name on top of the first page. Think of these
papers as the length of a newspaper editorial. Also, give your papers a title representative of the
argument you advance. And I do want you to have an argument or, at least, a thesis or strong
point of view.
Papers for a particular week should deal in the main with the readings and films for that week,
but they may also pick up threads from previous weeks' conversations and materials and
elaborate on them in connection with the materials for the current week.
I will be grading these papers check +, check , and check--, standing for excellent, satisfactory,
and unsatisfactory respectively.
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You will have two other special writing assignments. In the first case, you are to choose whether
to do the assignment for the April 10th or April 17th seminar, focusing on Adaptation or The
French Lieutenant’s Woman If you do both, one can count as one of the five short papers. For
April 10th I would like you to present an alternative to Kaufmann’s way of dealing with Susan
Orleans’ New Yorker non-fiction story; or, for April 17th an alternative toPinter’s way of
dealing with the double ending of John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman. As for
length, 5-6 pages. What you are, in effect, doing is providing a film treatment--how you would
make the film as opposed to how Kaufman in one case and Pinter in the other suggested doing
so. As with your short papers, these projects will be placed in the manila envelope on Tuesdays
by 8 p.m. in time for me to read and grade prior to the seminar, and two extra copies will be
sufficient to bring to class for distribution.
Everyone will do the second special assignment, due for the last meeting of the seminar. The
reading assignment for that date is Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. There have been
several attempts to make a film of The Turn of the Screw but they have been failures. The
difficulty is in handling point of view. The story is told by the governess, so one may read it and
1) accept her version of events or 2) find her deranged and culpable or 3) you will simply not be
able to determine what is the truth. In this novela Henry James is a master of ambiguity. But
how does one film ambiguity?
Your assignment is to create a film treatment of The Turn of the Screw in which you decide
how to go about making a film of it which somehow captures its ambiguity. Your treatment will
have to wrestle with the issue of point of view. Of course, in a film, the camera has the final
word in point of view), so I would like you to suggest camera angles for crucial scenes—plus
lighting, set decoration and design, casting, possible voiceovers, music, etc. In short, imagine
yourself the auteur or director of the film and imagine your reader as a producer considering the
viability of your film proposal artistically and commercially.
As with the special assignments of April 10th and 17th , the suggested length is 5-6 pages.
Hand in an original on Tuesday, April 30th two extra copies brought to class on May 1 will be
sufficient.
What this Course Attempts to Accomplish
A liberal arts major such as American Studies should send its students out into the world with
three key skills: the ability to write succinctly and with a manifest purpose; to ability to speak
without hesitation in an articulate and, if possible, charming manner, persuasive without being
obnoxious about it; the ability to read and think critically. All of your courses try to do this. In the
senior seminar these skills are tested at every session because of the close intimacy of the course.
And they are the skills one needs for success in the world, regardless of profession chosen. In some
ways, the subject matter is immaterial for achieving the above named skills, though I hope you will
find our subject matter of particular interest and, therefore, will work harder to succeed. One
should not think of the senior seminar as being like any other course. It is a capstone to your
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undergraduate years and should be thought of as a, if not the, special course.
I should add that our special interest is the intersection of film and literature—in short the issue of
adaptation. Usually, this is from literature to film, though in Week II we will look at an example in
my own work of adaptation from film to literature. In Week III of the course we will look at many
varieties of the theory of adaptation which we will apply in the ensuing weeks. Adaptation is a
form of “translation”—in this case translation from one medium to another. There is a book I favor
titled in Spanish El Delito de Traducir (The Crime of Translation). Of course, translation is not a
crime as such. What is being suggested is that, when we translate, the new work is really that of
the translator not the original creative artist. Thus one finds readers invested in a particular book
invariably denouncing the work when translated to film and saying “the book was better than the
movie.” Well it may have been better as a book than the movie is as a movie, but it often is not at
all. Indeed, some of the best movies are made from poor books precisely because it is difficult if
not impossible to translate an author’s style in words to the visuals of a film.
This course is especially relevant to students interested in being writers or filmmakers or both, but
it is also relevant to any student who loves literature and loves film and is attracted to that place
where they meet. There is also a theory underlying the course: that yesterday’s “trash” is often
tomorrow’s art. Until movies came along early in the Twentieth Century the novel was not taken
seriously for the most part in English or Literature courses. It was seen as “mere entertainment.”
Movies made novels “respectable.” Closer to our own time, television, the new “trash,” made
movies “respectable.” The movies of my youth, not taken seriously at the time, are now the subject
of film festivals and treated as high art. The internet and such seemingly frivolous new
technologies as Facebook and Twitter may eventually make television “respectable” too.
LAPTOPS, CELL PHONES, SPECIAL ACCOMODATIONS
Laptops are never to be used ir even appear during the meetings of this seminar. Ditto cellphones.
However, students bringing me a letter from the university office handling special needs may be
granted laptop use. But if a laptop is used even once for anything but taking notes in the course,
this privilege will be rescinded. Accomodations for students with learning difficulties are usually
available— extra time on exams. However, such accomodations will not be necessary if no exams
are given, as is my hope.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is a very serious offense –enough to not only get you an F in a course but to be expelled
from the university. Don’t do it. Ever. Just be sure to give credit where credit is due in your papers.
When you are quoting or paraphrasing the work of others just give them credit. In a sense,
endnotes, or even thank yous in the text, are simply good manners, simply a “thank you.”