SAC 353: Film History, 1960 to the present
Fall 2010
Lecture: 3 – 4 pm, Monday and Wednesday, 1400 CHEM
Screenings: 7-10 pm, Monday, Angel AUD A
Instructor: Daniel Herbert
Office: 6413 North Quad
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3 – 5 pm
Office Phone: 734-647-3363
E-mail: danherb@umich.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course examines cinema during a period characterized by significant changes in film
form and style as well as by important industrial and technological changes. Attention will
be paid to the international dimensions of these changes as well as to specific national and
institutional contexts for them. The course will also address questions of historical method
in film scholarship and the relevance of this particular period of film history to our
consideration of current trends in film production and reception.
GSIs:
Peter Alilunas (alilunas@umich.edu)
Section 5 : Tuesday 1-2pm
Section 6 : Tuesday 3-4pm
Office Hours :
Monday and Wednesday, 2-3pm, in the SAC GSI office, 6th floor of North
Quad
Mike Arnold (maiku@umich.edu)
Section 3: Tuesday 1-2 pm
Section 4: Tuesday 3-4pm
Office Hours:
Monday and Tuesday, 4-5pm, in the SAC GSI office, 6th floor of North
Quad
Required Texts:
Kristen Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction,
Third Edition
-Available at Michigan Book and Supply
Additional readings on CTools, https://ctools.umich.edu
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Participation/Attendance
Students are required to participate in all class sessions and attend all screenings. You are also
expected to have completed the week's reading assignments by the time of class that week. Some
films and clips are not available on videotape or DVD so attendance and participation is
essential. Missing more than one (1) class will require prior consent from instructor. Absences
due to sickness must be documented in writing. Missing more than three (3) classes will result in
a failing grade for the course. Participation/Attendance constitutes 10% of your overall grade.
Discussion Section
The discussion section provides each student with the opportunity to share his or her reactions to
course material, to clarify individual questions, and to discover the relationship of films to their
own lives. Groups meet once a week for a 50 minute period conducted by a Graduate Student
Instructor (GSI). Work completed in the discussion group – attendance, participation, written
assignments, and consultation with the GSI – determines a significant part of your final course
grade. Therefore, you must attend and participate in your discussion group in order to receive a
passing grade in SAC 353.
Assignments
In addition to a short (1 page) film review, there will be three, 3-4 page response papers due over
the course of the term. Each paper is worth 15% of your final grade. They must be turned in on
the due date to receive credit. A midterm exam will count for another 15%of your grade. A
comprehensive final exam will be 25% of your grade.
Format for written assignments
Please use 12 pt. Times font and double-spacing. Put your name, my name, the class number, the
date, and a title on the title page. Pages should be numbered. Film titles should be italicized or
underlined. Include the film’s year of release in parenthesis following your first mention of a film’s
title, then just the title each time after. Example: Blade Runner (1982), and subsequently just Blade
Runner.
Late Paper Policy
Later work is highly discouraged. 1 day late – 1/3 letter grade; 3 days late – 1 letter grade; 1
week late - 1 1/2 letter grades; 2 weeks late – 2 letter grades; 3 weeks late – no pass. All
assignments must be completed to pass this course.
Grade Breakdown
Attendance and Participation
Film Review
Response Papers (x3)
Midterm exam
Final Exam
10%
5%
15% each
15%
25%
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Academic Integrity
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism consists of using other people’s words and ideas and
presenting them as one’s own, whether the material is taken from a book, a friend, or the
internet. Please consult the university handbook to acquaint yourself with the university’s
definition of and policies regarding plagiarism. Ignorance of the standards and policies of
academic integrity is not an acceptable excuse.
WEEK ONE (9/8): Introduction to the course
WEEK TWO (9/13-9/15): Blockbusters, Part I: Post-Classical Hollywood and
Technological Change
Screening: Arnulf Rainer (Peter Kubelka, 1959, 7 min.), My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964,
170 min.)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 300-323, 470-478
2. John Belton, “Spectator and Screen,” chapter from Widescreen Cinema
WEEK THREE (9/20-9/22): Radical Breaks: The New Waves and Political Cinemas of
Europe in the 1960s
Screening: La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962), Tout Va Bien (Jean-Luc Godard, 1972, 95 min.)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 403-420, 511-534
2. Peter Wollen, “Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d’Est”
FILM REVIEWS DUE IN DISCUSSION SECTION
WEEK FOUR (9/27-9/29): Cinemas of Political Liberation
Screenings: A Movie (Bruce Conner, 1958), Now (Santiago Álvarez, 1965, 6 min.), Battle of
Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1966)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 495-508
2. Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino “Toward a Third Cinema”
WEEK FIVE (10/4-10/6): Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll (but not in that order)
Screenings: Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger), Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
(1972)
1. Justin Wyatt, “The Stigma of X: Adult Cinema and the Institution of the MPAA
Ratings System”
RESPONSE PAPER #1 DUE ON WEDNESDAY- CRITICAL RECEPTION OF YOUR
FILM CHOICE
WEEK SIX (10/11-10/13): Japanese Cinema: The New Wave and Beyond
Screening: Dog Star Man: Part II, III, and IV (Brakhage, 1963-64), Sword of Doom (Kihachi
Okamoto, 1965, 119 min.)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 360-363, 432-434, 632-637
2. Tadao Sato, “Developments in the 1960s”
3. Nagisa Oshima, “Authorial Asthenia”
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WEEK SEVEN (10/20): MIDTERM
NO CLASS OR SCREENING MONDAY - “Study Days”
WEEK EIGHT (10/25/10/27): Searching for a New Cinematic Language, New German
Cinema
Screening: Nostalgia (Hollis Frampton, 1971, 31 min.), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Werner
Herzog, 1972, 100 min.)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 420-432, 581-583
2. Thomas Elsaesser, “The Old, the Young, and the New: Commerce, Art Cinema, and
Autorenfilm”
WEEK NINE (11/1-11/3): Blockbusters, Part II: New Hollywood
Screening: Apocalypse Now Redux (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979/2001, 202 min.)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 478-493
2. Thomas Schatz, “The New Hollywood”
RESPONSE PAPER #2 DUE ON WEDNESDAY – INDUSTRIAL / NATIONAL CINEMA
CONTEXT OF YOUR FILM CHOICE
WEEK TEN (11/8-11/10): Asia and the Postmodern
Screening: Semiotics of the Kitchen (Martha Rosler, 1975), Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai,
1994,102 min.)
1. Frederic Jameson, “Postmodernism and Consumer Society”
WEEK ELEVEN (11/15-11/17): Heritage Cinemas, Women Filmmakers, The Cinemas of
Australia and New Zealand
Screening: Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (Barbara McCullough, 1979, 4 min.),
Peel (Jane Campion, 1982, 9 min.), The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993, 121 min.)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 628-631
2. Annette Kuhn, “Replacing Dominant Cinema: Feminism and Film Practice”
WEEK TWELVE (11/22-24): Hispanophone Cinemas from Post-Franco Spanish Cinema
 Mexico
Screening: The Queen is Dead: A Film by Derek Jarman (Derek Jarman), It Wasn’t Love (Sadie
Benning, 1992, 20 min.), Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002, 112 min.)
1. Marsha Kinder, Pedro Almodóvar, “Pleasure and the New Spanish Mentality: A
Conversation with Pedro Almódovar”
THERE IS CLASS ON WEDNESDAY – THANKSGIVING BREAK BEGINS AT 5pm
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WEEK THIRTEEN (11/29-12/1): Blockbusters Part III: Conglomerate Hollywood and the
New Korean Cinema
Screening: “Lou Reed” from 13 Most Beautiful (Andy Warhol/Dean and Britta), Oldboy (Park
Chan-Wook, 2003, 120 min.)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 655-658
2. T&B on HW – 661-680, 694-701, 713-730
3. Darcy Paquet, “The Korean Film Industry: 1992 to the Present”
RESPONSE PAPER #3 DUE ON WEDNESDAY` - SOCIAL CONTEXT OF YOUR FILM
CHOICE
WEEK FOURTEEN (12/6-12/8): Cinema in the Era of Globalization: Transnational
Tensions and Articulations
Screenings: L’Arrivée (Peter Tscherkassky, 1997, 2 min.), Passage à l’Acte (Martin Arnold,
1992), Code Unknown (Michael Heneke)
1. Thompson & Bordwell, 451-469, 548-565
2. James Leo Cahill, “The Cineseizure”
3. Arjun Appadurai, “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy”
WEEK FIFTEEN (12/12): Conclusions and Review
FINAL EXAM – Wednesday, December 22, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
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