21L.011 The Film Experience Fall 2012 Syllabus

NOTE:  Some of these files are restricted to registered members of the class.  An MIT Certificate is required to access some of these files.  A PDF of the syllabus is available.

Tue Thu Required Film: Required Reading:
       
Sept 6 I. THE SILENT ERA
Porter, The Great Train Robbery
Griffith, A Beast at Bay 		Thorburn OCW introductory lecture 1 and Keaton lecture 2;
Cook, A History of Narrative Film, (4th ed) Pp 1-41, 51-85;
Gunning, "An Aesthetic of Astonishment"
11 13

Griffith, Lonely Villa, Musketeers of Pig Alley
Keaton, Cops , The General

 Cook, 177-182;
Mast, from A Short History of the Movies
18 20 Chaplin, The Immigrant , Easy Street , Modern Times Thorburn Chaplin lectures: Lec. 1 on OCW; Lec. 2 on TechTV;
Agee, "Comedy's Greatest Era"
  20 CLOSE READING EXERCISE DUE  
25 27 Murnau, Nosferatu, The Last Laugh Cook, ch. 4-5
Oct   II. HOLLYWOOD GENRES
2 4 Capra, It Happened One Night
Hawks, His Girl Friday
Cook, ch. 7-8
  4 FIRST PAPER DUE
-- 11 IN-CLASS QUIZ
16 18 Hitchcock, Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window
 
23 25 Donen/Kelly, Singin' in ther Rain
Fosse, Cabaret 		Braudy, "Genre: The Conventions of Connection"
  25 MIDTERM EXAM Cook, ch. 12
30   Ford, The Searchers Cook, 845-868
Nov 1   Stone, "The Search Party"
6 8 Altman, McCabe and Mrs. Miller
 Thorburn lectures on film in 1970s on TechTV;
Lethem, "The Greatest Death Scene"
6   SECOND PAPER DUE  
13 15 III. INTERNATIONAL MASTERS
Renoir, Grand Illusion		 Cook, 303-326
20 -- DeSica, Bicycle Thieves

Thorburn lectures on Neorealism: Lec. 1 on OCW, Lec.2 on TechTV;
Cook, 355-368
Zavattini, "Some Ideas on the Cinema"
27 29 Truffaut, The 400 Blows Cook, 431-458
  29 THIRD PAPER DUE  
Dec 1    
4 6 Kurosawa, Rashomon
 Cook, 735-745
11   Summary Perspectives: Film as Art and Artifact
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