American Studies 285
Instructor: Dan Thornton
Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 3:00pm-5:10pm
Place: R101
Email Contact: dthornto@bcc.ctc.edu
Course Goals:
The course
will have weekly modules that will roll out consecutively:
Week 1: (Beach: Chapter 1)note that reading assignments are to be done by the second class of the week they are assigned Introductions and Expectations. Genres and Sub-Genres. What is humor? Is there a particular American form of humor? The role of various comedic traditions from Mark Twain to Will Rogers through Vaudeville, Minstrel and “Borscht Belt” cultures. Sub-Genre: Slapstick.
(Suggested
films)
The
General (1927) -
United Artists
Director:
Buster
Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
Stars:
Buster
Keaton; Marion Mack; Jim Farley
Week 2: (Hornby: pp. 1-30)
From early arcade “flicks” to Edwin S. Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery” the motion picture moves from entertainment to story teller. Explanation of film/literature Dramas. The ultimate expressions of comedy— Profile: Wes Andersen.
Modern
Times (1936) -
United Artists
Director:
Charlie
Chaplin
Stars:
Charlie
Chaplin; Paulette Goddard; Henry Bergman
Week 3: ((Beach: 1, Hornby: pp. 30-60)
United Artists: the journey from the golden age of American silent films to the creation of the first Hollywood studio, and its subsequent celebrity culture. The comedian as director—Profile: Woody Allen , Sub-Genre: Verbal Comedies.
Duck
Soup (1933) -
Paramount
Director:
Leo McCarey
Stars:
Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo Marx;
Margaret Dumont; Louis Calhern
Week 4: (Beach: 2, Hornby pp. 60-90) Talkies: how an acceleration of technologies in film making sets the stage for Hollywood’s “Gilded Age”. The “Screwball Comedy” and the Marx Bros. Sub-Genre: Screwball.
It
Happened One Night (1934) - Columbia
Director:
Frank
Capra
Stars:
Clark
Gable; Claudette Colbert; Walter Conn
Week 5: (Beach: 3, Hornby pp. 90-120 )
The “Screwball Comedy”, the Hays Code and the Great Depression. Literary America moves west to write for the movies. Class-consciousness becomes funny. Sub-Genre: Screwball.
The
Thin Man (1934) -
MGM
Director:
W.S.
Van Dyke
Stars:
Myrna
Loy; William Powell; Maureen O'Sullivan
Bringing
Up Baby (1938) -
RKO
Director:
Howard
Hawks
Stars:
Katharine
Hepburn; Cary Grant; Charlie Ruggles
Week 6: (Beach: 4, Hornby pp. 120-150)
WWII, Stalin & Hitler Was there anything funny about the 1940’s? How humor was used as propaganda. Sub-Genre: Satire.
The
Great Dictator (1940) - United Artists
Director:
Charlie
Chaplin
Stars:
Charlie
Chaplin; Paulette Goddard; Jack Oakie
Sullivan's
Travels (1941) -
Paramount
Director:
Preston
Sturges
Stars:
Joel
McCrea; Veronica Lake; William Demarest
To
Be or Not to Be (1942) - United Artists
Director:
Ernst
Lubitsch
Stars:
Jack
Benny; Carole Lombard; Robert Stack
(Mid-Term
given as take home)
Week 7: (Beach: 5, Hornby pp.
150-180)
“Man in the Grey Flannel Suit” The bland
1950’s are surprisingly funny. The rise of the standup comedian as star.
Mort Sahl, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce. Sub-Genre: Social Commentary
Adam's
Rib (1949)
Director:
George
Cukor
Stars:
Spencer
Tracy; Katharine Hepburn; Judy Holliday
Some
Like It Hot (1959) -
Ashton/Mirisch
Director:
Billy
Wilder
Stars:
Jack
Lemmon; Tony Curtis; Marilyn Monroe, Joe E. Brown, George Raft
The
Apartment (1960) -
United Artists
Director:
Billy
Wilder
Stars:
Jack
Lemmon; Shirley MacLaine; Fred MacMurray
Week 8: (Hornby pp. 180-210)
Movies in the TV Era – emerging technologies and experiments, influences of
television on movies and vice versa, From Sc-Fi and
surfers to Sinatra and cocktail kitsch,
More 1950’s Humor. Sub-Genre: Slapstick/Farce
Director: Lewis Milestone
Stars: Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Lawford, Bishop
The Seven Year Itch (1955) - 20th Century-Fox
Director: Billy Wilder
Stars: Marilyn Monroe; Tom Ewell; Sonny Tufts
Week 9: (210-240) Sex Drugs
and Rock n’ Roll. The 60’s change everything. How humor and rebellion mixed in American
movies. Laugh-in,
George Carlin, the Monkeys. Sub-Genre: Black Comedy
The
Producers (1968) -
Embassy
Director:
Mel
Brooks
Stars:
Zero
Mostel; Gene Wilder; Dick Shawn
Casino Royale (1967)
Director: Val Guest et al
Stars:
David Niven, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles
Catch-22 (1970)
Director: Mike Nichols
Stars:
Alan Arkin; John Voigt; Orson Welles; Art Garfunkel
Week 10:
(Hornby pp. 240-finish) The Big Hang
Over. Cynicism versus nostalgia as
America comes to terms with itself after Watergate and Vietnam. New Film School
Generation – Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin
Scorsese among others-their influence and achievements during the 1970’s and
beyond. Sub-Genre: Social Commentary.
American
Graffiti (1973) -
Universal
Director:
George
Lucas
Stars:
Richard
Dreyfuss; Ron Howard; Candy Clark; Harrison Ford;
Paul LeMat; Cindy Williams;
Mackenzie
Phillips; Charles Martin Smith
Shampoo
(1975) - Columbia
Director:
Hal
Ashby
Stars: Warren
Beatty; Julie Christie; Goldie Hawn; Lee Grant
Week 11: (Beach: 6, 7) New beginnings, old
laughs. Woody Allen Hits his
stride. Animal House ushers in a new era
of Frat films. Sub-Genre: Slapstick/Gross out.
Annie
Hall (1977) -
United Artists
Director:
Woody
Allen
Stars:
Woody
Allen; Diane Keaton; Tony Roberts
National
Lampoon's Animal House (1978) - Universal
Director:
John
Landis
Stars: John Belushi; Tim Matheson; John Vernon
Week 12: The future is now: From the Coen Bros. to Wes Andersen. A postmodern sensibility moves into American film comedies.
Raising
Arizona (1987) -
20th Century-Fox
Director:
Joel
Coen
Stars:
Nicolas
Cage; Holly Hunter; John Goodman
Rushmore (1998)
Director:
Wes Anderson
Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams
Students’ grades will be based on two short essays, a midterm exam (week 6) and a final exam that will have a hands-on visual component.
The Text Books will be:
About a Boy
by Nick Hornby
Publisher: Riverhead Trade (April 30, 2002)
# ISBN-10: 1573229571
# ISBN-13: 978-1573229579
Class, Language, and American Film
Comedy
by Christopher Beach
Cambridge University Press (November 1, 2001)
# ISBN-10: 0521002095
# ISBN-13: 978-0521002097