Category Archives: Teaching

Fantasy & Science Fiction Media, Spring 2014

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FILM 4280/6280, Spring 2014

Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:00-2:15 PM, 401 Langdale

Screenings Tuesdays, 11:00 AM-12:50 PM, 406 Arts & Humanities

 

Ted Friedman

25 Park Place #1017

tedf@gsu.edu

http://twitter.com/tedfriedman

http://tedfriedman.com

 

 

Course Description

How do we dream our visions of the future? How do we explore our fantasies of the past?

 

Science fiction extrapolates the trends of the present to imagine possible future worlds, both utopian and (more often) dystopian. Fantasy looks back to imagine past worlds in which technology has not yet usurped nature. Both genres are rooted in mythic traditions that push beyond the boundaries of realism to reach for deeper truths.

 

This class will examine the genres of fantasy and science fiction across multiple media, including film, television, literature, comics and gaming. We’ll survey their history, while at the same time tracing the impact of each text forward into the present. We’ll look at how these works have reflected and influenced American society, as each new generation of creators has responded to changing social conditions by re-imagining the key tropes and themes of the genres. And we’ll try to understand why these visions continue to capture the world’s imagination.

 

Readings

Class readings will include books and a coursepack of articles. Here are the books you’ll need:

 

Maggie Hyde and Michael McGuinness, Introducing Jung

Salman Rushdie, The Wizard of Oz

Neal Gaiman, The Sandman: Season of Mists

Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles

 

The course books can be ordered through online retailers such as amazon.com/student, bn.com, and powells.com. The coursepack is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South).

 

Students in Film 6280 will read two additional books of their choice, one scholarly book and one work of fiction, and will present them in two separately scheduled meetings with the other graduate students.

 

Twitter Feed 

Relevant news and commentary will be shared with the class via the Twitter hashtag #fsfmedia. Feel free to respond to tweets or post your own.  Class Schedule

 

Unit I: Modern Myths

 

T 1/14 Understanding Fantasy and Science Fiction

 

Th 1/16 The Power of Myth

Ted Friedman, “Myth, the Numinous, and Cultural Studies”:

http://flowtv.org/?p=4161

Ted Friedman, “The Politics of Magic,”

http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/article.php?issue=14&id=1138&section=article&q=rose

 

T 1/21 Star Wars

Joseph Campbell, excerpt from The Hero With a Thousand Faces (CP)

Christopher Vogler and Stuart Voytilla, excerpt from Myth and the Movies (CP)

 

Th 1/23 Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Hyde and McGuinness, Introducing Jung

Ted Friedman, “Jung and Lost”:

http://flowtv.org/?p=3865

Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Child and the Shadow” (CP)

 

T 1/28 The Lord of the Rings 

J.R.R. Tolkien, “Introduction to The Fellowship of the Ring” (CP)

J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy Stories”:

http://bjorn.kiev.ua/librae/Tolkien/Tolkien_On_Fairy_Stories.htm

 

Th 1/30 Game of Thrones

 

 

Unit II: Folklore and Fantasy

 

T 2/4 The Wizard of Oz

Salman Rushdie, The Wizard of Oz

 

Th 2/6 Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, “Why Vampires Never Die”:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/opinion/31deltoro.html?_r=1

Laura Miller, “Real Men Have Fangs”:

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB122540672952785957-lMyQjAxMDI4MjE1MTQxMDE2Wj.html

 

T 2/11 The Company of Wolves

Angela Carter, “The Company of Wolves” (CP)

Selections from Marjorie Tatar, ed., The Classic Fairy Tales (CP)

 

Th 2/13 Firefly

 

T 2/18 Where the Wild Things Are

Alison Lurie, “Something Wonderful Out of Almost Nothing”:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/something-wonderful-out-almost-nothing/

 

Th 2/20 Dollhouse

 

T 2/25 Spirited Away

Margaret Talbot, “The Auteur of Anime” (CP)

James W. Boyd and Tetsuya Nishimura, “Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film Spirited Away,” The Journal of Religion and Film 8.2 (October 2004):

http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol8No2/boydShinto.htm

Norkio T. Reider, “Spirited Away: Film of the Fantastic and Evolving Japanese Folk Symbols,” Film Criticism 29.3 (2005): 4-27:

http://www.corneredangel.com/amwess/papers/spirited_away.pdf

Aaron Sherwood, “Characterization, Narrative Structure and Mythopoeia in the Films of Hayao Miyazaki” (2006):

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/essay/files/AaronSherwood_Mythopoeia.pdf

 

Th 2/27 Lost

Jason Mittell, “Sites of Participation: Wiki Fandom and the Case of Lostpedia”:

http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/118/117

 

T 3/4 Pan’s Labyrinth and Sandman

Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Season of Mists

 

Th 3/6 The Walking Dead

Take-home midterm due

 

Unit III: Science Fiction

 

T 3/11 Metropolis

J. P. Telotte, “The Seductive Text of Metropolis” (CP)

William Gibson, “The Gernsback Continuum” (CP)

Andrew Ross, “Getting Out of the Gernsback Continuum” (CP)

David Hartwell, excerpt from Age of Wonders (CP)

 

Th 3/13 The Twilight Zone

 

T 3/18 Spring Break – no class

 

Th 3/20 Spring Break – no class

 

T 3/25 Bride of Frankenstein

Gary Morris, “Sexual Subversion: The Bride of Frankenstein”:

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/19/19_bride1.html

 

Th 3/27 Star Trek

Henry Jenkins, “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations” (CP)

Ted Friedman, “Capitalism: The Final Frontier”:

http://www.tedfriedman.com/essays/2005/03/capitalism_the.html

 

T 4/1 Blade Runner

Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” (CP)

Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (CP)

 

Th 4/3 The X-Files

Carl Jung, “Flying Saucers as Modern Myths” (CP)

 

T 4/8 Brazil and Ender’s Game

Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

 

Th 4/10 Battlestar Galactica

Spencer Ackerman, “Battlestar: Iraqtica,”

http://www.slate.com/id/2151425/nav/tap2/

 

T 4/15 The Matrix

David Weberman, “The Matrix: Simulation and the Postmodern Age” (CP)

Slavoj Zizek, “The Matrix, or the Two Sides of Perversion” (CP)

Aleksandar Hemon, “Beyond the Matrix”:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_hemon

 

Th 4/17 World of Warcraft and The Guild

Download and play the free World of Warcraft trial:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

 

T 4/22 Children of Men and The Age of Miracles

Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles

 

Th 4/24 Futurama

 

 

Take-Home Final due via email to tedf@gsu.edu on Thursday, May 1 by 5 PM

 

 

 

Screening Schedule

 

You are responsible for viewing assigned films in time for class discussion. Screenings are held on Tuesdays at 11 AM in 406 Arts & Humanities.

 

1/14 No screening

1/21 Star Wars

1/28 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2/4 The Wizard of Oz

2/11 The Company of Wolves

2/18 Where the Wild Things Are

2/25 Spirited Away

3/4 Pan’s Labyrinth

3/11 Metropolis

3/18 Spring Break – no class

3/25 Bride of Frankenstein

4/1 Blade Runner

4/8 Brazil

4/15 The Matrix

4/22 Children of Men

 

 

 

Assignments

 

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

 

A+ 100-98 B+ 89-88 C+ 79-78 D 69-65

A 97-93 B 87-83 C 77-70 F 64-0

A- 92-90 B- 82-80

 

TV Presentation – 10 points (Film 4280 only)

As part of a 2-3 person team, you will give a presentation on an influential fantasy or science fiction television show. Your team has two presentation options:

 

Research Presentation: Each member of the team gives a 5-minute presentation on a different aspect of the show: 1) the creator/creators; 2) the economics of the production, including available budget and ratings information; 3) audience responses. Each member hands in a list of sources. A minimum of five separate sources is required for each member’s presentation. (Wikipedia can be consulted to find sources but does not itself count toward the five sources.) PowerPoint is not necessary, but short video clips (such as creator interviews, news stories, and fan films) should be incorporated into each presentation when available.

 

Creative Presentation: Alternately, the presentation team can choose to collectively produce a short film about the TV show. Options include an edited selection of clips with voice-over commentary, a series of interviews with viewers, or a fan film.

 

Book Presentations – 5 points each (Film 6280 only)

Graduate students will read two additional books of their choice, one scholarly book and one work of fiction, and will give short a presentation on each in two separately scheduled meetings with the other graduate students.

 

Take-Home Midterm – 45 points (Film 4280 and 6280)

The take-home midterm will require you to relate concepts from the readings and lectures to the assigned films, series, novels and comics. Undergraduate and graduate students will take the same exam, but graduate students will be expected to submit more detailed answers. Due March 7.

 

Take-Home Final – 45 points (Film 4280 and 6280)

The take-home final will be structured just like the midterm, covering the second half of the semester. Due April 30.

 

Attendance Adjustment

As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

 

 

 

Policies

 

Office Hours

Office hours are by appointment. I’m usually available to meet before and after every class.

 

Late Papers

Late midterms are penalized at the rate of 1/2 point per day overdue. Late finals cannot be accepted without an extension.

 

Rewrites

Rewrites of any midterm question are welcome. The final grade on the question will be the average of the original grade and the rewritten version’s grade. Rewrites of the final are unavailable, but rough drafts of the final can be submitted for feedback through April 23.

 

Incompletes

Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

 

Assessment

Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State. Upon completing the course, please take time to fill out the online course evaluation.

 

Disability

Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only be accommodated upon issuance by the Office of Disability Services of a signed Accommodation Plan and are responsible for providing a copy of that plan to instructors of all classes in which accommodations are sought.

 

Changes to the Syllabus

This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Senior Seminar: Convergence Culture, Spring 2014

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Film 4910, Spring 2014

4910-010: Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:30-3:45, Classroom South 325

4910-015: Tuesdays & Thursdays 5:30-6:45, Classroom South 506

 

Ted Friedman

Office: 25 Park Place #1017

Email: ted@tedfriedman.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman

Website: https://tedfriedman.com/teaching

 

Course Description

Media today are converging, as the boundaries that divide movies, TV, games, computers and phones blur. Likewise, the familiar categories of producer and consumer intermingle in Web 2.0 practices such as blogging, vidding, modding and tweeting. This senior seminar will examine the shifting roles of creators and audiences across a range of media practices, culminating in a capstone project that represents your own engagement with the changing media landscape.

 

Readings

Two books are required for the class. Both are available for free online:

Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying (Harvard UP, 2010).

Laurence Lessig, Remix  (Bloomsbury Press, 2008)

 

In Praise of Copying can be downloaded at http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/boon/. Spreadable Media can be downloaded at http://www.scribd.com/doc/47089238/Remix . Other assigned readings are available online at the URLs listed below. Supplementary links to media news and criticism will be distributed via the class Twitter hashtag #sensem.

 

Capstone Project

This seminar is structured to support the creation of an individual project (research or creative) addressing some aspect of authorship, audiences, and/or convergence.  This project may either be a research paper (10-15 pages), a website (15-20 pages), a fiction/nonfiction video (5-10 minutes), a comic book (24 pages), or a game (a board game with cards and rules, or a computer game), depending on your preference and previous technical experience. (Students will not receive technical training in the details of video production or multimedia development as part of this class. Support is available through the GSU Digital Aquarium, http://www.gsu.edu/aquarium/.)  The final submitted project will be the culmination of a series of assignments, as described below.

 

 

 

Critical Thinking through Writing

This course is a designated Critical Thinking through Writing (CTW) course. In film, “critical thinking” is defined as identifying, analyzing, and evaluating arguments and truth claims; and formulating and presenting convincing reasons in support of conclusions.

“Writing” refers to the skill of writing clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct English prose.

 

 

Schedule

 

Introducing Convergence Culture

 

1/14 Introduction

In-class screening: Star Wars fan films

 

1/16 Read Henry Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema,

Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture,” Convergence Culture (NYU Press, 2006): http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html

Read Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail,” Wired, December 2004:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

In-class screening: Barbie Nation

 

The Culture of the Copy

 

1/21 Read Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying, Introduction, Chapters 1-2

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/boon/

In-class screening: Rip! A Remix Manifesto 

 

1/23 Read Boon, Chapters 3-5

 

1/28 Read Boon, Chapters 6-7, Conclusion

In-class screening: Exit through the Gift Shop

Project Proposal due

 

1/30 Read Ted Friedman, “Ideologies of Information Processing: From Analog to Digital.” From Electric Dreams. New York: NYU Press, 2005. https://tedfriedman.com/ electric-dreams-chapter-two/

 

Remix Culture

 

2/4 Read Lessig, Remix, Introduction

http://www.scribd.com/doc/47089238/Remix

In-class screening: Copyright Criminals

 

2/6 Read L essig, Part 1

In-class screening: Everything Is a Remix

 

2/11 Read Lessig, Part 2

Project Structure draft due

 

2/13 Read Lessig, Part 3

 

Source/Influence Presentations

 

2/18 Source/Influence Presentations

 

2/20 Source/Influence Presentations

 

2/25 Source/Influence Presentations

Project Structure final draft due

 

2/27 Source/Influence Presentations

 

3/4 Source/Influence Presentations

 

3/6 Source/Influence Presentations

 

Proposal Workshops

 

3/11 Proposal Workshops

 

3/13 Proposal Workshops

 

3/18 Spring Break – no class

 

3/20 Spring Break – no class

 

3/25 Proposal Workshops

 

3/27 Proposal Workshops

 

4/1 Proposal Workshops

 

4/3 Proposal Workshops

 

 

New Media Today

 

4/8 Read Sasha Frere-Jones, “Cash on the Pinhead,” newyorker.com, August 12, 2013:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sashafrerejones/2013/08/how-will- musicians-survive-in-the-spotify-era.html?mobify=0

Read Damon Krukowski, “Free Music,” Pitchfork, July 26, 2013:

http://pitchfork.com/features/oped/9178-free-music/

Read Tim Quirk, “My Hilarious Warner Bros. Royalty Statement,” toomuchjoy.com, December 2009:

http://www.toomuchjoy.com/index.php/2009/12/my-hilarious-warner-bros-royalty-statement/

 

4/10 Read Joe Karaganis, “Rethinking Piracy,” Media Piracy in Emerging Economies. New

York: Social Science Research Council, 2011.

http://piracy.americanassembly.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/MPEE-PDF-1- Rethinking-Piracy.pdf

Read Richard Barbrook, “The High Tech Gift Economy,” First Monday, December 5, 2005. http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1517/1432

 

Final Project Presentations

 

4/15 Final Project Presentations

 

4/17 Final Project Presentations

 

4/22 Final Project Presentations

 

4/24 Final Project Presentations

 

Final project due May 1

 

 

Assignments

 

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

 

A 100-93 B+ 89-88 C+ 79-78 D 70-65

A- 92-90 B 87-83 C 77-73 F 64-0

B- 82-80 C- 72-70

 

 

Project Proposal – 10 points

Write a 2-3 page proposal.  Students creating research papers, nonfiction videos, or websites will detail the questions to be investigated and the sources they will use (including bibliography).  Those creating fiction videos will present a story synopsis and a statement of their project’s intended meaning/purpose. The proposal is due in class on January 28.

 

Source/Influence Presentation – 10 points

Pick one or more texts that you expect to engage in your project. These may be sources you plan to write about, clips you plan to sample, or models for your own creative work. Present to the class (10-15 minutes) the background and context for the sources or influences, discussing how you plan to engage them in your own project. Presentations will be scheduled from February 18 to March 6.

 

Project Structure – 30 points

Write a 6-10 page document including the following segments:

 

I. Outline or script: 3-5 pages, form depending on project. An essay project should include an expanded outline. A nonfiction video project should include a detailed segmentation breaking down scenes. A fiction video project or comic book should include a full script. A website project should include a site map.

 

Plan: 3-5 pages. You will answer a series of questions to flesh out your goals and strategies for the project. (More information to follow on a separate handout.)

A rough draft of the Project Structure is due in class on February 11. After meetings to discuss revisions, the final version is due in class February 25.

 

Proposal Workshop – 10 points

Present your work in progress to the class. Workshops will be scheduled from March 11 to April 3.

 

Final Project Presentation – 10 points

After incorporating the class’s feedback from the Proposal Workshop, you will present a final version to the class at the end of the semester, April 15-24.

 

Final Project – 30 points

After incorporating further class feedback and polishing any rough edges, the final version of the capstone project is due on May 1.

 

Attendance Adjustment

As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes on your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

 

 

Policies

 

Late Assignments

Late assignments will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. No work can be accepted after the deadline for the final project. Any unsubmitted work will receive a 0.

 

Withdrawals

Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the Office of the Dean of Students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

 

Incompletes

Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

 

Changes to the Syllabus

This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

 

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Communication Pedagogy, Fall 2013

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COMM 8035, Thursdays 4:30-7:00, 25 Park Place #1113

 

Ted Friedman

Office: 25 Park Place #1017

Email: ted@tedfriedman.com

Twitter: https://tedfriedman.com/twitter

Website: https://tedfriedman.com/teaching

Office hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 12-2 and by appointment

 

Course Description

This is a course on methods and practices of teaching communication area courses.  It is designed to introduce you to some of the philosophies behind different ways of teaching, as well as to assist you in your teaching experience at Georgia State.  We will thus be discussing both practical teaching strategies and theoretical debates in pedagogy.  The goals of the course are to make you more comfortable in the classroom, to better your pedagogical skills, and to improve your understanding of your own teaching. Some class time will be reserved every week for the discussion of issues, problems, and positive experiences in your individual classrooms.

Readings

The assigned articles will be distributed via CD-ROM. The two assigned books, The Craft of Teaching by Kenneth Eble and Now You See It by Cathy Davidson are available for purchase online at http://amazon.com, http://bn.com, http://powells.com and other sources.

 

Schedule

 

8/29     Introduction

 

9/5       First Days of Class

Read articles labeled “1” on CD

 

9/12     Becoming a Teacher

Read articles labeled “2” on CD; Eble Chapters 1-3

First course syllabus due                            

 

9/19     Goals and Student Engagement

Read articles labeled “3” on CD; Eble Chapters 4-7

 

9/26     Teaching in Your Disciplines

Read articles labeled 4 on CD (focus on those in your area); Eble Chapters 8-10

Second course syllabus due

 

10/3     Learning Methods and Grading

Read articles labeled 5 on CD; Eble Chapters 11-13

10/10   Critical Pedagogy

Read articles labeled 6 on CD; Eble Chapters 15-17

            Research paper proposal due

 

10/17   Teaching to Transgress

Read articles labeled 10 on CD

 

10/24   Academic Honesty, Difficult Students, and Other Problems

Read articles labeled 9 on CD; Eble Chapter 14

            Professor paper due

 

10/31   Teaching with Technology

Read articles labeled 7 on CD; Davidson Introduction, Chapters 1-2

11/7     Futures of Learning

Davidson Chapters 3-8, Conclusion

            Teaching philosophy due

 

11/14   Research presentations 1

 

11/21   No class – many people gone to NCA

 

11/28   No class – Thanksgiving Break

12/5     Research presentations 2/party at Ted’s house

 

Reasearch Paper due December 12

 

 

 

Assignments

 

The class assignments add up to a total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

 

A         100-93             B+        89-88               C+        79-78               D         70-65

A-        92-90               B          87-83               C          77-73               F          64-0

B-        82-80               C-        72-70

 

 

Syllabi – First 5 points, Second 10 points

The first syllabus will be a revision of the course you are currently teaching. Make sure that it has all the required GSU information. Incorporate at least two or three ideas from our readings on “promising” or upgraded syllabi and innovative in-class work or student assignments. Due September 12.

 

The second syllabus will be a special course you could teach at GSU if you were given an upper-level special topics course on the topic of your choice. What would your dream course be? It will be a significant addition to your teaching portfolio. Due September 26.

 

Many area-specific listservs and organizations offer syllabi banks.  It is not “cheating” to use such initial sources for your syllabus; teaching and learning are collaborative processes and you are strongly encouraged to learn from the experiences, examples, and ideas of others.  For the purposes of this assignment, you simply need to acknowledge them as sources, and include copies, notes, or citations when relevant.

 

The second syllabus will include a cover memo with the following:

  • A statement describing the course
  • A statement about the course objectives
  • A statement connecting the class work that you have included with the goals of the course
  • A statement about why you have chosen to organize the course in the way that you have
  • A statement explaining why you have chosen these particular readings
  • A statement explaining the course format
  • A summary statement that includes anything else you want understood about this particular class

 

Teaching Presentation – 15 points

You will sign up to present a 20-30 minute example of your teaching, drawn from what you are teaching this semester. You may choose to present a class you have already taught, or to prepare for an upcoming topic. Your presentation should incorporate both lecture and discussion; you may also include a short media clip if useful. Teaching presentations will be scheduled from September 19 – November 7.

 

Professor Paper – 20 points

You will write a 3-5 page paper describing the teaching style and philosophy of one of your GSU professors. You will begin by choosing a willing professor and “shadowing” them as they teach. You must attend at least one class. You must also have a conversation with the professor about teaching: relevant topics include teaching style, approach to teaching, good and bad experiences in the classroom, special problems or issues related to course material, gender, age, etc. Due October 24.

 

Research Paper – 40 points

In this 10-15 page paper, you may select any topic that interests you, provided that it has clear relevance to the topic of communication pedagogy.  I expect a coherent, organized, thoughtfully written essay that clearly conveys both an argument and a conclusion. As with all graduate-level assignments, you will be graded on your ability to do the following: articulate a clear and coherent argument; defend that argument with available evidence; embed that argument in an ongoing conversation in the field; and demonstrate the significance of your contribution to that conversation.  You may rely on either qualitative or quantitative evidence.

 

  • A 2-3 page proposal, including a preliminary bibliography, will be due October 10. I will schedule individual meetings with you to discuss the proposal.
  • You will give a short (15 minute) presentation of your work in progress on either November 14 or December 5.
  • The final paper is due December 12.

 

 

Your texts offer a good source for ideas; you should also look at back issues of journals such as Communication Educator.  Some possible general topics include:

 

  • Feminist pedagogy
  • Competence-based learning and teaching
  • The pedagogy of Paulo Friere
  • Diversity in the classroom
  • Writing across the curriculum
  • Debate across the curriculum
  • Distance education
  • Teaching and technology
  • Race/ class/ gender/ sexual orientation/ etc. in the classroom
  • Assessing teaching/ learning
  • Use of narrative in teaching
  • Teaching methodologies

 

Teaching Philosophy – 10 points

You will develop a statement of teaching philosophy which articulates in 1-3 pages your core pedagogical values and ideals, and how you work to put them into practice. Due November 7.

 

Attendance Adjustment

As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

 

 

Policies

 

Late Assignments

Late assignments will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. No work can be accepted after the deadline for the final project. Any unsubmitted work will receive a 0.

 

Withdrawals

Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the Office of the Dean of Students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

 

Incompletes

Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

 

Changes to the Syllabus

This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

 

 

Convergence Culture, Fall 2013

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Senior Seminar: Convergence Culture

Film 4910, Fall 2013

Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:30-3:45, Langdale 325

 

Ted Friedman

Office: 25 Park Place #1017

Email: ted@tedfriedman.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman

Website: https://tedfriedman.com/teaching

 

Course Description

Media today are converging, as the boundaries that divide movies, TV, games, computers and phones blur. Likewise, the familiar categories of producer and consumer intermingle in Web 2.0 practices such as blogging, vidding, modding and tweeting. This senior seminar will examine the shifting roles of creators and audiences across a range of media practices, culminating in a capstone project that represents your own engagement with the changing media landscape.

 

Readings

Two books are required for the class:

  • Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying (Harvard UP, 2010).
  • Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green, Spreadable Media (NYU Press, 2013).

In Praise of Copying can be downloaded for free at http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/boon/. Spreadable Media can be purchased online from http://amazon.com, http://bn.com, or http://powells.com, or ordered from the campus bookstore. Other assigned readings are available online at the URLs listed below. Supplementary links to media news and criticism will be distributed via the class Twitter hashtag #sensem.

 

Capstone Project

This seminar is structured to support the creation of an individual project (research or creative) addressing some aspect of authorship, audiences, and/or convergence.  This project may either be a research paper (10-15 pages), a website (15-20 pages), a fiction/nonfiction video (5-10 minutes), a comic book (24 pages), or a game (a board game with cards and rules, or a computer game), depending on your preference and previous technical experience. (Students will not receive technical training in the details of video production or multimedia development as part of this class. Support is available through the GSU Digital Aquarium, http://www.gsu.edu/aquarium/.)  The final submitted project will be the culmination of a series of assignments, as described below.

Critical Thinking through Writing

This course is a designated Critical Thinking through Writing (CTW) course. In film, “critical thinking” is defined as identifying, analyzing, and evaluating arguments and truth claims; and formulating and presenting convincing reasons in support of conclusions.

“Writing” refers to the skill of writing clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct English prose.

Schedule

Introducing Convergence Culture

8/27 Introduction

In-class screening: Star Wars fan films

 

8/29 Read Henry Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema,

Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture,” Convergence Culture (NYU Press, 2006): http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html

Read Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail,” Wired, December 2004:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

In-class screening: Barbie Nation

 

The Culture of the Copy

9/3 Read Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying, Introduction, Chapter 1

In-class screening: Rip! A Remix Manifesto 

 

9/5 Read Boon, Chapters 2-3

 

9/10 Read Boon, Chapters 4-6

In-class screening: Exit through the Gift Shop

Project Proposal due

 

9/12 Read Boon, Chapter 7, Conclusion

 

How Media Spreads

 

9/17 Read Jenkins et al, Spreadable Media, Introduction, Chapter 1

In-class screening: memes

 

9/19 Read Spreadable Media, Chapter 2

 

9/24 Read Spreadable Media, Chapter 3

Project Structure draft due

 

9/26 Read Spreadable Media, Chapter 4

 

Source/Influence Presentations

 

10/1 Source/Influence Presentations

 

10/3 Source/Influence Presentations

 

10/8 Source/Influence Presentations

Project Structure final draft due

 

10/10 Source/Influence Presentations

 

10/15 Source/Influence Presentations

 

10/17 Source/Influence Presentations

 

Proposal Workshops

 

10/22 Proposal Workshops

 

10/24 Proposal Workshops

 

10/29 Proposal Workshops

 

10/31 Proposal Workshops

 

11/5 Proposal Workshops

 

11/7 Proposal Workshops

 

Designing for Spreadability 

 

11/12 Read Spreadable Media, Chapters 5-6

In-class screening: Copyright Criminals

 

11/14 Read Spreadable Media, Chapter 7, Conclusion

 

 

 

Final Project Presentations

 

11/19 Final Project Presentations

 

11/21 Final Project Presentations

 

Thanksgiving Break – No classes on 11/26 &11/28

 

12/3 Final Project Presentations

 

12/5 Final Project Presentations

 

Final project due December 12

 

 

Assignments

 

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

 

A 100-93 B+ 89-88 C+ 79-78 D 70-65

A- 92-90 B 87-83 C 77-73 F 64-0

B- 82-80 C- 72-70

 

Project Proposal – 10 points

Write a 2-3 page proposal.  Students creating research papers, nonfiction videos, or websites will detail the questions to be investigated and the sources they will use (including bibliography).  Those creating fiction videos will present a story synopsis and a statement of their project’s intended meaning/purpose. The proposal is due in class on September 10.

 

Source/Influence Presentation – 10 points

Pick one or more texts that you expect to engage in your project. These may be sources you plan to write about, clips you plan to sample, or models for your own creative work. Present to the class (10-15 minutes) the background and context for the sources or influences, discussing how you plan to engage them in your own project. Presentations will be scheduled from October 1-17.

 

Project Structure – 30 points

Write a 6-10 page document including the following segments:

 

I. Outline or script: 3-5 pages, form depending on project. An essay project should include an expanded outline. A nonfiction video project should include a detailed segmentation breaking down scenes. A fiction video project or comic book should include a full script. A website project should include a site map.

 

  1. Plan: 3-5 pages. You will answer a series of questions to flesh out your goals and strategies for the project. (More information to follow on a separate handout.)

A rough draft of the Project Structure is due in class on September 24. After meetings to discuss revisions, the final version is due in class October 8.

 

Proposal Workshop – 10 points

Present your work in progress to the class. Workshops will be scheduled from October 22-November 7.

 

Final Project Presentation – 10 points

After incorporating the class’s feedback from the Proposal Workshop, you will present a final version to the class at the end of the semester, November 19-December 5.

 

Final Project – 30 points

After incorporating further class feedback and polishing any rough edges, the final version of the capstone project is due on December 12.

 

Attendance Adjustment

As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes on your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

 

 

Policies

 

Late Assignments

Late assignments will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. No work can be accepted after the deadline for the final project. Any unsubmitted work will receive a 0.

 

Withdrawals

Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the Office of the Dean of Students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

 

Incompletes

Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

 

Changes to the Syllabus

This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

 

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American Film History, Fall 2013

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Film 4960, Fall 2013

Class: Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:30-10:45 AM, Langdale 315

Screenings: Tuesdays at 11 AM, Arts & Humanities 406

Office: 25 Park Place South #1017

email: ted@tedfriedman.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman

website: http://www.tedfriedman.com

Course Description

How do movies reflect and influence American life? How has Hollywood shaped Americans’ image of the world, and the world’s view of Americans? What are the alternatives to Hollywood’s stories? What is the future of film in a digital age?

In attempting to answer these questions, this class will trace the history of American movies from the 1960s to the present. Along the way, we’ll look at the semiotics, aesthetics, economics, and politics of Hollywood movies and their independent alternatives.

Readings

The readings for the class include a coursepack, online articles, and a choice of movie memoirs from which you will select one to read.

The coursepack for this class is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South).

The choice of movie memoirs includes:

  • William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade (Warner, 1983).
  • Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture (Hyperion, 1994).
  • Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew (Plume, 1996).
  • Sidney Lumet, Making Movies (Vintage, 1996).
  • John Gregory Dunne, Monster (Random House, 1997).
  • Brian Michael Bendis, Fortune and Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story (Oni, 2000)
  • Lloyd Kaufman, Make Your Own Damn Movie! Secrets from a Renegade Director (LA Weekly Books, 2003).
  • Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, Writing Movies for Fun & Profit (Touchstone, 2011).
  • Lynda Obst, Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business (Simon & Schuster, 2013).

In addition, optional movie news items and reviews will be distributed through the Twitter hashtag #afh2. Find all recent tweets by searching http://twitter.com for #afh2, and feel free to share your own links and comments by including #afh2 in any tweet.

Class Schedule

8/27 Introduction

In-class screening: opening of Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998).

 

8/29 Warm Bodies (Levine, 2013)

Rachel Dodes, “Why It Took Seven Years to See Mandy Lane,” Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2013:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324747104579022770929528870.html

 

9/3 Hollywood Today

David Bordwell, “Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary

American Film,” Film Quarterly 55.3 (Spring 2002): 16-28.

Ashley Lutz, “These 6 Corporations Control 90% of the Media in America,” Business 

Insider, June 14, 2012 [infographic by Jason of http://frugaldad.com]:

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

Christopher Anderson, “The Long Tail,” Wired, December 2010:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

Peter Suderman, “Save the Movie!”, Slate, July 19, 2013:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/07/hollywood_and_blake_snyder_s_screenwriting_book_save_the_cat.html

Peter Suderman, “The Save the Cat Beat Sheet,” Slate, July 19, 2013:

http://www.slate.com/sidebars/2013/07/the_save_the_cat_beat_sheet.html

Scott Brown, “Nuke the Cat!”, New York, August 4, 2013:

http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/script-doctor-damon-lindelof-on-blockbuster-screenwriting.html

 

9/5 Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968)

Robin Wood, “George Romero: Apocalypse Now,” Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan 

and Beyond (Columbia UP, 2003), 101-119.

Thomas Schatz, “Film Genres and the Genre Film,” Hollywood Genres (McGraw-Hill,

1981), 14-41.

 

9/10 Body Genres

Carol J. Clover, “Her Body, Himself,” Men, Women and Chainsaws (Princeton UP, 1992), 21-64.

Linda Williams, “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre and Excess,” Film Quarterly 44.4 (Summer 1991), 2-13.

In-class screening: The American Nightmare (Simon, 2000).

 

9/12 McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman, 1971)

Richard Slotkin, “Introduction: The Significance of the Frontier Myth in American History,”

Gunfighter Nation (Oklahoma UP, 1998), 1-26.

Pauline Kael, “McCabe & Mrs. Miller: Pipe Dream,” New Yorker, July 3, 1971.

 

9/17 The Hollywood Renaissance

Yannis Tzioumakis, “The New Hollywood and the Independent Hollywood,” American Independent Cinema: An Introduction (Rutgers UP, 2006), 169-191.

In-class screening: American Cinema: The Film School Generation (Klarer, 2000).

 

9/19 The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)

Robert Ray, “Introduction,” “Left and Right Cycles,” and “The Godfather and Taxi Driver,” A Certain Tendency in the Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1980 (Princeton UP, 1985), 3-21, 296-360.

 

9/24 Blaxploitation

Ed Guerrero, “The Rise and Fall of Blaxploitation,” from Framing Blackness: The African-American Image in Film, excerpted in Movies and American Society, ed. Steven J. Ross (Blackwell, 2002), 250-273.

In-class screening: Baadasssss Cinema (Julien, 2002).

 

9/26 Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)

Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz, “Introduction,” “The Hunter Myth” and “Jaws: Faces of the Shadow,” Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero in American Film (University of Chicago Press, 1995), 1-8, 52-99.

 

10/1 The New Hollywood

Thomas Schatz, “The New Hollywood,” in Jim Collins, Hilary Radner, and Ava Preacher Collins, eds., Film Theory Goes to the Movies (Routledge, 1993), 8-36.

 

10/3 Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Heckerling, 1982)

Robin Wood, “Teens, Parties and Rollercoasters: A Genre of the 1990s,” Hollywood: From Vietnam to Reagan…and Beyond (Columbia, 2003), 144-167, 309-332.

Susan Faludi, “Fatal and Fetal Visions: The Backlash in the Movies,” Backlash (Broadway Books, 1991), 112-139.

 

10/8 Director Presentations

 

10/10 Robocop (Verhoven, 1987)

Susan Jeffords, “Hard Bodies: The Reagan Heroes” and “The Movies are Looking for a Few Good White Men,” Hard Bodies (Rutgers UP, 1994): 24-63, 104-139.

 

10/15 Director Presentations

 

10/17 Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989)

Nelson George, excerpts from Blackface: Reflections on African-Americans and the 

Movies (Perennial, 1995).

In-class screening: Classified X

Take-home Midterm due

 

10/22 Director Presentations

 

10/24 Dazed and Confused (Linklater, 1993)

Michael Z. Newman, “Indie Cinema Viewing Strategies,” Indie: An American Film Culture

(Columbia UP, 2011), 21-47.

Yannis Tzioumakis, “The Institutionalization of American Independent Cinema,” American Independent Cinema: An Introduction (Rutgers UP, 2006), 246-280.

 

10/29 Director Presentations

 

10/31 Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)

David Foster Wallace, “David Lynch Keeps His Head,” A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll 

Never Do Again (Back Bay, 1998), 146-212.

Michael Z. Newman, “Games of Narrative Form,” Indie: An American Film Culture

(Columbia, 2011), 182-220.

Bill Wyman, Max Garrone and Andy Klein, “Everything You Were Afraid to Ask About Mulholland Drive,” Salon, October 24, 2001:

http://www.salon.com/2001/10/24/mulholland_drive_analysis/

 

11/5 Hollywood Sexuality

Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin, “Sexuality and American Film,” America on Film 

(Wiley-Blackwell, 2009): 303-355.

In-class screening: The Celluloid Closet

 

11/7 Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005)

Alexander Doty, “There’s Something Queer Here,” Making Things Perfectly Queer

(Minnesota UP, 1993), 1-16.

 

11/12 Director Presentations

 

11/14 Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow, 2013)

Peter Bergen, “Zero Dark Thirty: Did Torture Really Net Bin Laden?” CNN.com,

December 11, 2012:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/10/opinion/bergen-zero-dark-thirty/index.html

Jane Meyer, “Zero Conscience in Zero Dark Thirty,” New Yorker, December 14, 2012:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/12/torture-in-kathryn-bigelows-zero-dark-thirty.html?mobify=0

Steve Coll, “‘Disturbing’ & ‘Misleading,’” New York Review of Books, February 7, 2013:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/feb/07/disturbing-misleading-zero-dark-thirty/?pagination=false

Spencer Ackerman, “Two Cheers for Zero Dark Thirty,” Wired.com, December 12, 2012:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/12/zero-dark-thirty/

 

11/19 Director Presentations

 

11/21 Iron Man 3 (Black, 2013)

Begin reading one of the movie memoirs listed above.

 

Thanksgiving Break – No Class 11/26, 11/28

 

12/3 Director Presentations

 

12/5 Class Choice

 

Take-home Final due December 12

 

Screenings

 

You are responsible for viewing the assigned film before class each Thursday. Screenings are Tuesdays at 11 AM in 406 Arts & Humanities.

 

8/27 Warm Bodies

9/3 Night of the Living Dead

9/10 McCabe & Mrs. Miller

9/17 The Godfather

9/24 Jaws

10/1 Fast Times at Ridgemont High

10/8 Robocop

10/15 Do the Right Thing

10/22 Dazed and Confused

10/29 Mulholland Drive

11/5 Brokeback Mountain

11/12 Zero Dark Thirty

11/19 Iron Man 3

12/3 Class choice

 

 

Assignments

 

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

 

A+ 100-98 B+ 89-88 C+ 79-78 D 69-65

A 97-93 B 87-83 C 77-70 F 64-0

A- 92-90 B- 82-80

 

Presentation – 10 Points

 

With a partner, you will research and present a 15-20 minute discussion of a contemporary American filmmaker. A list of potential directors is attached. The presentation should include the following parts:

 

1. One partner will begin by presenting a brief overview of the director’s work, with an emphasis on key films which demonstrate what makes the director’s work distinctive and innovative. Focus on bringing to class up to speed on what they should know about the director in order to have an informed discussion of the clip. If at all possible, include a short clip (under 5 minutes) of the director discussing his or her own work, from a DVD Special Feature, YouTube clip, documentary, or other source.

 

2. Screen a short film clip (under 5 minutes) selected by both partners to exemplify the director’s style. Unless you choose the alternate presentation (discussed below), use one continuous clip.

 

3. The other partner will then present a short analysis of the clip. Choose 1-3 film elements, and discuss in detail how each element functions in the clip. Rewind and replay selections from the clip, or pause on still images, to highlight key moments. (Be sure to prepare by noting in advance the time marks for moments you want to highlight.)

 

4. Class discussion.

 

5. At the end of class, hand in a list of your group’s sources. At least six distinct sources are required from each group. (You don’t need to specifically discuss all sources during your presentation – the goal is that you dig around enough to find the most useful material.) Possible sources include books, journal articles, interviews, documentaries, DVD commentary tracks, and YouTube videos. Wikipedia can be a useful launching pad for your research but does not in itself count towards your six sources. Other recommended resources:

 

Film & Television Literature Index:

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/ehost/search/basic?sid=941c38dc-4cf8-4b7d-b462-670bc0603fbd%40sessionmgr111&vid=2&hid=126

“Gateways to Geekery,” The A.V. Club:

http://www.avclub.com/features/gateways-to-geekery/

“The New Cult Canon,” The A.V. Club:

http://www.avclub.com/features/the-new-cult-canon/

Box Office Mojo: http://boxofficemojo.com

Internet Movie Database: http://imdb.com

Film Studies for Free: http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.com

 

Alternate presentation: if you choose, you may produce a video presentation on your director in place of the spoken presentation. Possible video projects include an edited selection of clips with commentary, interviews with viewers, a fan film, or a trailer mashup. Video equipment and training are available at GSU’s Digital Aquarium in the Student Center.

 

Take-Home Midterm – 45 points

The take-home midterm will require you to relate concepts from the readings and lectures to the films screened in the first half of the semester. Due in class October 17.

 

Take-Home Final – 45 points

The take-home final will be structured just like the midterm, covering the second half of the semester. Due December 12.

 

Attendance Adjustment

As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

 

 

Policies

 

Re-Writes and Makeup Tests

Opportunities for revision and improvement will be available for the midterm and the presentation. In addition, I will look at optional drafts of the final submitted on or before December 1.

 

Late and Unsubmitted Papers

Late papers will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. Any unsubmitted papers will receive a 0. Likewise, any unanswered exam questions will receive a 0. So, if you answer only 2 out of 3 required exam questions, you will get a 0 on the third question.

 

Academic Honesty

The university’s policy on academic honesty is attached. The policy prohibits plagiarism, cheating on examinations, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, and multiple submissions. Violation of the policy will result in failing the class, in addition to disciplinary sanctions.

 

The Internet makes it easy to plagiarize, but also easy to track down plagiarism. Bottom line: Don’t plagiarize. It’s wrong, and it’s not worth it. There’s always a better way. Cite all your sources, put all direct quotations in quotation marks, and clearly note when you are paraphrasing other authors’ work.

 

Incompletes

Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

 

Changes to the Syllabus

This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

 

Course Evaluation

Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State University.  Upon completing the course, please take the time to fill out the online course evaluation.

 

 

 

 

 

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Director List

 

Note: This is only a partial list. Feel free to choose any other director who’s made English-language films since World War II, with one exception: directors of films screened for class are off limits, since they’re already covered.

 

 

Woody Allen

Paul Thomas Anderson

Allison Anders

Kenneth Anger

Judd Apatow

Greg Araki

Darren Aronofsky

Hal Ashby

Ralph Bakshi

Paul Bartel

Michael Bay

Luc Besson

Brad Bird

Lizzie Borden

Danny Boyle

Stan Brakhage

Albert Brooks

Mel Brooks

Charles Burnett

Tim Burton

James Cameron

Jane Campion

Shane Carruth

John Cassavetes

Joel & Ethan Coen

Martha Coolidge

Sofia Coppola

Roger Corman

Alex Cox

Wes Craven

David Cronenberg

Cameron Crowe

Julie Dash

Ossie Davis

Tamra Davis

Guillermo del Toro

Jonathan Demme

Brian DePalma

Tom DiCillo

Ernest Dickerson

Atom Egoyan

Bobby and Peter Farrelly

Jon Favreau

Abel Ferrara

David Fincher

Stephen Frears

William Friedkin

Sam Fuller

Terry Gilliam

Michael Gondry

F. Gary Gray

David Gordon Green

Paul Greengrass

Christopher Guest

James Gunn

Mary Harron

Hal Hartley

Amy Heckerling

Albert and Allen Hughes

Peter Jackson

Henry Jaglom

Rian Johnson

Spike Jonze

Neil Jordan

Jon Jost

Lloyd Kaufman

Harmony Korine

Stanley Kubrick

Neil LaBute

John Lassiter

David Lean

Barry Levinson

Doug Liman

Ken Loach

Sidney Lumet

Terrence Malick

Michael Mann

Elaine May

George Miller

Michael Moore

Errol Morris

Greg Mottola

Mira Nair

Gregory Nava

Mike Nichols

Victor Nunez

Alexander Payne

Sam Peckinpah

Arthur Penn

Sidney Poitier

Roman Polanski

Alex Proyas

Sam Raimi

Rob Reiner

Tim Robbins

Robert Rodriguez

Eli Roth

Alan Rudolph

David O. Russell

Nancy Savoca

John Sayles

Michael Schultz

Martin Scorcese

Susan Seidelman

M. Night Shyamalan

Bryan Singer

John Singleton

Jack Smith

Kevin Smith

Zach Snyder

Stephen Sodebergh

Todd Solondz

Penelope Spheeris

Andrew Stanton

Whit Stillman

Quentin Tarantino

Julien Temple

Rose Troche

Melvin Van Peebles

Gus Van Sandt

Lars von Trier

Lana & Andy Wachowski

Wayne Wang

Andy Warhol

John Waters

Forest Whitaker

Fredric Wiseman

John Woo

Edgar Wright

Boaz Yakin

Benh Zeitlin

Robert Zemeckis

Rob Zombie

PostMarxisms, Summer 2013

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Is Marxism dead? If so, what other forms of critique and imagination can help us think beyond the injustices and unsustainability of global capitalism? What can we learn from the successes and failures of the Marxist project?

The goal of the course is to take stock of the value and legacy of the Marxist critical tradition for contemporary debates about culture and politics. Over the seven weeks, we’ll alternate reading Marx himself with work by theorists engaging his legacy.

Required Texts

Karl Marx, Capital, Volume 1

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

For a hard copy, get the Penguin Classics or Vintage Books edition

Karl Marx & Frederick Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm

Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri, Declaration

http://antonionegriinenglish.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/93152857-hardt-negri-declaration-2012.pdf

Also available on Amazon for 99¢

Jodi Dean, The Communist Horizon

Marshall Berman, Adventures in Marxism

Giles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus:Capitalism and Schizophrenia

Timothy Morton, The Ecological Thought

In addition to the readings, you will also be required to watch or listen to David Harvey’s series of lectures, Reading Marx’s Capital. It’s available in a variety of streaming and downloadable formats at http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital.

Schedule

6/11 Introduction

 

6/13 Marx, Capital, chapters 1-2; Harvey, classes 1-2

Fredric Jameson, “A New Reading of Capital”

http://www.mediationsjournal.org/articles/a-new-reading-of-capital

Nancy Fraser, “A Triple Movement?” New Left Review 81, May-June 2013.

http://newleftreview.org.ezproxy.gsu.edu/II/81/nancy-fraser-a-triple-movement

(you must be logged in to the GSU library for this link to work)

 

6/18 Marx & Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party

Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri, Declaration

 

6/20 Capital, chapters 3-6; Harvey, classes 3-4

 

6/25 Jodi Dean, The Communist Horizon

 

6/27 Capital, chapters 7-11; Harvey, classes 5-6

 

7/2 Marshall Berman, Adventures in Marxism

 

7/4 No Class – July 4 holiday

 

7/9 Fredric Jameson, “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture”

Fredric Jameson, “Forward,” in A.J. Greimas, On Meaning: Selected Writings in Semiotic Theory

Philip Wegner, “Greimas Avec Lacan: or, From the Symbolic to the Real in Dialectical Criticism”

Assignment: come in with your own semantic square

 

7/11 Capital, chapters 12-15; Harvey, classes 7-9

 

7/16 Giles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus

 

7/18 Capital, chapters 16-25; Harvey, classes 10-11

 

7/23 Timothy Morton, The Ecological Thought

 

7/25 Capital, chapters 26-33; Harvey, classes 12-13

 

7/29 Research Presentations/Party at Ted’s house

Note: this class is on a Monday

 

 

Paper due Friday, August 2

 

 

Assignments

 

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

 

A+ 100-98 B+ 89-88 C+ 79-78 D 69-65

A 97-93 B 87-83 C 77-70 F 64-0

A- 92-90 B- 82-80

 

 

I. Reading Discussion – 6160: 20% of final grade; 8690: 15% of final grade

You will sign up to lead, with a group, the discussion of one of the assigned readings (other than Capital). To prepare for the discussion of the reading, research these questions to put the reading in a broader context:

 

  1. What is the author’s background? What discipline is the author trained in? What else has s/he written? In which journals has s/he published?

 

  1. What was the reception of the book? How was book reviewed? What criticisms have been made of the author’s work? How has the author responded? Whom has the author influenced?

 

Then, meet with your group to prepare for a class discussion. Don’t bother summarizing the work. Rather, address on these areas:

 

  1. Theoretical debates: In what theoretical debates does the work intervene? Where does the author stand? Whom does the author criticize? How does this work move the debate forward?

 

  1. Examples: Pick 2-3 media examples that are either directly addressed by the author, or that can be illuminated by applying the author’s ideas. Show a representative sample from the text (any clip should be no more than 5 minutes). Discuss how the author would (or does) interpret the example. What are the strengths and limitations of this interpretation? What alternate interpretations are possible?

 

Outline the key topics of discussion in a short (1-2 page) handout for the class. There’s no need to include more detail, or to prepare a PowerPoint presentation – the focus should be on presenting material orally and facilitating a good class discussion.

 

II. Contemporary Capital example – 6160: 20% of grade; 8690: 15% of grade

For one week’s reading in Capital, bring in a relevant contemporary example so that class can assess the applicability and value of Marx’s ideas today. Choose a text to present to the class to get the discussion going, such as a video clip.

 

IIi. Outside reading presentation – 8690 only: 10% of grade

PhD students will read one additional book, and give a 15-20 minute presentation on the work to the class, summarizing the book’s key arguments, the critical response to the book, and how its ideas relate to the themes of the course. A list of eligible books is appended to the syllabus.

 

III. Final Paper – 60% of final grade

Write a paper on a subject relating to the ideas of the class. 6160: 12-15 pages. 8690: 18-25 pages. Doctoral work will also be expected to meet a higher standard of theoretical sophistication.

 

  • A one-page prospectus is due July 9. I will schedule individual meetings with you to discuss the prospectus.
  • You will give a short (10 minute) presentation of your work in progress on July 29.
  • The final paper is due August 2.

 

IV. Attendance Adjustment

As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

 

 

Policies

 

Office Hours

Office hours are by appointment. I’m usually available to meet before and after every class.

 

Incompletes

Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

 

Assessment

Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State. Upon completing the course, please take time to fill out the online course evaluation.

 

Disability

Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only be accommodated upon issuance by the Office of Disability Services of a signed Accommodation Plan and are responsible for providing a copy of that plan to instructors of all classes in which accommodations are sought.

 

Changes to the Syllabus

This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

 

 

 

 

Potential Books for Outside Presenations:

 

Adorno & Horkheimer, The Dialectic of Enlightenment

Alain Badiou & Bruno Bosteels, The Adventure of French Philosophy

Jean Baudrillard, Simulations

Walter Benjamin, Illuminations

Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism

Jacob Blumenfeld, Chiara Battici & Simon Critchley, The Anarchist Turn

Bruno Bosteels, Marx and Freud in Latin America

Judith Butler and Athena Athanasiou, Dispossession: the Performative in the Political

Simon Critchley, Faith of the Faithless: Experiement in Political Theology

Ann Cvetkovich, Depression: a Public Feeling 

Jaques Derrida, Spectres of Marx

Neal Faulkner, A Marxist History of the World

Mark Fisher, Capitalist Imperialism: Is There No Alternative?

MIchael Foucault, Discipline and Punich

John Fiske, Understanding Popular Culture

Nancy Fraser, Forces of Feminism: From State-Managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis

Gindin and Panich, The Making of Global Capitalism

Alexander Galloway & Eugene Thacker, The Exploit: A Theory of Networks

Chaz Gormley et al, Occupy Pysche: Jungian and Arthetypal Perspectives on a Movement

Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks

Melissa Greegg & Gregory J Seigworth, The Affect Theory Reader

Staurt Hall, Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies

Graham Harman, Guerrilla Metaphysics: Phenomenology and the Carpentry of Thngs

David Harvey, The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism

Christopher Hayes, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy

Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form

Razmig Keucheyan & Gregory Elliott, Left Hemisphere: Mapping Contemporary Theory

Samuel Kimbles & Thomas Singer, the Cultural Complex: Contemporary Jungian Perspectives on  Psyche and Society

Ernesto Laclau & Chantall Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy

Bruno Latour, We Have Never Been Modern

Quentin Mailassoux, After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency

Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel

Paul Mason, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere:The New Global Revolutions

Jose Munoz, Cruising Utopia

Karl Polanyi, The Long Twentieth Century

Jacques Ranciere, Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics

Jonathan Sperber, Karl Marx: A Ninetheenth-Century Life

Michael Warner, The Trouble with Normal

Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature

Slavoj Zizek, Less Than Zero

Slavoj Zizek, ed., Mapping Ideology

 

Myth and Ideology, Spring 2013

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Myth and Ideology

COMM 6160/8980, Spring 2013
Tuesdays, 4:30-7:00 PM
422 Sparks Hall

Ted Friedman
25 Park Place South #1017
tedf@gsu.edu; (404) 463-9522
http://www.tedfriedman.com

Course Description
This course brings together two frameworks for understanding culture: myth criticism and ideological analysis.

Influenced by anthropologists and folklorists, myth critics trace the connections between contemporary cultural narratives and the stories which anchor traditional belief systems. Mythographer Joseph Campbell has become a key influence on many Hollywood screenwriters, who self-consciously craft stories around the “Hero’s Journey” Campbell describes.

Ideological analysis interrogates the political assumptions underlying cultural representations, examining how influential texts may reflect economic contradictions, reinforce dominant structures of power, or influence social change.

This class will put these two perspectives into dialogue. .

Readings

The following required books are available through amazon.com, bn.com, powells.com, and other retailers:

Roland Barthes, Mythologies
David Tacey, How to Read Jung
Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious
Harold Bloom, The American Religion
Slavoj Zizek, The Year of Dreaming Dangerously
James Hillman, Healing Fiction
Gershom Scholem, Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship
Michael Taussig, The Magic of the State
Matthew Hutson, The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking
Maria von Franz, The Interpretation of Fairy Tales
Peggy Orenstein, Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Schedule

1/15 Introduction

1/22 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach”:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm
Karl Marx, excerpt from The German Ideology:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm
Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History”:
http://www.sfu.ca/~andrewf/CONCEPT2.html
Carl Jung, “Two Kinds of Thinking”:
http://www.naderlibrary.com/lit.jungpsychologyunconscous.1.htm
Ted Friedman, “For a Jungian Turn in Cultural Studies” (draft via email)

1/29 Roland Barthes, Mythologies

2/5 David Tacey, How to Read Jung

2/12 Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious

2/19 Harold Bloom, The American Religion

2/26 Slavoj Zizek, The Year of Dreaming Dangerously

3/5 James Hillman, Healing Fiction

3/12 Gershom Scholem, Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship

3/19 No class – Spring Break

3/26 Michael Taussig, The Magic of the State

4/2 Matthew Hutson, The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking

4/9 Maria von Franz, The Interpretation of Fairy Tales

4/16 Peggy Orenstein, Cinderella Ate My Daughter

4/23 Research presentations/party at Ted’s house

Final projects due April 30
Assignments

I. Book Discussion – 6160: 45% of final grade (15% each); 8980: 30% (10% each)
You will lead, with a group, discussion of three of the assigned books. To prepare for the discussion of the reading, research these questions to put the reading in a broader context:

What is the author’s background? What discipline is the author trained in? What else has s/he written? In which journals has s/he published?

What was the reception of the book? How was the book reviewed? What criticisms have been made of the author’s work? How has the author responded? Whom has the author influenced?

Then, meet with your group to prepare for a class discussion. Don’t bother summarizing the work. Rather, concentrate on how the work relates to the key questions we’ll be asking all semester. In addition to the research topics, other subjects for discussion should include:

Methodology: What research methods does the author use? (Possibilities include textual analysis, ethnography, historical research, quantitative social science, etc.) How does the author approach and justify this methodology? What are the advantages and limitations of this methodology?

Theoretical debates: In what theoretical debates does the work intervene? Where does the author stand? Whom does the author criticize? How does this work move the debate forward?

Application: Pick 2-3 contemporary texts which could be illuminated by applying the author’s ideas. Show a representative sample from each text (any clip should be no more than 5 minutes). Discuss how the author would interpret each example. What are the strengths and limitations of this interpretation? What alternate interpretations are possible?

(You don’t need to organize your discussion in the order listed above. It may help to present the example up front, to ground your discussion of methodology and theory. It’s often also a good icebreaker to begin discussion by going around the room, asking everybody to answer a specific question related to their response to the book.)

III. Outside reading presentation – 8690 only: 15% of final grade
Doctoral students will read one additional book and give a short (10-15 minute) presentation on the work to the class, summarizing the book’s key arguments, the critical response to the book, and how its ideas relate to the themes of the course. A list of suggested readings will be distributed separately.

IV. Final Project – 55% of final grade
Option 1: Write a paper on a subject relating to the ideas of the class. 6160: 12-15 pages. 8690: 18-25 pages. Doctoral work will be expected to meet a higher standard of theoretical sophistication.

Option 2: Produce a creative work which engages some of the ideas of the class. The project can be a short film, a screenplay, or a new media work. Along with the project, include a short paper relating your work to ideas from the class. 6160: 3-5 pages; 8690: 8-10 pages. Doctoral work will be expected to meet a higher standard of theoretical sophistication.

For either option, the deadlines are the same:
A one-page prospectus is due February 26. I will schedule individual meetings with you to discuss the prospectus.
You will give a short (10 minute) presentation of your research project on April 23.
The final project is due April 30.

V. Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Academic Honesty
The university’s policy on academic honesty is published in On Campus: The Undergraduate Co-Curricular Affairs Handbook, available online at http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwcam. The policy prohibits plagiarism, cheating on examinations, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, and multiple submissions. Violation of the policy will result in failing the class, in addition to possible disciplinary sanctions.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Fantasy and Science Fiction Media, Spring 2013

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FILM 4280/6280, Spring 2013
Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:00-2:15 PM, 331 General Classroom Building
Screenings Tuesdays, 11:00 AM-12:50 PM, 406 Arts & Humanities

Ted Friedman
25 Park Place #1017
tedf@gsu.edu
http://twitter.com/tedfriedman
http://tedfriedman.com

Course Description
How do we dream our visions of the future? How do we explore our fantasies of the past?

Science fiction extrapolates the trends of the present to imagine possible future worlds, both utopian and (more often) dystopian. Fantasy looks back to imagine past worlds in which technology has not yet usurped nature. Both genres are rooted in mythic traditions that push beyond the boundaries of realism to reach for deeper truths.

This class will examine the genres of fantasy and science fiction across multiple media, including film, television, literature, comics and gaming. We’ll survey their history, while at the same time tracing the impact of each text forward into the present. We’ll look at how these works have reflected and influenced American society, as each new generation of creators has responded to changing social conditions by re-imagining the key tropes and themes of the genres. And we’ll try to understand why these visions continue to capture the world’s imagination.

Readings
Class readings will include books and a coursepack of articles. Here are the books you’ll need:

Maggie Hyde and Michael McGuinness, Introducing Jung
Salman Rushdie, The Wizard of Oz
Neal Gaiman, The Sandman: Season of Mists
Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game
Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles

The course books can be ordered through online retailers such as amazon.com/student, bn.com, and powells.com. The coursepack is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South).

Students in Film 6280 will read two additional books of their choice, one scholarly book and one work of fiction, and will present them in two separately scheduled meetings with the other graduate students.

Twitter Feed
Relevant news and commentary will be shared with the class via the Twitter hashtag #fsfmedia. Feel free to respond to tweets or post your own. Class Schedule

Unit I: Modern Myths

T 1/15 Understanding Fantasy and Science Fiction

Th 1/17 The Power of Myth
Ted Friedman, “Myth, the Numinous, and Cultural Studies”:
http://flowtv.org/?p=4161
Ted Friedman, “The Politics of Magic,”
http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/article.php?issue=14&id=1138&section=article&q=rose

T 1/22 Star Wars
Joseph Campbell, excerpt from The Hero With a Thousand Faces (CP)
Christopher Vogler and Stuart Voytilla, excerpt from Myth and the Movies (CP)

Th 1/24 Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Hyde and McGuinness, Introducing Jung
Ted Friedman, “Jung and Lost”:
http://flowtv.org/?p=3865
Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Child and the Shadow” (CP)

T 1/29 The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien, “Introduction to The Fellowship of the Ring” (CP)
J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy Stories”:
http://bjorn.kiev.ua/librae/Tolkien/Tolkien_On_Fairy_Stories.htm

Th 1/31 Game of Thrones

Unit II: Folklore and Fantasy

T 2/5 The Wizard of Oz
Salman Rushdie, The Wizard of Oz

Th 2/7 Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, “Why Vampires Never Die”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/opinion/31deltoro.html?_r=1
Laura Miller, “Real Men Have Fangs”:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB122540672952785957-lMyQjAxMDI4MjE1MTQxMDE2Wj.html

T 2/12 The Company of Wolves
Angela Carter, “The Company of Wolves” (CP)
Selections from Marjorie Tatar, ed., The Classic Fairy Tales (CP)

Th 2/14 Firefly

T 2/19 Where the Wild Things Are
Alison Lurie, “Something Wonderful Out of Almost Nothing”:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/something-wonderful-out-almost-nothing/

Th 2/21 Dollhouse

T 2/26 Spirited Away
Margaret Talbot, “The Auteur of Anime” (CP)
James W. Boyd and Tetsuya Nishimura, “Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film Spirited Away,” The Journal of Religion and Film 8.2 (October 2004):
http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol8No2/boydShinto.htm
Norkio T. Reider, “Spirited Away: Film of the Fantastic and Evolving Japanese Folk Symbols,” Film Criticism 29.3 (2005): 4-27:

Click to access spirited_away.pdf

Aaron Sherwood, “Characterization, Narrative Structure and Mythopoeia in the Films of Hayao Miyazaki” (2006):

Click to access AaronSherwood_Mythopoeia.pdf

Th 2/28 Lost
Jason Mittell, “Sites of Participation: Wiki Fandom and the Case of Lostpedia”:
http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/118/117

T 3/5 Pan’s Labyrinth and Sandman
Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Season of Mists

Th 3/7 The Walking Dead
Take-home midterm due

Unit III: Science Fiction

T 3/12 Metropolis
J. P. Telotte, “The Seductive Text of Metropolis” (CP)
William Gibson, “The Gernsback Continuum” (CP)
Andrew Ross, “Getting Out of the Gernsback Continuum” (CP)
David Hartwell, excerpt from Age of Wonders (CP)

Th 3/14 The Twilight Zone

T 3/19 Spring Break – no class

Th 3/21 Spring Break – no class

T 3/26 Bride of Frankenstein
Gary Morris, “Sexual Subversion: The Bride of Frankenstein”:
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/19/19_bride1.html

Th 3/28 Star Trek
Henry Jenkins, “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations” (CP)
Ted Friedman, “Capitalism: The Final Frontier”:
http://www.tedfriedman.com/essays/2005/03/capitalism_the.html

T 4/2 Blade Runner
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” (CP)
Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (CP)

Th 4/4 The X-Files
Carl Jung, “Flying Saucers as Modern Myths” (CP)

T 4/9 Brazil and Ender’s Game
Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Th 4/11 Battlestar Galactica
Spencer Ackerman, “Battlestar: Iraqtica,”
http://www.slate.com/id/2151425/nav/tap2/

T 4/16 The Matrix
David Weberman, “The Matrix: Simulation and the Postmodern Age” (CP)
Slavoj Zizek, “The Matrix, or the Two Sides of Perversion” (CP)
Aleksandar Hemon, “Beyond the Matrix”:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_hemon

Th 4/18 World of Warcraft and The Guild
Download and play the free World of Warcraft trial:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

T 4/23 Children of Men and The Age of Miracles
Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles

Th 4/25 Futurama

Take-Home Final due via email to tedf@gsu.edu on Tuesday, April 30 by 5 PM

Screening Schedule

You are responsible for viewing assigned films in time for class discussion. Screenings are held on Thursdays at 4:30 PM in 406 Arts & Humanities.

1/15 No screening
1/22 Star Wars
1/29 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2/5 The Wizard of Oz
2/12 The Company of Wolves
2/19 Where the Wild Things Are
2/26 Spirited Away
3/5 Pan’s Labyrinth
3/12 Metropolis
3/19 Spring Break – no class
3/26 Bride of Frankenstein
4/2 Blade Runner
4/9 Brazil
4/16 The Matrix
4/23 Children of Men

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A+ 100-98 B+ 89-88 C+ 79-78 D 69-65
A 97-93 B 87-83 C 77-70 F 64-0
A- 92-90 B- 82-80

TV Presentation – 10 points (Film 4280 only)
As part of a 2-3 person team, you will give a presentation on an influential fantasy or science fiction television show. Your team has two presentation options:

Research Presentation: Each member of the team gives a 5-minute presentation on a different aspect of the show: 1) the creator/creators; 2) the economics of the production, including available budget and ratings information; 3) audience responses. Each member hands in a list of sources. A minimum of five separate sources is required for each member’s presentation. (Wikipedia can be consulted to find sources but does not itself count toward the five sources.) PowerPoint is not necessary, but short video clips (such as creator interviews, news stories, and fan films) should be incorporated into each presentation when available.

Creative Presentation: Alternately, the presentation team can choose to collectively produce a short film about the TV show. Options include an edited selection of clips with voice-over commentary, a series of interviews with viewers, or a fan film.

Book Presentations – 5 points each (Film 6280 only)
Graduate students will read two additional books of their choice, one scholarly book and one work of fiction, and will give short a presentation on each in two separately scheduled meetings with the other graduate students.

Take-Home Midterm – 45 points (Film 4280 and 6280)
The take-home midterm will require you to relate concepts from the readings and lectures to the assigned films, series, novels and comics. Undergraduate and graduate students will take the same exam, but graduate students will be expected to submit more detailed answers. Due March 7.

Take-Home Final – 45 points (Film 4280 and 6280)
The take-home final will be structured just like the midterm, covering the second half of the semester. Due April 30.

Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Office Hours
Office hours are by appointment. I’m usually available to meet before and after every class.

Late Papers
Late midterms are penalized at the rate of 1/2 point per day overdue. Late finals cannot be accepted without an extension.

Rewrites
Rewrites of any midterm question are welcome. The final grade on the question will be the average of the original grade and the rewritten version’s grade. Rewrites of the final are unavailable, but rough drafts of the final can be submitted for feedback through April 23.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Assessment
Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State. Upon completing the course, please take time to fill out the online course evaluation.

Disability
Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only be accommodated upon issuance by the Office of Disability Services of a signed Accommodation Plan and are responsible for providing a copy of that plan to instructors of all classes in which accommodations are sought.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Convergence Culture, Fall 2012

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Senior Seminar: Convergence Culture
Film 4910, Fall 2012
Section 4910-005: Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:00-12:15, Sparks 305
Section 4910-010: Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:30-3:45, Sparks 329

Ted Friedman
Office: 738 One Park Place South
Email: ted@tedfriedman.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman
Website: https://tedfriedman.com/teaching

Course Description
Media today are converging, as the boundaries that divide movies, TV, games, phones and the web blur. Likewise, the familiar categories of producer and consumer intermingle in Web 2.0 practices such as blogging, vidding, modding and tweeting. This senior seminar will examine the shifting roles of creators and audiences across a range of media practices, culminating in a capstone project that represents your own engagement with the changing media landscape.

Readings
Three books are required for the class:
Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying (Harvard UP, 2010).
Bill Wasik, And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture (Penguin, 2009).
Laurence Lessig: Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy (Penguin, 2008).
In Praise of Copying can be downloaded for free at http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/boon/. Remix can be read for free online at http://www.scribd.com/doc/47089238/Remix. And Then There’s This can be purchased online from http://amazon.com, http://bn.com, or http://powells.com, or ordered from the campus bookstore. Other assigned readings are available online at the URLs listed below. Supplementary links to media news and criticism will be distributed via the class Twitter hashtag #sensem.

Capstone Project
This seminar is structured to support the creation of an individual project (research or creative) addressing some aspect of authorship, audiences, and/or convergence.  This project may either be a research paper (10-15 pages), a website (15-20 pages), a fiction/nonfiction video (5-10 minutes), a comic book (24 pages), or a game (a board game with cards and rules, or a computer game), depending on your preference and previous technical experience. (Students will not receive technical training in the details of video production or multimedia development as part of this class. Support is available through the GSU Digital Aquarium, http://www.gsu.edu/aquarium/.)  The final submitted project will be the culmination of a series of assignments, as described below.

Critical Thinking through Writing
This course is a designated Critical Thinking through Writing (CTW) course. It is designed as the capstone course for students majoring in Film/Media. In film/media studies, “critical thinking” is defined as identifying, analyzing, and evaluating arguments and truth claims, then formulating and presenting convincing reasons in support of conclusions.  “Writing” refers to the skill of writing clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct English prose. The emphasis throughout the process of creating the capstone project will be on ensuring that your project achieves your rhetorical ends. All students, whether they write a paper or do a more “creative” project, must clearly articulate those rhetorical strategies in writing and will revise those strategies based on feedback. In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to think critically in discussing their peers’ work, evaluating each individual project’s structure and its persuasive impact.

Schedule

Introducing Convergence Culture

8/21    Introduction
    In-class screening: Star Wars fan films    

8/23    Read Henry Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema,
    Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture”
    http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html
    In-class screening: Barbie Nation

The Culture of the Copy

8/28    Read Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying, Introduction, Chapter 1
    In-class screening: Rip! A Remix Manifesto
    
8/30     Read Boon, Chapters 2-3

9/4    Read Boon, Chapters 4-6
    In-class screening: Exit through the Gift Shop
    Project Proposal due

9/6    Read Boon, Chapter 7, Conclusion

Memetics

9/11     Read Bill Wasik, And Then There’s This, Introduction, Chapter 1
    In-class screening: memes

9/13    Read Wasik, Chapter 2

9/18    Read Wasik, Chapters 3-4
    Project Structure draft due

9/20    Read Wasik, Chapter 5, Conclusion

Source/Influence Presentations

9/25    Source/Influence Presentations

9/27    Source/Influence Presentations

10/2    Source/Influence Presentations
    Project Structure final draft due

10/4    Source/Influence Presentations

10/9    Source/Influence Presentations

Proposal Workshops

10/11    Proposal Workshops

10/16    Proposal Workshops

10/18    Proposal Workshops

10/23    Proposal Workshops

10/25    Proposal Workshops

10/30    Proposal Workshops

Remix Culture

11/1    Read Laurence Lessig, Remix, Part 1
    In-class screening: PressPausePlay

11/6    Read Lessig, Part 2

11/8    Read Lessig, Part 3

Final Project Presentations

11/13    Final Project Presentations

11/15    Final Project Presentations

11/27    Final Project Presentations

11/29    Final Project Presentations

Final project due December 6

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A     100-93        B+    89-88        C+    79-78        D    70-65
A-    92-90        B    87-83        C    77-73        F    64-0
            B-    82-80        C-    72-70
                        
Project Proposal – 10 points
Write a 2-3 page proposal.  Students creating research papers, nonfiction videos, or websites will detail the questions to be investigated and the sources they will use (including bibliography).  Those creating fiction videos will present a story synopsis and a statement of their project’s intended meaning/purpose. The proposal is due in class on September 4.

Source/Influence Presentation – 10 points
Pick one or more texts that you expect to engage in your project. These may be sources you plan to write about, clips you plan to sample, or models for your own creative work. Present to the class (10-15 minutes) the background and context for the sources or influences, discussing how you plan to engage them in your own project. Presentations will be scheduled from September 25-October 9.

Project Structure – 30 points
Write a 6-10 page document including the following segments:

I. Outline or script: 3-5 pages, form depending on project. An essay project should include an expanded outline. A nonfiction video project should include a detailed segmentation breaking down scenes. A fiction video project or comic book should include a full script. A website project should include a site map.

II. Critical essay about the project: 3-5 pages. This paper should address three topics:
    – The goals for your project and how you plan to achieve them
    – How your project engages the ideas of the class, drawing on at least one of the assigned
        readings.
    – How you plan to engage the text or texts discussed in your Source/Influence
        Presentation

A rough draft of the Project Structure is due in class on September 18. After meetings to discuss revisions, the final version is due in class October 2.

Proposal Workshop – 10 points
Present your work in progress to the class. Workshops will be scheduled from October 11-30.

Final Project Presentation – 10 points
After incorporating the class’s feedback from the Proposal Workshop, you will present a final version to the class at the end of the semester, November 13-29.

Final Project – 30 points
After incorporating further class feedback and polishing any rough edges, the final version of the capstone project is due on December 6.

Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes on your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Late Assignments
Late assignments will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. No work can be accepted after the deadline for the final project. Any unsubmitted work will receive a 0.

Withdrawals
Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the Office of the Dean of Students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Convergence Culture, Summer 2012

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Film 4910, Summer 2012
Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:55-1:25, Classroom South 308

Ted Friedman
Office: 738 One Park Place South
Email: ted@tedfriedman.com     
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman
Website: https://tedfriedman.com/teaching

Course Description
Media today are converging, as the boundaries that divide movies, TV, games, phones and the web blur. Likewise, the familiar categories of producer and consumer intermingle in Web 2.0 practices such as blogging, vidding, modding and tweeting. This senior seminar will examine the shifting roles of creators and audiences across a range of media practices, culminating in a capstone project that represents your own engagement with the changing media landscape.

Readings
Three books are required for the class:
Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying (Harvard UP, 2010).
Bill Wasik, And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture (Penguin, 2009).
Laurence Lessig: Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy (Penguin, 2008).
In Praise of Copying can be downloaded for free at http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/boon/. Remix can be read for free online at http://www.scribd.com/doc/47089238/Remix. And Then There’s This can be purchased from http://amazon.com, http//:bn.com, http://powells.com, and other retailers. Other assigned readings are available online at the URLs listed below. Supplementary links to media news and criticism will be distributed via the class Twitter hashtag #sensem.

Capstone Project
This seminar is structured to support the creation of an individual project (research or creative) addressing some aspect of authorship, audiences, and/or convergence.  This project may either be a research paper (10-15 pages), a website (15-20 pages), a fiction/nonfiction video (5-10 minutes), a comic book (24 pages) or a game (a board game with cards and rules, or a computer game) depending on your preference and previous technical experience. (Students will not receive technical training in the details of video production or multimedia development as part of this class. Support is available through the GSU Digital Aquarium, http://www.gsu.edu/aquarium/.)   The final submitted project will be the culmination of a series of assignments, as described below.

Critical Thinking through Writing
This course is a designated Critical Thinking through Writing (CTW) course. It is designed as the capstone course for students majoring in Film/Media. In film/media studies, “critical thinking” is defined as identifying, analyzing, and evaluating arguments and truth claims, then formulating and presenting convincing reasons in support of conclusions.  “Writing” refers to the skill of writing clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct English prose. The emphasis throughout the process of creating the capstone project will be on ensuring that your project achieves your rhetorical ends. All students, whether they write a paper or do a more “creative” project, must clearly articulate those rhetorical strategies in writing and will revise those strategies based on feedback. In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to think critically in discussing their peers’ work, evaluating each individual project’s structure and its persuasive impact.

Schedule

Introducing Convergence Culture

6/5    Introduction
    In-class screening: Barbie Nation

6/7    Read Henry Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema,
    Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture”
    http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html
    In-class screening: Star Wars fan films

The Culture of the Copy

6/12    Read Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying, Introduction, Chapters 1-4
    In-class screening: Rip! A Remix Manifesto
    Project Proposal due

6/14    Read Boon, Chapter 5-7, Conclusion
    In-class screening: PressPausePlay

Memetics

6/19    Read Bill Wasik, And Then There’s This, Introduction, Chapters 1-2
    In-class screening: memes
    Project Structure draft due        

6/22     Read Wasik, Chapters 3-5, Conclusion
    In-class screening: memes
    

Source/Influence Presentations

6/26    Source/Influence Presentations
    Project Structure final draft due

6/28    Source/Influence Presentations

Proposal Workshops

7/3    Proposal Workshops

7/5    Proposal Workshops

Remix Culture

7/10    Read Laurence Lessig, Remix, Parts 1-2.
    In-class screening: Copyright Criminals

7/12    Read Lessig, Part 3.
    In-class screening: Exit through the Gift Shop

Final Project Presentations

7/17    Final Project Presentations

7/19    Final Project Presentations

Final project due July 26

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A     100-93        B+    89-88        C+    79-78        D    70-65
A-    92-90        B    87-83        C    77-73        F    64-0
            B-    82-80        C-    72-70
                        
Project Proposal – 10 points
Write a 2-3 page proposal.  Students creating research papers, nonfiction videos, or websites will detail the questions to be investigated and the sources they will use (including bibliography).  Those creating fiction videos will present a story synopsis and a statement of their project’s intended meaning/purpose. The proposal is due in class on June 12.

Source/Influence Presentation – 10 points
Pick one or more texts that you expect to engage in your project. These may be sources you plan to write about, clips you plan to sample, or models for your own creative work. Present to the class (10-15 minutes) the background and context for the sources or influences, discussing how you plan to engage them in your own project. Source presentations will be June 26 and 28.

Project Structure – 30 points
Write a 6-10 page document including the following segments:

I. Outline or script: 3-5 pages, form depending on project. An essay project should include an expanded outline. A nonfiction video project should include a detailed segmentation breaking down scenes. A fiction video project or comic book should include a full script. A website project should include a site map.

II. Critical essay about the project: 3-5 pages. This paper should address three topics:
    – The goals for your project and how you plan to achieve them
    – How your project engages the ideas of the class, drawing on at least one of the assigned
        readings.
    – How you plan to engage the text or texts discussed in your source/influence
        presentation

A rough draft of the Project Structure is due in class on June 19. After meetings to discuss revisions, the final version is due in class June 26.

Proposal Workshop – 10 points
Present your work in progress to the class on July 3 or 5.

Final Project Presentation – 10 points
After incorporating the class’s feedback from the Proposal Workshop, you will present a final version to the class at the end of the semester, July 17 or 19.

Final Project – 30 points
After incorporating further class feedback and polishing any rough edges, the final version of the capstone project is due on July 26.

Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes on your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Late Assignments
Late assignments will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. No work can be accepted after the deadline for the final project. Any unsubmitted work will receive a 0.

Withdrawals
Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the Office of the Dean of Students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Media and Cultural Studies, Spring 2012

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COMM 6160/8690, Spring 2012
Thursdays 4:30-7:00 PM, Sparks 321

Ted Friedman
Office: 738 One Park Place South
ted@tedfriedman.com
http://twitter.com/tedfriedman
http://tedfriedman.com

Course Description
What are the political dimensions of popular culture? How does culture reflect, influence, and embody structures of power? Where does hegemony end and resistance begin? This class will engage the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Studies, which attempts to understand the relationship between culture and politics. We’ll be reading both founding theoretical texts and cutting-edge scholarship. We’ll address a range of media, from film and television to music, computer games and romance novels. We’ll look at multiple, intersecting structures of power, including class, nation, gender, and race.

Readings
Class readings will include books and a coursepack of articles. Here are the books you’ll need:

Graeme Turner, British Cultural Studies: An Introduction
Janice Radway, Reading the Romance
One romance novel of your choice
Susan Douglas, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism
Jodi Dean, Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies
Stephen Duncombe, Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy
Jane McGonigal, Reality Is Broken
Bruno Latour, On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods
Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas Frentz, Projecting the Shadow
Jeffrey Kripal, Mutants and Mystics

Most course books should be available at the GSU bookstores. They can also be ordered through online retailers such as amazon.com/student, bn.com, and powells.com. The coursepack is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South).

Podcasts, Screenings and Activities
In addition to readings, some weeks’ assignments will include listening to podcasts, screening films and TV shows, and visiting locations around Atlanta.

Twitter Feed
Relevant news and commentary will be shared with the class via the Twitter hashtag #cultstud. Feel free to respond to tweets or post your own.
Schedule

1/12    The Politics of Culture
In-class screening: Barbie Nation

1/19    Culture and Power
Graeme Tuner, British Cultural Studies: An Introduction: Introduction, Chapter 1
Karl Marx, excerpts from The German Ideology
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm;
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment
as Mass Deception”
http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/SWA/Some_writings_of_Adorno.shtml
Walter Benjamin, “On the Concept of History”
http://www.sfu.ca/~andrewf/CONCEPT2.html
Watch or listen to Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey, Class 1: “Introduction”
http://davidharvey.org/2008/06/marxs-capital-class-01/
Watch or listen to Paul Fry’s Literary Theory, Class 17: “The Frankfurt School of
Critical Theory”
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/17-the-frankfurt-school-critical/id341652579?i=63753382

1/26    Hegemony and Resistance
Turner, Chapters 2-7, Conclusion
Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm
Antonio Gramsci, “Hegemony, Intellectuals and the State” (CP)
Stuart Hall, “Encoding/Decoding” (CP)

2/2    Cynicism and Utopia
Slavoj Zizek, excerpt from The Sublime Object of Ideology (CP)
Fredric Jameson, “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture,” (CP)
Thomas Frank, “New Consensus for Old” (CP)
Richard Dyer, “Entertainment and Utopia” (CP)
Ted Friedman, “Introduction,” Electric Dreams
http://www.tedfriedman.com/electricdreams/2005/02/introduction.php
Michael Berube, “What’s the Matter with Cultural Studies,”
http://chronicle.com/article/Whats-the-Matter-With/48334/
Watch or listen to Paul Fry’s Literary Theory, Class 18: “The Political Unconscious”
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/18-the-political-unconscious/id341652579?i=63753375

2/9    Audience and Gender
Janice Radway, Reading the Romance
Go to a bookstore, buy a romance novel, and read it.

2/16    Postfeminisms
Susan Douglas, The Rise of Enlighted Sexism

2/23    Communicative Capitalism
Jodi Dean, Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies

3/1    No class – spring break

3/8    Fantasy
Stephen Duncombe, Dream: Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy

3/15    Play
Jane McGonigal, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They
Can Change the World

3/22    Science
Bruno Latour, On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods

3/29    Myth
Janice Hocker Rushing & Thomas S. Frentz, Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero
in American Film
Watch Blade Runner

4/5    Mysticism
Jeffrey Kripal, Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics,
and the Paranormal

4/12    Research Presentations
No reading

4/19    Research Presentations/Party
No reading

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A+    100-98        B+    89-88        C+    79-78        D    69-65
A     97-93        B    87-83        C    77-70        F    64-0
A-    92-90        B-    82-80

I. Theorist Discussion – Comm 6160: 15% of final grade; Comm 8690: 10% of final grade
You will lead, with a group, a 30-45 minute discussion of one of the theorists covered in the opening weeks of class. One group member should present a brief (5 minute) biographical introduction, incorporating video clips of the author if available. Each other member should introduce a contemporary media example and suggest how the author’s ideas could be applied to the text. Note: it is not necessary to summarize the reading beyond a brief 1-2 sentence statement of its key arguments. Further exegesis will be developed in lecture and class discussion. The choice of theorists includes: Adorno, Benjamin, Althusser, Gramsci, Hall, Zizek, Jameson and Frank.

II. Book Discussion – 6160: 25% of final grade; 8690: 20% of final grade
You will lead, with a group, discussion of one assigned book. To prepare for the discussion of the reading, research these questions to put the reading in a broader context:

What is the author’s background? What discipline is the author trained in? What else has s/he written? In which journals has s/he published?

What was the reception of the book? How was the book reviewed? What criticisms have been made of the author’s work? How has the author responded? Whom has the author influenced?

Then, meet with your group to prepare for a class discussion. Don’t bother summarizing the work. Rather, concentrate on how the work relates to the key questions we’ll be asking all semester. In addition to the research topics, other subjects for discussion should include:

Methodology: What research methods does the author use? (Possibilities include textual analysis, ethnography, historical research, quantitative social science, etc.) How does the author approach and justify this methodology? What are the advantages and limitations of this methodology?

Theoretical debates: In what theoretical debates does the work intervene? Where does the author stand? Whom does the author criticize? How does this work move the debate forward?

Example of Analysis: Pick one media example that’s either directly addressed by the author, or that can be illuminated by applying the author’s ideas. Show a representative sample from the text (any clip should be no more than 5 minutes). Discuss how the author would (or does) interpret the example. What are the strengths and limitations of this interpretation? What alternate interpretations are possible?

(You don’t need to organize your discussion in the order listed above. It may help to present the example up front, to ground your discussion of methodology and theory. It’s often also a good icebreaker to begin discussion by going around the room, asking everybody to answer a specific question related to their response to the book.)

III. Outside reading presentation – 8690 only: 10% of grade
Doctoral students will read one additional book and give a short (10-15 minute) presentation on the work to the class, summarizing the book’s key arguments, the critical response to the book, and how its ideas relate to the themes of the course. A list of suggested readings will be distributed separately.

IV. Final Project – 50% of final grade
Option 1: Write a paper on a subject relating to the politics of popular culture. 6160: 12-15 pages. 8690: 18-25 pages. Doctoral work will be expected to meet a higher standard of theoretical sophistication.

Option 2: Produce a creative work which engages some of the ideas of the class. The project can be a short film, a screenplay, or a new media work. Along with the project, include a short paper relating your work to ideas from the class. 6160: 3-5 pages; 8690: 8-10 pages. Doctoral work will be expected to meet a higher standard of theoretical sophistication.

For either option, the deadlines are the same:
A one-page prospectus is due February 23. I will schedule individual meetings with you to discuss the prospectus.
You will give a short (10 minute) presentation of your research project on either April 12 or April 19.
The final project is due April 26.

V. Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Office Hours
Office hours are by appointment. I’m usually available to meet before and after every class.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Assessment
Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State. Upon completing the course, please take time to fill out the online course evaluation.

Disability
Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only be accommodated upon issuance by the Office of Disability Services of a signed Accommodation Plan and are responsible for providing a copy of that plan to instructors of all classes in which accommodations are sought.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Convergence Culture, Spring 2012

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Film 4910, Spring 2012
Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:30-3:45, Classroom South 328

Ted Friedman
Office: 738 One Park Place South
Email: ted@tedfriedman.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman
Website: https://tedfriedman.com/teaching

Course Description
Media today are converging, as the boundaries that divide movies, TV, games, phones and the web blur. Likewise, the familiar categories of producer and consumer intermingle in Web 2.0 practices such as blogging, vidding, modding and tweeting. This senior seminar will examine the shifting roles of creators and audiences across a range of media practices, culminating a capstone project which represents your own engagement with the changing media landscape.

Readings
Three books are required for the class:
Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying (Harvard UP, 2010).
Bill Wasik, And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture (Penguin, 2009).
Kembrew McLeod and Rudolf Kuenzli, eds., Cutting Across Media: Appropriation Art, Interventionist Collage, and Copyright Law (Duke UP, 2011).
In Praise of Copying can be downloaded for free at http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/boon/. The other two books can be purchased from http://amazon.com, http//:bn.com, http://powells.com, and other retailers. Other assigned readings are available online at the URLs listed below. Supplementary links to media news and criticism will be distributed via the class Twitter hashtag #sensem.

Capstone Project
This seminar is structured to support the creation of an individual project (research or creative) dealing with some aspect of authorship, audiences, and/or convergence.  This project may either be a research paper (10-15 pages), a website (15-20 pages), or a fiction/nonfiction video (5-10 minutes), depending on your preference and previous technical experience. (Students will not receive technical training in the details of web design or video production as part of this class.)  The project might include a critical examination of a showrunner or production company; a historical portrait of a particular viewing community; a video mash-up that interrogates Hollywood’s portrayal of fans; and so on. The final submitted project will be the culmination of a series of assignments, as described below.

Critical Thinking Through Writing
This course is a designated Critical Thinking through Writing (CTW) course.  It is designed as the capstone course for students majoring in Film/Media.  In film/media studies, “critical thinking” is defined as identifying, analyzing, and evaluating arguments and truth claims; and formulating and presenting convincing reasons in support of conclusions.  “Writing” refers to the skill of writing clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct English prose. The emphasis throughout the process of creating the capstone project will be on ensuring that your project achieves your rhetorical ends.  All students, whether they write a paper or do a more “creative” project, must clearly articulate those rhetorical strategies in writing and will revise those strategies based on feedback.  In addition, students will demonstrate their ability to think critically in discussing their peers’ work, evaluating the individual project’s structure and its persuasive impact.

Schedule

Introducing Convergence Culture

1/10    Introduction

1/12    Read Henry Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture.” http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html

The Culture of the Copy

1/17    Read Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying: Introduction, Chapters 1-2

1/19    Read Boon, Chapter 3
Guest lecture #1

1/24    Read Boon, Chapters 4-5

1/26    Read Boon, Chapters 6-7, Conclusion
Guest lecture #2
Project proposal due

Memetics

1/31    Read Bill Wasik, And Then There’s This: Introduction, Chapter 1
Reading presentation
Meme reports

2/2    Read Wasik, Chapter 2
Guest lecture #3
Reading presentation

2/7    Read Wasik, Chapters 3-4
Reading presentation
Meme reports

2/9    Read Wasik, Chapter 5, Conclusion
Reading presentation
Meme reports
Project structure due

Cutting Across Media I

2/14    Read McLeod & Kuenzli, eds., Cutting Across Media, pp. 1-56.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation

2/16    Read Cutting 57-83.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation

2/21    Read Cutting 84-131.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation

2/23    Read Cutting 132-177.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation
Revised project structure due

2/28    Spring Break

3/1    Spring Break

Project Workshop I

3/6    Project structure & segment presentations

3/8    Project structure & segment presentations

3/13    Project structure & segment presentations

3/15    Project structure & segment presentations

3/20    Project structure & segment presentations

Cutting Across Media II

3/22    Read Cutting 178-218.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation

3/27    Read Cutting 219-251.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation

3/29    Read Cutting 252-289.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation

4/3    Read Cutting 290-326.
Reading presentation
Auteur & audience presentation

Project Workshop II

4/5    Final project presentations

4/10    Final project presentations

4/12    Final project presentations

4/17    Final project presentations

4/19    Final project presentations

Final project due April 26

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A     100-93        B+    89-88        C+    79-78        D    70-65
A-    92-90        B    87-83        C    77-73        F    64-0
B-    82-80        C-    72-70

I. Capstone Project

Project Proposal – 10 points
You will begin your work on your project with a 2-3 page proposal.  Students creating research papers, nonfiction videos, or websites will detail the questions to be investigated and the sources they will use (including bibliography).  Those creating fiction videos will present a story synopsis and a statement of their project’s intended meaning/purpose. The proposal is due in class on January 26.

Project Structure – 30 points
After collecting the materials for your paper/website/video, you will create a document in two parts. Part 1 will differ based on the type of project.  A nonfiction video project will present a segmentation, dividing the project into sections and noting the persuasive function of each.  A fiction video student will create a full script.  Students preparing a research paper will write an expanded outline for the paper as a whole.  Those creating websites will create an expanded site map. No matter what your project, Part 2 will be a 3-5 page paper in which you articulate the rhetorical/aesthetic decisions made in designing the project and justifying those decisions in terms of the intended argument/meaning. The project structure is due February 9. After meeting for individual feedback, you will then revise the project structure paper and submit this version on February 23 for a final grade.

Project Structure & Segment Presentation – 5 points
Each student will present a short segment of his/her project to the class during the period from March 6-20, along with the revised version of the project structure.  Video students will present a 3 minute edited segment of their project.  Those creating websites will present a sample module from the site.  Those writing papers will present the first half of the paper to be read by the students.  Each student will provide feedback on how effective the project sample is in making its argument and achieving its goal (articulated in the written project structure). Students make suggestions on how the final project may be improved.

Final Project Presentation – 5 points
After incorporating the class’s feedback from your first presentation and completing your project, you will present a final version to the class at the end of the semester, during the period from April 5-19.

Final Project – 30 points
After incorporating further class feedback and polishing any rough edges, the final version of the capstone project is due on April 26.

II. Other Assignments

Reading Presentation – 10 points
With a partner, you will sign up to lead one class discussion of the assigned reading. It is not necessary to summarize the entire reading. Instead, each presenter should pick one key text analysed in one of the readings, such as a song, video, or artwork. Research the original, present a sample clip in class, then discuss how the reading inteprets the text and what your assessment is of that interpretation.

Auteur & Audience Presentation or Meme Report – 10 points
You will also sign up to present on one of three topics: a contemporary auteur, that auteur’s audience, or a meme.

The subject of an Auteur & Audience presentation could be a film director, TV showrunner, game designer, comic book writer and/or artist, media mogul, or other creative figure. The first presenter will introduce the auteur, show examples of signature work, and specifically discuss the auteur’s perspective on her/his audience. Incorporate interview clips from YouTube, DVD features, and other sources if possible. The second presenter will focus on the auteur’s audience, surveying the auteur’s critical reception, fans and anti-fans. Show examples of the most popular and influential fan videos. Drawing on class readings, discuss how user-generated content engages, critiques, and builds upon the auteur’s original texts.

The first eight people to claim an auteur have first dibs. After that, you can choose to either partner up with one of the auteur presenters, or instead give a meme report. To pick a meme, go to http://knowyourmeme.com/memes. Choose one you’d like to discuss in the class.  Read the writeup and comments, screen all linked videos, and follow up on all external links. Then look up the meme at http://wikipedia.org. Check for any additional or conflicting information, then click on the Discussion tab and review the contributors’ discusion. For the presentation, show the class the “original” version of the meme, then the most interesting variations. Drawing on your research, discuss how the meme spread, and how it has influenced subsequent memes. Then, to begin the class discussion, share your thoughts as to why this particular meme went viral and what its story might tell us about convergence culture.
.

III. Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Late Assignments
Late assignments will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. No work can be accepted after the deadline for the final project. Any unsubmitted work will receive a 0.

Withdrawals
Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the Office of the Dean of Students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Issues & Perspectives in Communication Theory, Fall 2011

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Comm 6010, Fall 2011
Class: Tuesdays 4:30-7:00 PM, 1020 One Park Place South
Office: 738 One Park Place South
email: ted@tedfriedman.com
website: http://www.tedfriedman.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tedfriedman

Course Description

Communication is a wide-ranging field encompassing the study of speech, journalism, film, television, video games, the internet, and every other medium through which people exchange information. Scholars bring an array of approaches to their work, from historical digging to quantitative data collection to ethnographic interviews to textual analysis. And they address a broad range of issues, from aesthetics to psychology to politics and beyond.

Communication is less a single discipline than an interdisciplinary meeting ground. At the same time, a series of key conversations runs across all these varied areas of study. This course is designed to help new Communication M.A. students get their bearings in this rich, complex field, as you begin your graduate study. It will introduce you to the ideas, arguments, and ongoing questions which organize our field.

Readings

The course-pack for this class is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South).  Additional optional readings will be shared via the Twitter hashtag #commtheory.

Class Schedule

8/23    Introduction

8/30    Communication and Culture
James Carey, “A Cultural Approach to Communication,” Communication as Culture (London: Routledge, 1992): 13-36:
http://www3.niu.edu/acad/gunkel/coms465/carey.html
Clifford Geertz, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”:
http://hypergeertz.jku.at/HyperGeertz-1970-1979.htm
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”:

Click to access mechanicalrepro1.pdf

Ted Friedman, “Introduction,” Electric Dreams: Computers and American Culture (NYU, 2005): http://www.tedfriedman.com/electricdreams/2005/02/introduction.php

9/6    New Media
Henry Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture”: http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html
Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail,” Wired 12.10 (October 2004):
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
Marcus Boon, “Introduction” and “What Is Copying?” In Praise of Copying (Harvard UP, 2010), 1-40: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/boon/
Ted Friedman, “The Rise of the Simulation Game,” Electric Dreams: Computers and American Culture (NYU, 20005): https://tedfriedman.com/electric-dreams/electric-dreams-chapter-six-the-rise-of-the-simulation-game/

9/13    Narrative and Genre
Walter R. Fisher, “Narrative as a Human Communication Paradigm: The Case of Public Moral Argument,” Communication Monographs 51 (1984): 1-23.
Hayden White, “The Question of Narrative in Contemporary Historical Theory,” The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987): 26-57.
Thomas Schatz, “Film Genre and the Genre Film,” Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and the Studio System (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981): 14-41.

9/20    Semiotics
Kaja Silverman, “From Sign to Subject, A Short History,” The Subject of Semiotics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983): 3-53.
Jonathan Culler, “Saussure’s Theory of Language,” Ferdinand de Saussure, rev. ed. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986): 27-64.
Christian Metz, “Some Points in the Semiotics of the Cinema,” in Gerald Mast, Marshall Cohen, and Leo Braudy (eds.), Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 168-178.

9/27    Ideology
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The Ruling Class and the Ruling Ideas,” in Durham and Kellner (eds.), Media and Cultural Studies: Key Works (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001): 39-42.
Raymond WIlliams, “Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory,” in Durham and Kellner (eds.), Media and Cultural Studies: Key Works (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001), 152-165.
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”:
http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/SWA/Some_writings_of_Adorno.shtml
Roland Barthes, “Myth Today,” Mythologies (New York: Hill and Wang, 1972), 109-159.

10/4    Hegemony and Resistance
Stuart Hall, “Encoding, Decoding,” in Simon During (ed.), The Cultural Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2007), 90-103.
Celeste Condit, “Hegemony in a Mass-Mediated Society: Condordance About Reproductive Technologies,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 11 (1994): 205-230.
Dana Cloud, “Hegemony or Concordance? The Rhetoric of Tokenism in ‘Oprah’ Winfrey’s Rags-to-Riches Biography,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 13 (1996): 115-137.
Celeste Condit, “Hegemony, Condordance and Capitalism: Reply to Cloud,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 13 (1996): 382-384.
Dana Cloud, “Concordance, Complexity and Conservatism: Rejoinder to Condit,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 14 (1997): 193-97.
Celeste Condit, “Clouding the Issues? The Ideal and the Material in Human Communication,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 14 (1997): 197-200.
Research proposals due

10/11    The Public Sphere
Jurgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article,” in Durham and Kellner (eds.), Media and Cultural Studies: Key Works (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001): 102-107.
Phaedra Pezzulo, “Resisting ‘National Breast Cancer Awareness Month’: The Rhetoric of Counterpublics and their Cultural Performances,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 89 (2003): 345-365
Bent Flyvbjerg, “Habermas and Foucault: Thinkers for Civil Society?” British Journal of Sociology 49.2 (June 1998): 210-233:

Click to access CIVSOC5%200PRINTBJS.pdf

10/18    Psychoanalysis
Kaja Silverman, “The [Semiotic] Subject in Freud and Lacan,” The Subject of Semiotics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 126-193.
Barbara Creed, “Film and Psychoanalysis,” in John Hill and Pamela Gibson (eds.), The Oxford Guide to Film Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 77-90.
Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz, “Integrating Ideology and Archetype in Rhetorical Criticism,” The Quarterly Journal of Speech 77 (1991): 385-406.
Ted Friedman, “Jung and Lost,” Flow 9.12 (May 2009):
http://flowtv.org/2009/05/jung-and-lost-ted-friedman%C2%A0%C2%A0georgia-state-university-atlanta%C2%A0%C2%A0/

10/25    Gender
Ann Brooks, “Postfeminist Variations within Media and Film Theory,” Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms (London: Routledge, 1997): 163-188.
Judith Butler, “Preface (1999)” and “Preface (1990),” Gender Trouble (New York: Routledge, 1999), vii-xxxiii.
Alexander Doty, “There’s Something Queer Here,” Making Things Perfectly Queer (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993): 1-16.

11/1    Race and National Identity
Michael Omi & Howard Winant, “Racial Formation,” Racial Formation in the United States (New York: Routledge, 1994): 53-76.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities chapters 1-3 (New York: Verso, 1983), 1-46.
Arjun Appadurai, “Disjunctures and Difference in the Global Cultual Economy,” Modernity at Large (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), 27-47.

11/8    Postmodernity, Posthumanism and Transhumanism
Fredric Jameson, “The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (Duke UP, 1990), 1-52.
Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology , and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” Simians, Cyborgs and Women (Routledge, 1990), 149-181, 243-249.
David Abram, “The Ecology of Magic,” The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than Human World (Vintage, 1997):
http://www.primitivism.com/ecology-magic.htm
David Abram, “Language and the Ecology of Sensuous Experience: An Essay with an Unconstructive Footnote”: http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM33/monotheism/DavidAbram.html
Ted Friedman, “The Politics of Magic,” Scope 14 (June 2009):
http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/article.php?issue=14&id=1138
Ted Friedman, “Vertigo,” Flow 10.08 (September 19, 2009):
http://flowtv.org/2009/09/vertigoted-friedman-georgia-state-university/

11/15    No reading – research presentations begin

11/22    Thanksgiving Break – no class

11/29    No reading – research presentations continue/party at Ted’s house

Final papers due 12/6

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A+    100-98        B+    89-88        C+    79-78        D    69-65
A     97-93        B    87-83        C    77-70        F    64-0
A-    92-90        B-    82-80

I. Co-lead discussions of three readings– 15% of final grade for each reading (45% total)
You will sign up to co-lead discussions of three readings over the course of the semester. The discussion of each reading will be co-led by two students. One leader is responsible for presenting background information on the author(s) and the article. For that presentation, you should research the author’s background, and survey the influence of the essay via http://scholar.google.com. If available, incorporate a short video clip of the author speaking. The second leader is responsible for introducing a contemporary media example, and suggesting how the article’s ideas might be applied to the example. Together, the leaders should prepare a short 1-page summary of the key facts about the author(s), article, and media example. Note: it is not necessary to summarize the article beyond brief 1-2 sentence statements of its key arguments. Further exegesis will be developed in lecture and class discussion.

II. Final Paper – 55% of final grade
Write a 15-20 page paper applying one or more theoretical approaches from the class to an object of study in your area. For example, you might develop a semiotic analysis of a news program, a psychoanalytic reading of a film, or a Marxist analysis of a political speech. You should demonstrate your understanding of important concepts and terms, and you should use the concepts to provide new insight into the object you’re examining.

• A one-page proposal is due October 11. I will schedule individual meetings
with you to discuss the proposal.
• You will give a short (10 minute) presentation of your research project on November 15 or 29.
• The final project is due December 6.

III. Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Academic Honesty
The university’s policy on academic honesty is published in On Campus: The Undergraduate Co-Curricular Affairs Handbook, available online at http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwcam. The policy prohibits plagiarism, cheating on examinations, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, and multiple submissions. Violation of the policy will result in failing the class, in addition to disciplinary sanctions.

The Internet makes it easy to plagiarize, but also easy to track down plagiarism. Bottom line: Don’t plagiarize. It’s wrong, and it’s not worth it. There’s always a better way. Cite all your sources, put all direct quotations in quotation marks, and clearly note when you are paraphrasing other authors’ work.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Course Evaluation
Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State University.  Upon completing the course, please take the time to fill out the online course evaluation.

American Film History II, Fall 2011

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Film 4960/6960, Fall 2011
Class: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:00-2:15, Classroom South 426
Screenings: Thursdays at 2:30, Arts & Humanities 406
Office: 738 One Park Place South
email: ted@tedfriedman.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman
website: http://www.tedfriedman.com

Course Description

How do movies reflect and influence American life? How has Hollywood shaped Americans’ image of the world, and the world’s view of Americans? What are the alternatives to Hollywood’s stories? What is the future of film in a digital age?

In attempting to answer these questions, this class will trace the history of American movies from the 1960s to the present. Along the way, we’ll look at the semiotics, aesthetics, economics, and politics of Hollywood movies and their independent alternatives.

Readings

The readings for the class include one required book, a coursepack, and a choice of movie memoirs from which you will select one to read. In addition, graduate students will choose two additional scholarly books to read and discuss in two additional meetings outside of class.

The required text is Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Convergence by Chuck Tryon (Rutgers, 2009).

The coursepack for this class is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South).

The choice of movie memoirs includes:
William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade (Warner, 1983).
Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew (Plume, 1996).
Sidney Lumet, Making Movies (Vintage, 1996).
John Gregory Dunne, Monster (Random House, 1997).
Brian Michael Bendis, Fortune and Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story (Oni, 2000)
Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, Writing Movies for Fun & Profit (Touchstone, 2011).

In addition, optional movie news items and reviews will be distributed through the Twitter hashtag #afh2. Find all recent tweets by searching http://twitter.com for #afh2, and feel free to share your own links and comments by including #afh2 in any tweet.

Class Schedule

8/23    Introduction
In-class screening: opening of Saving Private Ryan (Speilberg, 1998).

8/25    Hollywood Today
Malcolm Gladwell, “The Formula”:
http://gladwell.com/2006/2006_10_16_a_formula.html
Christopher Anderson, “The Long Tail”:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

8/30    Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Wyatt, 2011)
David Bordwell, “Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary
American Film,” Film Quarterly 55.3 (Spring 2002): 16-28.
Toby Miller, Nitin Govil, John McMurria, Richard Maxwell and Ting Wang, “Introduction,” Global Hollywood 2 (BFI Publishing, 2005), 1-49.

9/1    Moviegoing Today
Chuck Tryon, Reinventing Cinema (Rutgers, 2009): Introduction, Chapters 1, 3, 6.
Tad Friend, “Funny Like a Guy,” The New Yorker, April 11, 2011.

9/6    Planet of the Apes (Schaffer, 1968)
Eric Greene, “Planet of the Apes” and “Urban Riots and Ape Revolution,” Planet of the Apes as American Myth (McFarland, 1996), 21-54, 78-113.
Michael Atkinson, “You May Not Like What You Find: The Planet of the Apes Cycle,” Ghosts in the Machine: The Dark Hear of Pop Cinema (Limelight, 2004), 7-15.

9/8    Body Genres
Carol J. Clover, “Her Body, Himself,” Men, Women and Chainsaws (Princeton, 1992), 21-64.
In-class screening: The American Nightmare (Simon, 2000)

9/13    The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
Robert Ray, “Introduction,” “Left and Right Cycles” and “The Godfather and Taxi Driver,” A Certain Tendency in the Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1980 (Princeton, 1985), 3-21, 296-360.

9/15    The Hollywood Renaissance
Yannis Tzioumakis, “The New Hollywood and the Independent Hollywood,” American Independent Cinema: An Introduction (Rutgers, 2006), 169-191.
In-class screening: American Cinema: The Film School Generation (Klarer, 2000).

9/20    Jaws (Speilberg, 1975)
Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz, “Introduction,” “The Hunter Myth” and “Jaws: Faces of the Shadow,” Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero in American Film (University of Chicago Press, 1995), 1-8, 52-99.
Thomas Schatz, “The New Hollywood,” in Jim Collins, Hilary Radner, and Ava Preacher Collins, eds., Film Theory Goes to the Movies (Routledge, 1993), 8-36.

9/22    Blaxploitation
Ed Guerrero, “The Rise and Fall of Blaxploitation,” from Framing Blackness: The African-American Image in Film, excerpted in Movies and American Society, ed. Steven J. Ross (Blackwell, 2002), 250-273.
In-class screening: Baadasssss Cinema (Julien, 2002).

9/27    Real Life (Brooks, 1979)
Pick one of the following memoirs to read (and discuss on the midterm):
William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade (Warner, 1983).
Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew (Plume, 1996).
Sidney Lumet, Making Movies (Vintage, 1996).
John Gregory Dunne, Monster (Random House, 1997).
Brian Michael Bendis, Fortune and Glory: A True Hollywood Comic Book Story (Oni, 2000)
Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, Writing Movies for Fun & Profit (Touchstone, 2011).

9/29    Graduate Presentations

10/4    Valley Girl (Coolidge, 1983)
Robin Wood, “Papering the Cracks: Fantasy and Ideology in the Reagan Era” and “Teens, Parties and Rollercoasters: A Genre of the 1990s,” Hollywood: From Vietnam to Reagan…and Beyond (Columbia, 2003), 144-167, 309-332.

10/6    Director Presentations
Take-home midterm due (presenters have extension until 10/11)

10/11    Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
Susan Jeffords, “Hard Bodies: The Reagan Heroes,” Hard Bodies (Rutgers University Press, 1994): 24-63.
Susan Faludi, “Fatal and Fetal Visions: The Backlash at the Movies,” Backlash (Crown, 1991): 112-139.

10/13    Director presentations

10/18    Guest speaker: Chuck Tryon
Chuck Tryon, Reinventing Cinema: Chapters 2, 4, Conclusion.

10/20    Slacker (Linklater, 1991)
Michael Z. Newman, “Indie Cinema Viewing Strategies” and “Games of Narrative Form” (Columbia, 2011), 21-47, 182-220.
Yannis Tzioumakis, “The Institutionalization of American Independent Cinema,” American Independent Cinema: An Introduction (Rutgers, 2006), 246-280.

10/25    Bamboozled (Lee, 2000)
Nelson George, excerpts from Blackface: Reflections on African-Americans and the Movies (Perennial, 1995).
In-class screening: Classified X

10/27    Director Presentations

11/1    Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005)
Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin, “Sexuality and American Film,” America on Film (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009): 303-355.

11/3    Hollywood Sexuality
In-class screening: The Celluloid Closet

11/8    The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, 2008)
Stephen Prince, “Battleground Iraq” and “No End in Sight,” Firestorm: American Film in the Age of Terrorism (Columbia, 2009), 173-233, 281-309.

11/10    Director Presentations

11/15    Winter’s Bone (Granik, 2010)
Chuck Tryon, Reinventing Cinema, Chapter 5.
Search for blog posts about Winter’s Bone and read at least six.

11/17    Director Presentations

Thanksgiving Break – No Class 11/22, 11/24

11/29    Class Choice
Reading TBA

12/1    Director Presentations

Take-home Final due 12/8

Screenings

You are responsible for viewing the assigned film before class each week. Screenings are Thursdays at 2:30 in 406 Arts & Humanities.

8/25    No screening in 406 – go see Rise of the Planet of the Apes, now playing in theaters
9/1    Planet of the Apes
9/8    The Godfather
9/15    Jaws
9/22    Real Life
9/29    Valley Girl
10/6    Die Hard
10/13    Slacker
10/20    Bamboozled
10/27    Brokeback Mountain
11/3    The Hurt Locker
11/10    Winter’s Bone
11/17    Class choice – film TBD
11/24    No screening – Thanksgiving Break
12/1    No screening

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A+    100-98        B+    89-88        C+    79-78        D    69-65
A     97-93        B    87-83        C    77-70        F    64-0
A-    92-90        B-    82-80

Presentation – 10 Points

Film 6960: Graduate students will each choose a scholarly book on American Film to read and present to the class in a 15-20 minute presentation.

Film 4960: With a partner, undergraduate students will research and present a 15-20 minute discussion of a contemporary American filmmaker. A list of potential directors is attached. The presentation should include the following parts:

1. One partner will begin by presenting a brief overview of the director’s work, with an emphasis on key films which demonstrate what makes the director’s work distinctive and innovative. Focus on bringing to class up to speed on what they should know about the director in order to have an informed discussion of the clip. If at all possible, include a short clip (under 5 minutes) of the director discussing his or her own work, from a DVD Special Feature, YouTube clip, documentary, or other source.

2. Screen a short film clip (under 5 minutes) selected by both partners to exemplify the director’s style. Unless you choose the alternate presentation, use one continuous clip.

3. The other partner will then present a short analysis of the clip. Choose 1-3 film elements, and discuss in detail how each element functions in the clip. Rewind and replay selections from the clip, or pause on still images, to highlight key moments. (Be sure to prepare by noting in advance the time marks for moments you want to highlight.)

4. Class discussion.

5. At the end of class, hand in a list of your group’s sources. At least five distinct sources are required from each group. (You don’t need to specifically discuss all five sources during your presentation – the goal is that you dig around enough to find the most useful material.) Possible sources include books, journal articles, interviews, documentaries, DVD commentary tracks, and online videos. Wikipedia can be a useful launching pad for your research but does not in itself count towards your five sources.

Alternate presentation: if you choose, you may produce a video presentation on your director in place of the spoken presentation. Possible video projects include an edited selection of clips with commentary, interviews with viewers, a fan film, or a trailer mashup. Video equipment and training are available at GSU’s Digital Aquarium in the Student Center.

Take-Home Midterm – 45 points
The take-home midterm will require you to relate concepts from the readings and lectures to the films screened in the first half of the semester. Due in class October 6.

Take-Home Final – 45 points
The take-home final will be structured just like the midterm, covering the second half of the semester. Due December 8.

Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Re-Writes and Makeup Tests
Opportunities for revision and improvement will be available for the midterm and the presentation. In addition, I will look at optional drafts of the final submitted on or before December 1.

Late and Unsubmitted Papers
Late papers will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. Any unsubmitted papers will receive a 0. Likewise, any unanswered exam questions will receive a 0. So, if you answer only 2 out of 3 required exam questions, you will get a 0 on the third question.

Academic Honesty
The university’s policy on academic honesty is attached. The policy prohibits plagiarism, cheating on examinations, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, and multiple submissions. Violation of the policy will result in failing the class, in addition to disciplinary sanctions.

The Internet makes it easy to plagiarize, but also easy to track down plagiarism. Bottom line: Don’t plagiarize. It’s wrong, and it’s not worth it. There’s always a better way. Cite all your sources, put all direct quotations in quotation marks, and clearly note when you are paraphrasing other authors’ work.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Course Evaluation
Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State University.  Upon completing the course, please take the time to fill out the online course evaluation.

Director List

Note: This is only a partial list. Feel free to choose any other director who’s made English-language films since World War II, with one exception: directors of films screened for class are off limits, since they’re already covered.

Woody Allen
Robert Altman
Paul Thomas Anderson
Allison Anders
Kenneth Anger
Judd Apatow
Greg Araki
Darren Aronofsky
Hal Ashby
Ralph Bakshi
Paul Bartel
Kathryn Bigelow
Lizzie Borden
Danny Boyle
Stan Brakhage
Albert Brooks
Mel Brooks
Charles Burnett
Tim Burton
James Cameron
Jane Campion
John Cassavetes
Martha Coolidge
Francis Ford Coppalla
Sophia Coppalla
Roger Corman
Alex Cox
Wes Craven
David Cronenberg
Cameron Crowe
Julie Dash
Ossie Davis
Tamra Davis
Guillermo del Toro
Jonathan Demme
Brian DePalma
Tom DiCillo
Atom Egoyan
Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Abel Ferrara
David Fincher
Stephen Frears
William Friedkin
Sam Fuller
Terry Gilliam
Michael Gondry
F. Gary Gray
David Gordon Green
Paul Greengrass
Christopher Guest
Mary Harron
Hal Hartley
Amy Heckerling
Albert and Allen Hughes
Henry Jaglom
Spike Jonze
Neil Jordan
Jon Jost
Harmony Korine
Stanley Kubrick
Neil LaBute
John Lassiter
David Lean
Barry Levinson
Doug Liman
Richard Linklater
Ken Loach
Sidney Lumet
David Lynch
Terrence Malick
Michael Mann
Elaine May
George Miller
Michael Moore
Errol Morris
Mira Nair
Gregory Nava
Mike Nichols
Victor Nunez
Alexander Payne
Sam Peckinpaugh
Arthur Penn
Sidney Poitier
Roman Polanski
Alex Proyas
Sam Raimi
Rob Reiner
Tim Robbins
Robert Rodriguez
George Romero
Eli Roth
Alan Rudolph
David O. Russell
Nancy Savoca
John Sayles
Michael Schultz
Martin Scorcese
Susan Seidelman
M. Night Shyamalan
Bryan Singer
John Singleton
Jack Smith
Kevin Smith
Stephen Sodebergh
Todd Solondz
Penelope Spheeris
Whit Stillman
Quentin Tarantino
Julien Temple
Rose Troche
Melvin Van Peebles
Gus Van Sandt
Lars von Trier
Larry and Andy Wachowski
Wayne Wang
Andy Warhol
John Waters
Forest Whitaker
Fredric Wiseman
John Woo
Boaz Yakin
Robert Zemeckis
Rob Zombie

Media and Popular Culture, Spring 2011

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Media and Popular Culture
Film 4810, Spring 2011
Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45, Aderhold 303
Office: 738 One Park Place South
Email: ted3k@me.com    Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman
Website: https://tedfriedman.com/teaching

Popular culture is often described as “escapist” entertainment. But this dismissal evades some very serious questions. What are we escaping? Where are we escaping to? Does everybody go to the same place? How might the trip affect us, once we get back? This class looks at the social consequences and political implications of mass mediated entertainment. Its goal is to develop the theoretical tools and critical perspective to interrogate the TV shows, commercials, films, books, songs, videos, and web sites that saturate our lives.

Readings
The coursepack is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South). Some readings are available online through the links provided. Links to additional optional readings will be distributed via the Twitter hashtag #popcult.

Schedule

Unit I: Introducing Cultural Studies

1/19    Introduction: What Is Culture?

1/24    Barbie Nation: Culture as Struggle and Negotiation
Ted Friedman, “Introduction,” Electric Dreams: Computers and American Culture:
https://tedfriedman.com/electric-dreams/electric-dreams-introduction/
Watch The Century of Self online:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6718420906413643126#

1/26    Culture as Sentimental Education
Clifford Geertz, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~boweevil/BaliCockGeertz.html
In Media Res theme week, Sports & Media: Football/Futbol:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/theme-week/2010/45/sports-media-footballfutbol-november-8-12-2010

1/31    Paris Is Burning: Subcultures and Mass Culture
Dick Hebdige, “The Function of Subculture”: http://www.kirkarts.com/wiki/images/a/af/Hebdige_subculture.pdf
Malcolm Gladwell, “The Coolhunt”: http://gladwell.com/1997/1997_03_17_a_cool.htm
Gladwell, “The Science of Shopping”: http://gladwell.com/1996/1996_11_04_a_shopping.htm

Unit II: The Circuit of Culture

2/2    Regulation and Production
Thomas Schatz, “New Hollywood, New Millennium,” from Film Theory and Contemporary New Media, ed. Warren Buckland (Routledge, 2009). (CP)
Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail”: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

2/7    Representation
Ellen Seiter, “Semiotics, Structuralism and Television,” from Channels of Discourse, Reassembled, ed. Robert Allen (UNC Press, 1992). (CP)
Roland Barthes, “Myth Today”: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~marton/myth.html

2/9    Audience, Identity and Meaning
Barbara Ehrenreich et al, “Beatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” from The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, ed. Lisa Lewis (Routledge, 1992). (CP)
Ted Friedman, “Myth, the Numious and Cultural Studies,” Flow 10.05, August 6, 2009:
http://flowtv.org/2009/08/myth-the-numinous-and-cultural-studies-ted-friedman-georgia-state-university-atlanta/
In Media Res theme week, “Science Fiction and Fandom,” September 6-10, 2010:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/theme-week/2010/36/science-fiction-and-fandom-september-6-10-2010

Unit III: Culture and Power

2/14    Reading the Romance: Cultural Capital
Janice Radway, excerpts from Reading the Romance (UNC Press, 1984). (CP)
John Fiske, “The Cultural Economy of Fandom,” from The Adoring Audience. (CP)
Go to a bookstore. Browse for, buy, and read a romance novel.

2/16    Ideology, Hegemony and Resistance
James Kavanaugh, “Ideology,” from Critical Terms for Literary Study, ed. Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin (U Chicago Press, 1995).
John Fiske, “British Cultural Studies and Television,” from Channels of Discourse, Reassembled.
Stuart Hall, “Encoding, Decoding,” from CCCS Stencilled Paper 7:

Click to access SH-Coding.pdf

2/21    Ultimate Fighting Champsionship
In Media Res theme week, “Professional Wrestling,” August 16-20, 2010:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/theme-week/2010/32/wrestling-august-16-20-2010

2/23    Color Adjustment: Racial Formation
Omi and Winant, excerpt from Racial Formation in the United States (Routledge 1994). (CP)

2/28    Spring Break – No Class

3/2    Spring Break – No Class

3/7    Gender
Ariel Levy, “Raunch Culture” and “The Future that Never Happened,” from Female Chauvinist Pigs (Free Press, 2006). (CP)
Alexander Doty, “There’s Something Queer Here,” from Making Things Perfectly Queer (U Minnesota Press, 1993).

3/9    Mad Men
Midterms due

Unit IV: New Media Futures

3/14    Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud, excerpt from Understanding Comics (Kitchen Sink Press, 1993).
Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield, Freakangels: http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23
(read through at least Volume 1)

3/16    Adult Swim

3/21    Game Studies
Ralph Koster, excerpts from A Theory of Fun for Game Design (Paraglyph Press, 2004).
McKenzie Wark, GAM3R 7H3ORY: http://www.futureofthebook.org/gamertheory/ (read “Agony: on The Cave,” page cards 1-25)
Ted Friedman, “The Play Paradigm: What Media Studies Can Learn from Game Studies,” Flow 9.03 (December 1, 2008): http://flowtv.org/2008/12/the-play-paradigm-what-media-studies-can-learn-from-game-studies-ted-friedman-georgia-state-university/
Ted Friedman, “Strat-O-Matic and the Baseball Tarot: Sense and Synchronicity in Sports and Games,” Flow 9.07 (February 20, 2009): http://flowtv.org/2009/02/strat-o-matic-and-the-baseball-tarot-sense-and-synchronicity-in-sports-and-games-ted-friedman-georgia-state-university-atlanta/
In Media Res theme week, “Gaming,” December 6-10, 2010: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/theme-week/2010/49/gaming-december-6-10-2010
Play World of Warcraft, Farmville, or any other MMORPG or social game of your choice.
Free 10-day trial for WoW at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com.

3/23    Game Demos

3/28    Social Media
Emily Nussbam, “Say Everything,” New York, January 15, 2009:
http://nymag.com/news/features/27341/
Ted Friedman, “Tweeting the Dialectic of Technological Determinism,” Flow 10.02, June 27, 2009:
http://flowtv.org/2009/06/tweeting-the-dialectic-of-technological-determinism

3/30     New Media Demos

Unit V: The Politics of Culture

4/4    Globalization
Benedict Anderson, from Imagined Communities (CP)
Arjun Appadurai, from Modernity at Large (CP)

4/6    Global Formats

4/11    Activism
Watch Naomi Klein, “Addicted to Risk,” online:

Watch The Story of Stuff online: http://storyofstuff.com/

4/13    Late Night TV

4/18    Posthumanism
Donna Haraway, “Manifesto for Cyborgs” from Simians, Cyborgs and Women (Routledge 1990).CP

4/20    New Media Demos

4/25    Ecocultural Studies
David Abram, “The Ecology of Magic,” from The Spell of the Sensuous (Vintage, 1996):
http://www.primitivism.com/ecology-magic.htm
Scott London, “The Ecology of Magic: An Interview with David Abram”:
http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/abram.html
Ted Friedman, “The Politics of Magic,” Scope 14 (June 2009):
http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/article.php?issue=14&id=1138
Ted Friedman, “Vertigo,” Flow 10.08 (September 19, 2009):
http://flowtv.org/2009/09/vertigoted-friedman-georgia-state-university/
Take a walk in a park.

Take-Home Final Exam due 5/2

Assignments

The class assignments add up to total of 100 possible points. Your final grade for the class is determined by adding up your grades for each assignment, adjusting for attendance, then applying the final number to the following scale:

A     100-93        B+    89-88        C+    79-78        D    70-65
A-    92-90        B    87-83        C    77-73        F    64-0
B-    82-80        C-    72-70

Take-Home Midterm – 45 points
The take-home midterm will require you to relate concepts from the readings and lectures to the films screened for the first three class units. Due in class March 17.

Take-Home Final – 45 points
The take-home final will be structured just like the midterm, covering units 4-7. Due May 5.

Presentation – 10 points
You will sign up with two partners to research the creators, economics, and audience contexts of a television program or video game. You will then choose a sample episode or gameplay experience, present your research to the class, screen the episode/game for the class, then participate in the class discussion. More information will follow in a separate handout.

Attendance Adjustment
As Woody Allen put it, “80 percent of success is showing up.” It’s less than that in this formula, but the bottom line is that you can’t contribute to the class if you’re not there. You’re allowed one unexcused absence for the semester. After that, each unexcused absence subtracts one point from your grade total. Excused absences include medical and family emergencies. You will be expected to schedule any employment responsibilities around this class, or accept the consequences of missed classes for your grade. If you do need to miss a class, please contact me ahead of time, and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.

Policies

Re-Writes and Makeup Tests
Opportunities for revision and improvement will be available for the midterm and presentations. In addition, I will look at optional drafts of the final submitted on or before the deadline listed above.

Late and Unsubmitted Papers
Late papers will be marked off by ½ point for every day overdue unless an extension is agreed upon before the due date. No work can be accepted after the deadline for the take-home final. Any unsubmitted papers will receive a 0. Likewise, any unanswered exam questions will receive a 0. So, if you answer only 2 out of 3 required exam questions, you will get a 0 on the third question.

Withdrawals
Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the office of the dean of students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.