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WORLD CINEMA (Film Studies 2251E) Fall 2014

Instructor: Michael Raine Email: [email protected] Office: AHB-1G29 Office Hours: Wednesday, 2-4 or by appointment. TIMETABLE Screening: Monday 4:30-7:30 (AHB-3B04) Lecture/tutorial: Wednesday 4:30-6:30 (AHB-3B02) DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE This course encompasses films made outside of Europe and North America in order to reflect upon the issues and concepts that inform the category of World Cinema. The first half of the course is organized around films that are part of, or that draw on, the popular cinemas of Asia. The films will lead us to consider the role of genre (musicals, melodramas, and gangster films) in world cinema, the importance of film festivals, and the representation of movement and "action" to a transnational and polyglot medium. The second half of the course focuses on case studies from Africa, South America, the Middle East, and the Anglophone margins of the British Empire. We will trace the search for alternatives to the First Cinema of (usually Hollywood) blockbusters, and the Second Cinema of (usually European) art films in the anti-colonial nationalism of African and Latin American Third Cinema, in Iranian films informed by both art cinema and local poetics, and in a putative Fourth Cinema of films from Australia that articulates an indigenous critique of national as well as international film culture. COURSE AIMS The goal of the course is not mere coverage but an encounter, both familiar and strange, that will expose the global reach of Hollywood cinema and European art films at the same time that it highlights the importance of local conditions (cultural, economic, political, etc.) to films made around the world. No single course can exhaust even one of the areas that is dealt with here. Instead, you should seek to appreciate the great diversity of global film histories and to respond authentically even when, as is always the case, you do not have access to complete knowledge. LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the course you will have developed an understanding of the multidimensional nature of the concept of World Cinema, and an appreciation of the material histories of cinema in specific locations. That awareness will help you understand your own lived experience in relation to world history. You will be better able to understand films from outside the usual centers of film production and you will gain a greater appreciation of how the reduced means of non-mainstream filmmaking can inform your own creative work.

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REQUIRED READING. All required readings will be posted to the resources section of the class web site. There will also be a bibliography of readings so that you can look at the sources if you wish. COURSE REQUIREMENTS and GRADING GUIDELINES • Class attendance and participation in group discussion [10%] • Essay 1: Film Analysis (shot breakdown + 1500 words) [10%] • Group presentations (4) [10%] • Fall midterm examination [5%] • Essay 2: Production and reception dossier, with analysis (dossier + 2000 words) [15%] • Fall term final examination [10%] • Essay 3: Film Analysis (1500 words) [10%] • Spring midterm examination [5%] • Essay 4: Critical Concepts in World Cinema (2000 words) [15%] • Spring term final examination [10%] 1. Attendance and participation: • Attendance will be taken at every class (screenings and lecture/tutorials). More than three absences will affect the attendance mark. • If you are absent from a screening or lecture, or an assignment is late due to illness or other legitimate reasons, please contact me as soon as possible and forward supporting documentation from Student Services. For more information on Accommodation for Medical illness: https://studentservices.uwo.ca/secure/index.cfm • Students who miss a screening due to illness or other legitimate reasons should inform me by email and should make arrangements to watch the material in the media library. • Small-group discussions will be a feature of every class. You will discuss assigned topics related to the film or one of the readings with a group of fellow students and report back to the class. A summary will be collected in class. 2. Examinations: There will be a midterm and a final examination each term. Be sure to arrive promptly. The examinations will consist of an identification section (key concepts, figures, film clips etc.), a short answer section based on the films and course readings, and a short essay section. 4. Two essays each term: This is an essay course so you will have several opportunities to work on academic writing. The emphasis will be on marshaling evidence to make cogent arguments, drawing on scholarly and other resources. The first essay each term will focus on textual analysis; the second essay will require more research and theoretical reflection. There will be a library orientation session in the Fall term to familiarize you with the resources you will need to write your final papers. You

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might find it helpful to look at the following website on film analysis when you are writing your essays: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/. All essays must be uploaded to the class web site; they will be automatically passed through the plagiarism filters at turnitin.com and a report will be sent to you. Assignment 1: 1500 words. Shot breakdown and close analysis of a Chinese film Due date: Sunday September 28th 11:59pm (uploaded to the class web site). Worth 10% of the final grade. Assignment 2: Individual Film Dossier with 2000 word analysis Due date: Friday December 3rd 11:59pm (uploaded to the class web site). Worth 15% of the final grade. Assignment 3: 1500 words. Close analysis of an African film. Due date: Sunday January 25th 11:59pm (uploaded to the class web site). Worth 10% of the final grade. Assignment 4: 2500 words. Essay on critical concepts in world cinema Due date: Sunday April 10th 11:59pm (uploaded to the class web site). Worth 15% of the final grade. Please note: a. Essays should be within 10% of the required word count. b. Assignments handed in late without a previously approved extension will be penalized 5% per day. Essays should be submitted to the appropriate section of the class web site as a single uploaded file in .doc, .pdf, or .rtf format (please include the file extension). You should keep a copy of every assignment you hand in. c. Please refer to the grading criteria at the end of this syllabus. E-MAIL POLICY Think ahead. Generally, all emails will be responded to within 24-48 hours during weekdays (not including holidays). Emails will *usually* be addressed during regular work hours (9-5). We may choose, at our discretion, to respond outside these hours, depending on availability. LAPTOPS AND CELL PHONES POLICY Laptops are useful for making notes and reading material from the web site but they are also a source of distraction, to you and to others. Any indication that you are not doing class work will result in laptops being banned for in-class use. Please remember that, and remind your classmates. In addition, be sure to turn off cell phones. Text messaging during class is unacceptable. SCHOLASTIC OFFENCES AND PLAGIARISM Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf

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COURSE SCHEDULE Week 1 (September 4-5): NO MEETINGS THIS WEEK Week 2 (September 8-12): Mapping World Cinema: one medium, multiple gazes Screening: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Taiwan-USA, Ang Lee, 2000, 120min) Reading: James Shamus. "'We Kicked Jackie Chan's Ass!' An Interview with James Shamus" http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/feature-articles/schamus/ Dennison, Stephanie and Song Hwee Lim. "Situating World Cinema as a Theoretical Problem" Week 3 (September 15-19): Hong Kong on the Edge of Disappearance: Heroic Bloodshed Screening: The Killer (Hong Kong, John Woo, 1989, 111min) Reading: Li Cheuk-To. "Popular Cinema in Hong Kong" David Bordwell. "Hong Kong and-as-or Hollywood" David Bordwell. "Made in Hong Kong" Dudley Andrew. "An Atlas of World Cinema" Week 4 (September 22-26): Opera films and Post-Revolutionary Musicals in Mainland China Screening: Third Sister Liu (China, Su Li, 1961, 117min) Reading: Paul Clark. "Ethnic Minorities in Chinese Films: Cinema and the Exotic" Eddy U. "Third Sister Liu and the Making of the Intellectual in Socialist China" Wimal Dissanayake. "Issues in World Cinema" *** FIRST ASSIGNMENT DUE: SEPTEMBER 28 *** Week 5 (September 29 – October 3): Melodrama, East Asian Modernity, and Global Art Cinema Screening: In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong, Wong Kar Wai, 2000, 98min) Reading: Audrey Yue. "In The Mood for Love: Intersections of Hong Kong Modernity" Stephen Teo. "Betrayed by Maggie Cheung: In the Mood for Love" Dudley Andrew. "Time zones and jetlag: the flows and phases of world cinema" Week 6 (October 6-10): Transnational World Cinema Screening: The World (China, Jia Zhangke, 2004, 143min) Reading: Michael Berry. "Jia Zhangke: Capturing a Transforming Reality" Jason McGrath. "The Independent Cinema of Jia Zhangke"

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Week 7 (October 13-17): MIDTERM EXAMINATION Screening: THANKSGIVING = NO SCREENING Reading: *** MIDTERM EXAMINATION: October 15 *** Week 8 (October 20-24): The Indian Film "Social" as National Allegory Screening: Mother India (India, Mehboob Khan, 1957, 172min) Reading: R. Dudrah and J. Desai. "The Essential Bollywood" M. K. Raghavendra "Mother India. Ideological Agrarianism" Corey Creekmur. "Popular Hindi Cinema and the Film Song" Week 9 (October 27 - 31): Authorship and the Bengali Art Cinema Screening: The Music Room (India, Satyajit Rai, 1958, 95min) [BR] Reading: Philip Kemp. "The Music Room: Distant Music" (http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1930-the-music-room-distant-music) Satyajit Ray. "A Winding Road to The Music Room" David Bordwell. "The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice (with afterword)" Week 10 (November 3-7): Apotheosis of the "Bollywood" Masala Film Screening: Sholay (India, Ramesh Sippy, 1975, 162min) Reading: M. K. Raghavendra. "Sholay" Rosie Thomas. "Melodrama and the Negotiation of Morality in Mainstream Hindi Film" (1995) Week 11 (November 10-14): The New Middle-Class Nationalism in Hindi cinema Screening: Rang de basanti (India, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, 2006, 157min) Reading: Philip Lutgendorf. "Rang de basanti" Manisha Basu. "Rang de basanti: The Solvent Brown and Other Imperial Colors" [NO LECTURE THIS WEEK: 4:30pm LIBRARY SESSION ON RESEARCHING FINAL PROJECT] *** SECOND ASSIGNMENT TOPIC DUE: NOVEMBER 15 *** Week 12 (November 17-21): Citation and Intertextuality in Thai Art Cinema Screening: Tears of the Black Tiger (Thailand, Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000, 110min) Reading:

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Rachel Harrison. "'Somewhere Over the Rainbow': Global Projections/Local Allusions in Tears of the Black Tiger/Fa thalai jone." Leon Hunt. "The Good, the Bad, and the Culturally Inauthentic: The Strange Case of the 'Asian Western'" Week 13 (November 24-28): Film Festivals and Globalization Screening: Last Life in the Universe (Thailand, Pen-Ek Ratunaruang, 2003, 112min) Reading: Anchalee Chaiworaporn and Adam Knee. "Thailand: Revival in an Age of Globalization" Brian Ruh. "Last life in the universe: nationality, technology, authorship" Week 14 (December 1-3): Geopolitical Hierarchies in Global Cinema Screening: Sukiyaki Western Django (Japan, Miike Takashi, 2007, 121min) Reading: Steve Rawle. "Transnational, Transgeneric, Transgressive: Tracing Miike Takashi’s Yakuza Cyborgs to Sukiyaki Westerns" Rachael Hutchinson. "A Fistful of Yojimbo: appropriation and dialogue in Japanese cinema" *** SECOND ASSIGNMENT DUE: DECEMBER 3 *** Spring term 2015 Week 15 (January 5-9): Aesthetics and Authenticity in West African Cinema Screening: Yeelen (Mali-Burkina Faso-France-West Germany-Japan, Souleymane Cisse, 1987, 105min) Reading: N. Frank Ukadike. "Yeelen: Dialectical and Experiential Interplay Between Art and Culture" David Murphy. "Africans Filming Africa: Questioning Theories of an Authentic African Cinema" Week 16 (January 12-16): Local Temporality and Global Synchronicity Screening: Life on Earth (Mali-Mauritania-France, Abderrahmane Sissako, 1998, 61min) Reading: Rachel Gabara. "Abderrahmane Sissako: Second and Third Cinema in the First Person" Isabel Balsiero. "Exile and longing in Abderrahmane Sissako's La Vie sur terre" Week 17 (January 19-23): First Cinema in the Third World Screening: Welcome to Nollywood (USA, Jamie Melzer, 2007, 58min) TBA Reading: Andrew Rice. "A Scorsese in Lagos" Onookome Okome. "Nollywood and its Critics"

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*** THIRD ASSIGNMENT DUE: JANUARY 25 *** Week 18 (January 26-30): Documentary and Cinephilia in Iran Screening: Close Up (Iran, Abbas Kiarostami, 1990, 100min) Reading: Hamid Naficy. "All Certainties Melt into Thin Air" [extract] Bill Nichols. "Documentary Reenactment and the Fantasmatic Subject" Week 19 (February 2-6): Childhood as Topos in a Censored Cinema Screening: Children of Heaven (Iran, Majid Majidi, 1997, 89min) Reading: Hamid Naficy. "All Certainties Melt into Thin Air" [extract] Bert Cardullo. "Children of Heaven on Earth: Neorealism, Iranian Style" Week 20 (February 9-13): Representing Gender in Iranian Cinema Screening: The Circle (Iran, Jafar Panahi, 2000, 91min) Reading: Stephen Teo. "The Case of Jafar Panahi" Scott, A. O. "What Is a Foreign Movie Now?" *** MIDTERM EXAMINATION: FEBRUARY 11 *** Week 21 (February 16-20): NO CLASSES: READING WEEK Week 22 (February 23-27): Hunger, Violence, and Cinema Novo in Brazil Screening: Black God, White Devil (Deus e o diabo na terra do sol, Brazil, Glauber Rocha, 1964, 125min) Reading: Glauber Rocha. "The Aesthetics of Hunger" Julianne Burton-Carvajal. "South American Cinema" Week 23 (March 2-6): Third Cinema Manifesto Screening: Hour of the Furnaces, part 1: Neo-colonialism and violence (Argentina, Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, 1968, 84min) Reading: Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino. "Towards a Third Cinema" Robert Stam. "The Hour of the Furnaces and the Two Avant-Gardes"

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Week 24 (March 9-13): Caribbean Cinema Screening: The Harder They Come (Jamaica, Perry Henzell, 1972, 120min) Reading: Prakash Younger. "Historical Experience in The Harder They Come" Andrew Higson. "The Concept of National Cinema" Week 25 (March 16-20): Road Movie as National Allegory Screening: Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexico, Alfonso Cuarón, 2001, 105min) Reading: Ernesto Acevedo-Munoz. "Sex, Class, and Mexico in Alfonso Cuaron's Y tu mama tambien" Stephen Crofts. "Reconceptualizing National Cinema(s)" *** FOURTH ASSIGNMENT TOPIC DUE: MARCH 22 *** Week 26 (March 23-27): Indigeneity and Authenticity in New Australian Cinema Screening: The Last Wave (Australia, Peter Weir, 1977, 106min) Reading: Tom O'Regan. "Theorizing Australian Cinema" Jerod Ra'Del Hollyfield. "Approximate Others: Peter Weir's The Last Wave (1977) Week 27 (March 30-April 3): Indigenous Storytelling and Fourth Cinema Screening: Ten Canoes (Australia, Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr, 2006, 90min) Reading: Gauthier, Jennifer. "Indigenous feature films: A new hope for national cinemas?" Ian Henderson. "Stranger Danger: Approaching Home and Ten Canoes" Week 28 (April 6-10): Fourth Cinema and Settler Societies Screening: Samson and Delilah (Australia, Warwick Thornton, 2009, 101min) Reading: Felicity Collins. "After the apology: Reframing violence and suffering in First Australians, Australia, and Samson and Delilah" Sukhmani Khorana – "Film festivals and beyond- Activist discourses in the reception of Samson and Delilah and The Tall Man" *** FOURTH ASSIGNMENT DUE: APRIL 10 *** *** FINAL EXAMINATION ***

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GRADING CRITERIA A+ (90-100) Argument: Clear development of a specific, challenging and original thesis. The writer has taken significant risks successfully; in the resulting piece, distinctive ideas and content have discovered their necessary distinctive form. Detailed reference to appropriate texts, with evidence of individual response. Ability not only to expound subject but to see it around–subtleties and ambiguities, qualifications and concessions, relations to other subjects, etc. Presentation, structure: Quotations well integrated into text. Proper paragraphs. Almost no typographical errors. Language Skills: Sentence structure correct, with full range of sentence types (compound, complex, and compound-complex), with full range of punctuation (including semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses). Graceful style, neither pompous nor breezy, and few errors. Research/scholarship: Evidence of effective, extensive and independent research, with proper documentation of sources. Quotations used appropriately and purposively. A (80 to 89) Argument: The writer has taken risks and most of them succeed. Clear development of a specific and challenging thesis, with proper paragraphs. Detailed reference to appropriate texts, with evidence of individual response. Ability not only to expound subject but to see it around–subtleties and ambiguities, qualifications and concessions, relations to other subjects, etc. Presentation, structure: Quotations well integrated into text. Proper paragraphs. Almost no typographical errors. Language Skills: Sentence structure correct, with full range of sentence types (compound, complex, and compound-complex), with full range of punctuation (including semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses). Graceful style, neither pompous nor breezy, and few errors. Research/scholarship: Evidence of effective and independent research, with proper documentation of sources. Quotations used appropriately and purposively. B (70 to 79) Argument: Clear development of a specific thesis, with proper paragraphs. Adequately detailed reference to texts. Ability to expound reasonably sophisticated ideas with clarity. Presentation/structure: Quotations well integrated into text. Proper paragraphs. A few typographical errors. Language Skills: Sentence structure correct, with reasonable range of sentence types and full range of punctuation. Style not too wordy, with errors relatively few and minor. Research Scholarship: Evidence of adequate research, with proper documentation of sources. C (60 to 69) Argument: Reasonably clear development of a thesis, with proper paragraphs. Basic ability to expound ideas, whose development might be rather thin. Effort to support points with references to the text. Tendency to replace analysis with descriptive retelling of plot. Presentation/structure: Presentation showing lapses in tidiness and/or proofreading. Poor use of paragraphs. Language Skills: Sentence structure correct, but perhaps overly simple, with tendency to avoid

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punctuation besides period and comma. Errors relatively few, but occasionally serious, with evident misunderstanding of some point of elementary grammar (comma splices, fragments, semicolon errors, subject-verb disagreements, poorly integrated quotations) Research/Scholarship: reasonable effort at documentation, but rather thin. D (50 to 59) Argument: Difficulty with paragraphing or consecutive thought. Ideas inchoate but clouded by weak expression. Overgeneralization with inadequate support, or examples that run to lengthy paraphrase, with little or no analysis. Presentation/structure: Very poor to non-existent use of paragraphs. Inadequate and inaccurate documentation. Multiple typographical errors. Language Skills: Errors of grammar or diction frequent enough to interfere with understanding. Research/Scholarship: Little serious effort to research the topic. F (49 and down) Argument: Ideas too simple for level of course. Argument completely incoherent. Erroneous content showing little or no understanding of subject. Presentation/structure: Very sloppy proof-reading. Documentation virtually non-existent. Language Skills: Writing frequently ungrammatical. Research/Scholarship: Non-existent. Content largely "borrowed" from sources with non individual distillation, but no apparent attempt to deceive. 0 (Report to Department) Plagiarism with intent to deceive

SENATE REGULATIONS 1. Plagiarism: Students must write their essays in their own words. Whenever students take an idea, or a passage, from another author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper referencing such as footnotes or citations. Plagiarism is a major academic offence (see Scholastic Offense Policy in the UWO Calendar). All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between the University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com. 2. Prerequisites: Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enroll in it, you will be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. The decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.

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3. Complaints: If students have a complaint concerning a course in which they are enrolled, they must discuss the matter with the instructor of the course. If students are still not satisfied, they should then take the complaint to the Film Studies Office, University College, Room 80. These regulations are in place because a failure to follow these procedures creates the potential for injustices of various kinds affecting either the instructor or the students themselves, or both parties. Concerns should not be allowed to fester but should be raised with the instructor in a timely manner, so that they can be addressed in time to make a difference to the course. Course and programme aim (in accordance with OCAV requirements) 1. Understanding, capacity for argument, judgment and analysis will be fostered by essays, presentations, and web postings, and by in-class small-group and whole-class discussion. 2. Communication skills will be imparted through in-class discussion and credit given for frequency and quality of contributions, and by essays and other assignments marked in accordance with a grading scale given to the students and including benchmarks for the expectations associated with each grade, from A+ to F. 3. Awareness of the limits of knowledge will be enhanced by exploring the legitimate differences of opinion and methodology within the field, and by requiring students to negotiate the formulation of their own opinions in-class with the terms and knowledge brought to that discussion by other students and the instructor. 4. The ability to argue and decide on complex issues will be fostered by essays and in-class discussion; that to manage time, by the need to prepare properly for class and to deliver assignments in a timely manner; and that for academic responsibility, by the need to source assignments accurately.