The New American Cinema
Lisa Shorr profile
W 6:30-9:10
This course will beginning with a brief introduction to classical Hollywood cinema (Casablanca) and the ultimate demise of the Hollywood studio system (Imitation of Life). We will move chronologically through the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's taking into account industrial and technological shifts, international aesthetic influences, recurring thematics, the impact of cultural forces, and the rise of film theory within the academy. Hollywood-financed films continue to be important after the fall of the studio system, therefore we will cover the films of such directors as Kubrick, (Dr. Stangelove) Scorsese (Taxi Driver) and Spielberg (Jaws)as well as the revisionism of classic studio system genres in new Hollywood. We will however spend an equal amount of class time in the investigation of the counter-cultural films and other non-hegemonic film texts such as Anger's Scorpio Rising (1963), the blaxploitation film Cleopatra Jones (1973), documentary films such as Wiseman's High School (1968) as well as more recent independent film projects such as Martin's I Like It Like That (1995). Along with the screening and discussion of the film texts, we will also be introduced to some of the most influential film theories of this period such as psychoanalytic theories of spectatorship, feminist film criticism and current theorists importation of cultural studies approaches to film production and reception.
updated 2006-11-02
