ENG 347
Topics in Cultural Studies:
Kubrick
MW 10:15-11:30
209 Luther Bonney Hall
Instructor: Dr. Shelton Waldrep
Office: 1 Chamberlain Avenue
Contact information: e-mail (preferred): waldrep@maine.edu, telephone 780-4086
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 4-5 PM & by
appointment
Description
The course will begin with a short overview of film
criticism—genre theory, auteur theory, and more recent theories based on
spectatorship and media—and the problems involved in applying these
theories to Kubrick’s work. The course will go on to survey Kubrick’s
output and the relatively scant critical commentary that it has received.
We will pay special attention to the technical achievements of these films
by reading interviews with his cinematographers, set designers, et al., as
well as the few interviews that Kubrick himself gave. Our goal will be to
try to understand the logic of Kubrick’s mature cinema, those films
after 2001, which have been
called both ‘dreamlike’ and ‘allegorical,’ ‘clinical’ and ‘personal.’
Should time permit, we will also give some consideration to the use of
literary texts as source material by Kubrick—most especially his use of
Schnitzler’s “Dream Story” as the basis for his final,
highly-controversial film, Eyes Wide
Shut.
Texts:
Required:
Essays
and chapters from various printed sources will be available in a
coursepack published by the USM textbook store (Portland). Shorter essays
and reviews will be distributed in class. A full bibliographic reference
is provided either on the first page of the coursepack or the first page
of the handout.
Monaco,
James. How to Read a Film: Movies,
Media, Multimedia. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.
Phillips,
Gene D., ed. Stanley Kubrick:
Interviews. Jackson: U P of Mississippi, 2001.
Reserve:
Films:
Although we will look at selected scenes from all
the films—and at four films in their complete form—it will be the
student’s responsibility to see the films that we do not see in their
entirety. A videocassette of each film will be available on reserve at the
Glickman Library, although all of Kubrick’s films from Paths of Glory to A.I. are
available at almost any video store. NB: * = These films are equivalent
to the primary texts in a literature course. Viewing them is not an
option.
The Killer's Kiss
The Killing
Paths of Glory
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
Spartacus
Lolita
The Shining/The Making of the Shining
Dr. Strangelove
Full Metal Jacket
2001: A Space Odyssey (Vivian Kubrick, dir.)
Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (Jan Harlan, dir.)
A.I. (Planned by Kubrick; Spielberg dir.)
Glickman Library for your
research. Other books are available through ILL, but you are encouraged to
order them as soon as possible. If you have trouble locating a book, let
me know.
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
Kubrick: Inside a Film
Artist’s Maze, Thomas Allen Nelson
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
The Luck of Barry Lyndon, Wm. Makepeace Thackeray
Stanley Kubrick Directs, Alexander Walker
2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
Grades: In addition to being
present for all screenings and discussions, students will write
review-essays of two films (25% x 2) and either two other reviews or an
analytical paper of no fewer than nine pages on some aspect of Kubrick’s
work as a whole (50%). The quality of class attendance and participation
will be reflected in up to three percentage points being added to or
subtracted from your final class grade. The reviews should be four-to-five
pages long and focus on a particular theme, symbol, character, scene, or
technical approach (lighting, camera angles, etc.) in one film as a way to
read the film as a whole. For the final paper you should attempt a
full-fledged discussion of a problem or idea reflected in one or more of
Kubrick’s films. Examples of approaches might include a structural
analysis; a comparison of a film to its literary source; a discussion of
the reception of one or more films; etc. If you choose the option of the
final paper, you should not significantly recount material used in your
earlier reviews.
Policies:
·
All
major assignments will receive a letter grade. Letter grades will be
computed as follows: A = 95; A- = 92; B+ = 88; B = 85; B- = 82; C+ = 78; C
= 75; C- = 72, etc.
·
Late
papers will be accepted by permission only. If accepted, one-half of a
letter grade will be subtracted per day for each day of the week that the
paper is late.
·
Attendance
in class is expected. If you miss more than the equivalent of one week’s
worth of classes—for whatever reason—your final course grade will
suffer. If you miss more than one-third of the scheduled classes for this
course, you will receive a grade of “F” for the final course grade.
·
Please
do not be excessively tardy; do not eat in class; do not leave and enter
the room during class except during scheduled breaks.
·
Your
e-mail address will be placed on a distribution list that I will use for
announcements, changes to class schedule or policy, etc. It is your
responsibility to keep me informed of your current e-mail address.
Schedule:
NB: Days on which we screen
films we will also have some class discussion. The chapters by Monaco will
usually be discussed on days set aside for discussion only.
January 13: Introduction
to the course—syllabi and student surveys handed out.
J 15: An overview of Kubrick’s films up to 2001 (with film clips); chapter
from Nelson (coursepack); chapter five in Monaco, pp. 388-425.
J 20: No class: MLK Holiday.
J 22: Overview cont.; screening: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures.
J 27: Screening concluded.
J 29: Screening: 2001: A Space Odyssey;
interviews with Kubrick in Philips anthology, pp. 21-104.
February 3: Screening cont.
F 5: Screening conclud.; discussion of 2001; essays and chapters in the
coursepack by Lightman, Trumbull, Hoch, Berube, and Hanson.
F 10: Discussion cont.; chapter two in Monaco, pp.
68-149.
F 12: Discussion conclud.
F 17: No class: Winter Break.
F 19: No class: Winter Break.
F 24: Screening: A Clockwork Orange; interviews in the Phillips anthology, pp. 105-158; first review due.
F 26: Screening cont.
March 3: Screening conclud.; discussion of A Clockwork Orange; essays and chapters in the coursepack by Mamber and Burgess.
M 5: Discussion cont.; chapter one in Monaco, pp. 22-65.
M 10: Discussion conclud.
M 12: Screening: Barry Lyndon; interview in the
Phillips anthology, pp. 159-170.
M 17: Screening cont.
M 19: Screening conclud.
M 24: No class: Spring Break.
M 26: No class: Spring Break.
M 31: Discussion of Barry Lyndon;
essays and chapters in the coursepack by Feldman, Spiegal, Alcott,
and Miller; second review due.
April
2: Discussion conclud.
A 7: Screening of The Shining.
A 9: Screening
cont.
A 14: Screening conclud.; discussion of The Shining; essays and chapters in the coursepack by F. Jameson, Miller,
Mayersberg, Bingham, Lightman (1980), and Kolker.
A 16: Discussion cont.; chapter
three in Monaco, pp. 152-225.
A 21: Discussion conclud.
A 23: Screen Full Metal Jacket
on your own; discussion
of Full Metal Jacket; interview
in the Phillips anthology, pp. 189-203; essays and chapters in the
coursepack by R. Jameson, Garrett, Koherty, Pursell, and Herr; third review due (opitonal).
A 28: Screen Eyes Wide Shut on
your own; discussion
of Eyes Wide Shut; a packet of
reviews and essays on the film as well as obituaries and reminiscences on
Kubrick’s career will be passed out in advance of class.
A 30: Make-up
day/conclusions.
Final exam date: analytical paper due (optional); fourth review due (optional)
