Course: English 347: Topics in Cultural Studies:Stanley Kubrick

Monday-Wednesday 12:30-3:45 PM

209 Luther Bonney

Instructor: Dr. Shelton Waldrep

Office: 321 Luther Bonney

Contact information: e-mail (preferred): waldrep@maine.edu; tel.: 780-4086

Office hours: M-W 4-5 pm by appointment.

Syllabus webpage:  http://www.usm.maine.edu/eng/kubricksummer06.htm

Description:

An upper-level English course that focuses on the late work of director Stanley Kubrick, the course consists of a series of close readings of Kubrick’s work over a thirty-year period from 2001: A Space Odyssey through the posthumous Eyes Wide Shut. The class also includes discussion of theoretical tools for approaching Kubrick’s oeuvre (auteur theory, genre theory) as well as technical achievements that are now a part of the history of Kubrick’s success (the Steadicam, for example). The course is informed by a cultural studies approach to film and emphasizes film both as a well-made object (dialogue, lighting, camera set-ups, mise en scene, etc.) and as a product of the culture that makes it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Texts:

 

1. The following book is available at the Woodbury Center bookstore:

 

Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, Multimedia. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.

 

2. Photocopies of some essays will be passed out during class, but the following have been placed on reserve at the Glickman Library and will also be available through the on-line electronic reserves:

 

Alcott, John. “Photographing Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.” American Cinematographer (1976): 215-225.

Bérubé, Michael. “Paranoia in a Vacuum: 2001 and the National Security State.” In Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics. New York: Verso, 1994. 181-202.

Bingham, Dennis. “The Displaced Auteur: A Reception History of The Shining.” Perspectives on Stanley Kubrick. Ed. Mario Falsetto. New York: G. K. Hall, 1996. 285-306.

Brown, Garrett. “The Steadicam and The Shining.” American Cinematographer (1980): 273-283.

Burgess, Anthony. “Juice from a Clockwork Orange.” Rolling Stone 8 June 1972. [one page]

Doherty, Thomas. “Full Metal Genre: Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam Combat Movie. Film Quarterly 42.2 (1988-89): 24-30.

Feldman, Hans. “Kubrick and His Discontents.” Film Quarterly 30.1 (Fall 1976): 12-19.

Hanson, Ellis. “Technology, Paranoia and the Queer Voice.” Screen 34.2 (Summer 1993): 137-161.

Herr, Michael. “Completely Missing Kubrick.” Vanity Fair (April 2000): 260-72. [a chapter from Herr’s recent book on Kubrick]

Hoch, David G. “Mythic Patterns in 2001: A Space Odyssey.” Journal of Popular Culture (Summer 1970): 961-965.

Jameson, Fredric. “Historicism in The Shining.” In Signatures of the Visible. New York: Routledge, 1990. 82-98.

Jameson, Richard J. “The 1980s: The Shining and Full Metal Jacket.” Film Comment (July-August 1980): 243-252.

Kolker, Robert Phillip. “Tectonics of the Mechanical Man.” In A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1988. 78-158.

Lightman, Herb. “Filming 2001: A Space Odyssey.” American Cinematographer (June 1968): 149-157.

---. “Photographing Kubrick’s The Shining: An Interview with John Alcott.” American Cinematographer (1980): 260-272.

Mamber, Stephen. “A Clockwork Orange.” Cinema (Winter 1972-73): 48-57.

Mayersberg, Paul. “The Overlook Hotel.” Sight and Sound (Spring 1972): 62-66.

Miller, Mark Crispin. “Kubrick’s Anti-Reading of The Luck of Barry Lyndon.” Modern Language Notes 91.6 (1976): 1360-1380.

Nelson, Thomas Allen. “Reputation and Rhetoric: Kubrick and the Aesthetics of Contingency.” In Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist’s Maze. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1982. 1-19.

Pursell, Michael. “Full Metal Jacket: The Unravelling of Patriarchy.” Literature/Film Quarterly 16.4 (1988): 218-225.

Spiegel, Alan. “Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.” Salmagundi 38-39 (Fall 1977): 201-213.

Trumbull, Douglas. “Creating Special Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey.” American Cinematographer (1968): 158-166.

 

Other Resources:

 

1. The following books are available at the Glickman Library and come highly recommended. Other books are available through URSUS, Maine Info Net, or ILL, but you are encouraged to order them as soon as possible. If you have trouble locating a book, let me know.

 

A Cinema of Lonleliness: Penn, Kubrick, Coppola, Scorsese, Altman, Robert Phillip Kolker (Gorham stacks: PN 1993.5 .U6 K57)

Film in Society, ed. Arthur Asa Berger (Gorham stacks: PN 1995 .F459)

Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist’s Maze, Thomas Allen Nelson (Gorham stacks: PN 1998 .A3 K743)

Narrative and Stylistic Patterns in the Films of Stanley Kubrick, Luis M. Garcia Mainar (Portland stacks: PN 1998.3 .K83 G37 1999)

The Stanley Kubrick Archives, ed. Alison Castle (On reserve for our class only at the Glickman Library in Portland)

Stanley Kubrick Directs, Alexander Walker (Gorham stacks: PN 1998 .A3 K75)

Stanley Kubrick, Drama and Shadows: Photographs, 1945-1950 (Portland stacks: PN 1998.3 .K83 2005)

2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke (Portland and Gorham stacks: PR 6005 .L36 T8)

 

2. Two websites have been created for the course. The first is an electronic version of the syllabus available at

 

http://www.usm.maine.edu/eng/kubricksummer06.htm

 

Clicking on any of the images on the website will take you to additional websites devoted to Kubrick and his work. Of particular interest is “The Kubrick Site” (http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk), which contains a wealth of printed material on Kubrick and his films, including essays, reviews, interviews, and interpretations not included in our reserve materials.

 

The second site is a resource guide created specifically for our class that is available at

 

http://library.usm.maine.edu/research/courseguides/eng347.html

 

Here you will find additional resources for the study of film in general and Kubrick in particular in the form of reference books, indexes, and databases that might be of help in your research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Class 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. 

 

Reserve:

Films:

Although we will look at selected scenes from all the films—and at five films in their complete form—it will be the student’s responsibility to see the films marked with an asterisk in their entirety. A videocassette of all of Kubrick’s films will be available on reserve at the Glickman Library. Most of Kubrick’s films are also available at local video stores.

 

The Killer’s Kiss

The Killing

Paths of Glory

Spartacus

Lolita

Dr. Strangelove

*2001: A Space Odyssey

*A Clockwork Orange

*Barry Lyndon

*The Shining

*The Making of ‘The Shining’ (Vivian Kubrick, dir.)

*Full Metal Jacket

*Eyes Wide Shut

*Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (Jan Harlan, dir.)

 Schedule:

 

May 15: Introduction to the course—syllabi and student surveys handed out; an overview of Kubrick’s films up to 2001 (with film clips); screen Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures on your own.

 

16: Screening: 2001: A Space Odyssey; read chapter from Nelson on reserve; chapter five Monaco, pp. 388-425.

 

17: Discussion of 2001; essays and chapters on reserve by Lightman, Trumbull, Hoch, Berube, and Hanson; chapter two in Monaco, pp. 68-149.

 

22: Screening of A Clockwork Orange; essays and chapters on reserve by Mamber and Burgess.

 

23: Discussion of Clockwork Orange; first review due.

 

24: Screening of Barry Lyndon.

 

29: Discussion of Barry Lyndon: essays and chapters on reserve by Feldman, Spiegal, Alcott, and Miller; chapter one in Monaco, pp. 20-65.

 

30: Screening of The Shining; second review due.

 

31: Discussion of The Shining; essays and chapters on reserve by F. Jameson, Miller, Mayersberg, Bingham, Lightman (1980), and Kolker.

 

June 5: Screening of Full Metal Jacket.

 

6:  Discussion of Full Metal Jacket; essays and chapters on reserve by R. Jameson, Garrett, Koherty, and Pursell; essay by Herr (photocopy). 

 

7: 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; final review due. 

Barry LyndonText Box: Grades: In addition to being present for all screenings and discussions, students will write review-essays of three films. 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. Text Box: General Class 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.

For information about or problems with this site, contact:

Rosanna McCoy

207-780-4117

rmccoy@usm.maine.edu

| Staff Directory | Faculty Sites | English Home |