FIVE COLLEGE FILM & VIDEO COURSE GUIDE

WINTER 2010

(Updated 10/20/09)

Courses offered through Continuing Education.

Note: Refund and class swap policies differ from Univ. day classes; please see www.UMassULearn.net for more information

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ENGLISH 339 - 01 FILM AND LITERATURE

45024 On-Line course Meets 12/21/2009 - 01/16/2010

John Gallagher Cap 22 Credits: 3

Film-works as extensions, continuations, syntheses, and reconstitutions of cultural and artistic traditions. The historical, formal, and aesthetic relationships between literature and the cinema. Emphasis on problems raised in literary aesthetics as a result of film.

Winter 2010: Expectations for Crashing into One Another

The goal of this course is to explore the fundamental ways that race is not only depicted in film and literature but also how notions of race are mutable, permeable, limited, unlimited, and unquantifiable. Using plays, short stories, novellas, parodies, and film, this course will seek to complicate how our society portrays race and portrays its understandings of race. Some of the questions we will raise include how is race structural? In what ways does the medium of a text change its meaning? What do films offer that written text do not? What can written texts offer that film does not? What does parody have to offer explorations of race? What does it mean when an author undercuts our sympathies for a seemingly decent character? What happens to our expectations when a character suddenly moves from one dimensional to three dimensional? Proposed Films: Crash (2004), Bamboozled (2000), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967). Proposed Written Texts: Talking With Strangers by Danielle S. Allen (2004), The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin (1974), The Antheap by Doris Lessing (1953), Othello (1603). Assignments: there will be two short papers (3-5 pages each) about a chosen text or film; one could consider these the midterm and final for the class. There will also be a response to each film and text assigned, which are to be posted to the class’ SPARK site at least one hour before class. After class, students will respond to at least two of their fellow students’ posts before the next class meeting.

RESTRICTIONS & NOTES: Enrollment Requirements CPE class; $45/term non-refundable reg. fee + $320/credit.

Undergraduate UMass Film Studies Certificate category: IIA, V

JOURNAL 395F - 01 S-REVIEWING MUSIC AND MOVIES

45043 On-Line course, Meets 12/21/2009 - 01/16/2010

Carl Vigeland Journalism Cert Online Class Cap 20 Credits: 3

Focuses on two arts--music and movies--both of which offer students opportunities for practice in reviewing and feature-writing as well as a chance to explore a rich body of books and articles. In addition to frequent, online writing there will be three assigned papers: a personal essay, a review of a film, and a long feature about a musician; extensive essay and book readings will be supplemented by periodic newspaper and magazine selections, as well as the viewing of three movies, and our online music discussions will be augmented by several audio clips.

RESTRICTIONS & NOTES

Enrollment Requirements CPE class; $45/term non-refundable reg. fee + $320/credit. Refund and class swap policies differ from Univ. day classes; please see www.UMassULearn.net for more information.

Undergraduate UMass Film Studies Certificate category: V