Course Schedule
Literature and the Motion Picture - Fall 2024

• Lecture 1
• Orientation Assignment (due 8/28)
  Yes, this is Wednesday!
  Feel free to turn this in early
• Discussion 1 (due 8/30)
  Note: discussion posts are usually due Fridays;
  all responses are usually due before midnight Sundays

Day 1 you will want to do Module 1 on Canvas; it has links to various information pages for on how the class works. You can (should) have those pages open as you do the Orientation Quiz.

• Read the special lecture on Writing about Literature and Film
• There are no specific literary readings this week;
  however, if you go hold of Bernard Dick's book, Anatomy of Film, you may want to sample the first four chapters.
  Many of you will all have studied literature to varying degrees, but if you do not have a background in film, these chapters will give you some background and some useful vocabulary for the class and the discussions.

Films:

• There are no specific films this week; you will want to find a source for upcoming films (Netflix, the local library, etc.)

• Lecture 2
• Discussion 2 (due 9/6)
  REMEMBER: Posts are due Friday before midnight;
  responses continue to before midnight Sunday.

• "Little Red Riding Hood," Charles Perrault
• "Little Red Cap," Brothers Grimm
• fromThe Uses of Enchantment, Bettleheim

Optional reading for those who have the recommended text:

• Anatomy of Film Chapter 6 (Film Subtext)

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• The Company of Wolves
• Little Red Riding Hood (maybe)
• Ever After or Pretty Woman (paired with "Cinderella")
• The Little Mermaid (paired with "The Little Mermaid")
• The Princess Bride or Shrek (?)
• Labyrinth
• Pan's Labyrinth
• American Mcgee's Alice the video game--this is not the Tim Burton movie--(paired with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

• Lecture 3
• Discussion 3 (due 9/13)

• Plato's "Parable of the Cave" in our Online Readings

Optional reading for those who have the recommended text:

• Anatomy of Film Chapter 9 (Film Analysis)

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• The Matrix
• Inception
• The Truman Show
• Total Recall
• Dark City
• Brazil
• The Thirteenth Floor

• Lecture 4
• Discussion 4 (due 9/20)

• Everyman many editions are available online; here is one adaptation

Optional reading for those who have the recommended text:

• Anatomy of Film Chapter 8 (Film and Literature)

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• The Road (actually, the film or Cormac McCarthy's novel both work well here)
• Mad Max: Road Warrior
• The Book of Eli
• The Incredible Journey (yes, the animal picture)
• Road Trip
• National Lampoon's Vacation
• The Lord of the Rings
• The Wizard of Oz
• Kikujiro

• Lecture 5
• no discussion

• Anatomy of Film Chapter 5 (Film Genres)

Reminder: if you have not already done so, be sure you read the brief lecture on Writing about Literature

• Lecture 6
• Discussion 5 (due 10/4)

• "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," Stephen Crane

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• The Searchers
• Shane
• High Noon
• The Wild Bunch
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• True Grit (both versions?)
• 3:10 to Yuma
• Django Unchained
• Blazing Saddles?

• Lecture 7
• Discussion 6 (due 10/11)

• this week there are no specific readings (we are really comparing films to films this week), though I certainly recommend Yukio Mishima's Death in Midsummer, and other stories, even though it doesn't really fit this week's discussion :)

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• Yojimbo (Yojinbo), paired with A Fistful of Dollars
• Sanjuro
• Seven Samurai, paired with The Magnificent Seven? or A Bug's Life?
• The Tale of Zatoichi
• Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
• The Good, The Bad, and the Weird, paired with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?
• Tampopo (this is an unusual movie; I recommend it highly, but be warned :)

• Lecture 8
• Discussion 7 (10/18)

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• anything with Laurel and Hardy (Way Out West and Sons of the Desert are two examples)
• anything with W.C. Fields (you might try It's a Gift or The Bank Dick)
• for classic farce try Getting Gertie's Garter or Up in Mabel's Room
• there are tons of screwball comedies; consider It Happened One Night or Bringing up Baby
  note: some detective comedies (like The Thin Man) and musicals (like The Gay Divorcee) fit this category too
• parodies/burlesques like The Naked Gun or Scary Movie films
• anything more current (yes, even Hangover 2) that you'd like to look at

• No lecture

• No discussion

• There are no specific readings this week; use the time to work on your essay :)

• Lecture 9
• Discussion 8 (due 11/1)

• "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• there are also some recommended (not required) readings that you might enjoy:
  • anything by Raymond Chandler (such as Farewell my Lovely)
  • anything by Dasshiel Hammet (such as The Thin Man)
  • one of the quirky Hercule Poirot novels by Agatha Christie (such as Murder on the Orient Express)
  • any spy or espionage novel by John LeCarre or Ian Fleming (I'm partial to James Bond novels)
  • loads of current offerings by Sue Grafton, Tony Hillerman, Sara Paretsky, and on and on

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (if at all possible, get hold of this film; I'd like you to see how the short story we are reading has been transformed)

And if you can't get that one, here are some others which relate to this week's lecture and discussion (many others will work as well):

• Murder My Sweet
• The Thin Man
• Double Indemnity
• Murder on the Orient Express
• From Russia With Love or another James Bond movie

• Lecture 10
• Discussion 9 (11/8)

• this week there are no specific readings (we are continuing last week's discussion), though if you've not had a chance to read one of the recommended novels from last week, you might want to give one or more a try
• also, there are some notable "bad guy" books; the classic (old) dashing thief novel is Raffles, by E.W. Hornung, but there are several novels featuring a rogue/thief in the lead role; a book like Hannibal by Thomas Harris, may be about tracking the master psycopath, but most of the book really showcases the criminal

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• Goodfellas
• Scarface (either version, though the original with Paul Muni is considered a mega-classic)
• Ocean's Eleven and a whole range of heist films
• To Catch a Thief if you want a much-lighter film

• No lecture

• No discussion

• There are no specific readings this week; use the time to work on your essay :)

• Lecture 11
• Discussion 10 (due 11/22)

• "The Shunned House"
• "The Shadow Out of Time" (this one is long)
• "The Call of Cthulu"

• The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Films:
gosh, there are so many; here are a few possibilities (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• any of the silent classics mentioned in the lecture (notably The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu)
• any of the universal monster pix (with Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, Dracula, and so on)
• vintage classics such as Psycho, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Haunting, The Exorcist
• newer classics such as The Hills Have Eyes, The Nightmare on Elm Street, The Blair Witch Project, Final Destination, The Ring, Saw, Paranormal Activity
• Note: although the Twilight series features vampires and werewolves, these are not horror stories; these are teen romance works

Note: you might also want to read Stephen King's essay on "Why we Crave Horror Movies" to get an analysis of the allure of the genre.

• No lecture

• No discussion

HAPPY HOLIDAY - Enjoy Thanksgiving!

• There are no specific readings this week :)

You might want to read Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey if you haven't already.

• Lecture 12
• Discussion 11 (due 12/6)
  NOTE: this is a Thursday;
  Friday is a non-instr day; however,
  Discussions posted Friday night
  will NOT be late.

• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
  the text is not on the internet; this is one book you need to get separately

Consider also

• The Giver, Farenheit 451, The Hunger Games, Flatland, The Man in the High Castle, Ready Player One
• "And He Built a Crooked House," by Robert Heinlein; the online version is very hard to read; I put a better copy in the Files section on our Canvas site.

Films:
choose one or more of the following films for your discussion (note: if you have another film in mind that fits the discussion, feel free to use that film instead)

• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
  note: ideally you'll choose (and be able to find) this film so that you can contrast it with the Clarke novel

So so many to choose from; here are a few:

• Brazil, THX-1138, Soylent Green, Blade Runner, Terminator, The Quiet Earth, Dark City, etc.

• no lecture
• no discussion

Good luck on all of your Finals :)