WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY FILM
SP 410U CRN 65463/SP 510 CRN 65464
Spring term, 2004

Dr. Brooke Jacobson
Office: 32 NH; Ph: 725-5379
e-mail: cgbj@pdx.edu
Office hours by arrangement


SYLLABUS


Required text: Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism (eds.) Diane Carson, Linda Dittmar, and Janice R. Welsch. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994. Available in class on the first day; thereafter, available from: IN OTHER WORDS - Women's Books and Resource Center.

Basis for grading: One reading response paper - 25%; Group presentation 20 %; Final paper - 35%; Discussion questions and participation - 20 %. Assignments must be completed on time; late work will lose half a grade point per day. Your participation is essential to this class; hence, more than two absences will lower your grade by half a point. Be sure you read the assigned essay prior to each class and come prepared with a question for discussion. After each group presentation you will turn in a response and evaluation of the presentation/discussion at the end of class.

4/1 What is Feminism, and how does it relate to film theory and criticism? What methods are used in feminist film criticism? Screening: THE "F" WORD. (Book seller will be in class). Small group discussions on questions about goals of the course. Discussion of the syllabus and assignment of groups.

4/8 Screenings: NOT A JEALOUS BONE, HAIRPIECE: A FILM FOR NAPPY HEADED PEOPLE, THE WILLMAR 8. Examples of experimental and documentary films by women. Free writing and discussion of the films. Presentation/discussion of reading.
Reading: Janice R. Welsch, "Bakhtin, Language and Women's documentary". What makes women's filmmaking different? The concept of "voice" vs images of women. Small group discussion of the films and assigned article.

4/15 Screening: MAHOGONY (Berry Gordy, U.S. 1975, 109 min)Short Response paper on your assigned essay due Please read the assigned essay before coming to class.
Group presentation/discussion: Jane Gaines, "White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory".

4/22 Screenings: SAYONARA.
Group presentation/discussion of reading: Gina Marchetti, "Contradiction and Viewing Pleasure: The Articulation of Race, Class, and Gender Difference in Sayonara".

4/29Screenings THE BODY BEAUTIFUL (Ngozi Onwurah,1991, 23 min) ILLUSIONS,(Julie Dash, 34 min) & AND STILL I RISE (Onwurah, 1993, 30 min)
Group presentation/discussion of reading: Gloria Gibson Hudson, "Aspects of Black Feminist Cultural Ideology in films by Black Women Independent Artists"

5/6 Screening: ENTRE NOUS (Diane Kurys, Fr. 1983, 111 min)

Group presentations and discussion Chris Straayer, "The Hypothetical Lesbian Heroine in Narrative Feature Film".

5/13Screening: PORTRAIT OF TERESA. (Pastor Vega, Cuba, 1979, 103 min)
Group presentation and discussion: Julianne Burton-Carvajal, "Portrait(s) of Teresa: Gender Politics and the Reluctant Revival of Melodrama in Cuban Film." (Rough draft of final paper due)

5/20 Screening: SALT OF THE EARTH (Herbert Biberman, U.S.1954, 94 min)

Group presentation: Linda Dittmar, "The Articulating Self: Difference as Resistance in BLACK GIRL, RAMPARTS OF CLAY, and SALT OF THE EARTH".

5/27THELMA & LOUISE (Ridley Scott, (sc Callie Khouri), 1991, 129 min. (excerpts)

Reading: Lillian S. Robinson, " Out of the Mine and Into the Canyon: Working-Class Feminism, Yesterday and Today." in The Hidden Foundation: Cinema and Questions of Class, David E James and Rick Berg, Editors, University of Minnesota Press, 1996.Available from Reserve Library

6/3Screening: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROSIE THE RIVETER (Connie Field, 1980, 65 min); SWING SHIFT (Jonathan Demme, 1984, 100 min , segments only)
Group Presentation: Mimi White, "Rehearsing Feminism: Women/History in the Life and times of Rosie the Riveter and Swing Shift (Final Paper Due)

6/10 Concluding Seminar, Sharing our findings. Evaluation and Potluck

ASSIGNMENTS:

  1. Response paper (3 pgs, due 4/15) based on your assigned essay from the textbook. Your response should briefly summarize the key ideas presented by the writer and then identify and respond to particular issues raised by the essay. How does the author address questions of class, gender, and ethnicity? How does this paper contribute to your own understanding of feminist film criticism? 20%

  2. Each student will be responsible for taking part in a group presentation on one of the readings. The group will be responsible for presenting and commenting upon the author's ideas, explaining how they relate to the film under consideration, and leading class discussion of the article. The group will prepare one full sentence outline (I will explain) of the chapter, which may be used as a hand-out to facilitate discussion. 20%

    3. Following the discussion all students will make a short written response to the presentation indicating its strengths and any remaining questions or problems.

  3. A final critical essay with bibliography (5-6 pgs) dealing with a film made by a woman and/or addressing an issue raised by feminist criticism. Please select a film early from the list below and plan to meet with me to discuss the thesis you will develop in your paper. The articles we are reading in this class are examples of critical writing, and I can provide other examples. You will need to view the film several times, and think about it in relation to concepts and issues raised in the readings for the class. Plan to hand in your paper proposal by April 29 (10%). Meet with me before you turn in your bibliography and rough draft on May 13. Final paper is due 6/3 (35%).

  4. Each student is required to bring to class at least one question related to the reading assignment for the week (except for the article your group is presenting) and to enter into the class discussion, as well as providing feedback to the presenters. 15%


FILMOGRAPHY for this class:

NOT A JEALOUS BONE (Cecelia Condit, 1987) 12 mins.
THE F-WORD (Marcia Jarmel and Erin Gallagher, 1994) 10 mins.
WILLMAR 8 (Lee Grant, 1983) 55 mins.
THE BODY BEAUTIFUL (Ngozi Onwurah, 1991) 23 mins.
ILLUSIONS (Julie Dash, 1983) 34 mins.
TWO LIES (Pam Tom, 1989) 25 mins.
SLAYING THE DRAGON (Deborah Gee, 1988) 60 mins.
AND STILL I RISE (Ngozi Onwurah, 1993) 30 mins.
HAIR PIECE: A FILM FOR NAPPY HEADED PEOPLE, (Ayoka Chenzira, 1985) 10 mins.
MAHOGONY (Dir. Berry Gordy, U.S. 1975) 109 mins.
ENTRE NOUS [Coup de Foudre] (Diane Kurys, Fr. 1983) 111 mins.
PORTRAIT OF TERESA (Pastor Vega, Cuba, 1979) 103 mins.
SALT OF THE EARTH (Herbert Biberman, U.S., 1954) 94 mins.

SUGGESTED TITLES FOR OUTSIDE VIEWING (some of these are made by women, others by men attempting to represent women or women's issues):

FROM THE JOURNALS OF JEAN SEBERG (U.S., Marc Rappoport, 1996)
WATERMELON WOMAN; LIANNA; DESERT HEARTS (3 ground-breaking Lesbian films)
DANCE, GIRL DANCE (1940); CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933) 2 directed by Dorothy Arzner
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (Julie Dash); JUST ANOTHER GIRL ON THE IRT (Leslie Harris); A DRY, WHITE SEASON; SUGARCANE ALLEY (Euzhan Palcy) 4 directed by black women.
RAMPARTS OF CLAY; PRETTY BABY; DIM SUM; I HEAR THE MERMAIDS SINGING;
STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY (by a Canadian woman who creatively combines documentary and fiction);
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7; ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN'T; VAGABOND (3 by Agnes Varda).
ORLANDO or THE TANGO LESSON (2 by Sally Potter)
JEANNE DIELMANN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES. (by Chantal Ackerman).
A QUESTION OF SILENCE; ANTONIA'S LINE (2 by Marlene Gorris)
BAGDAD CAFE; UP TO A CERTAIN POINT (Cuban, deals with class and confronting machismo); SALAAM BOMBAY; RAMBLING ROSE; I SHOT ANDY WARHOL; BHAJI ON THE BEACH; SMOOTH TALK, WAITING TO EXHALE; SHIRLEY VALENTINE; PEPPERMINT SODA;

BIBLIOGRAPHY


Julianne Burton-Carvajal "Portrait(s) of Teresa: Gender Politics and the Reluctant Revival of Melodrama in Cuban Film"
Linda Dittmar "The Articulating Self: Difference as Resistance in Black Girl, Ramparts of Clay, and Salt of the Earth"
Jane Gaines, "White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory"
Gloria Gibson-Hudson, "Aspects of Black Feminist Cultural Ideology in films by Black Women Independent Artists"
Judith Mayne, "Feminist Film Theory and Criticism"
Gina Marchetti, "Contradiction and Viewing Pleasure: The Articulation of Race, Class, and Gender Differences in Sayonara"
B. Ruby Rich, "In the Name of Feminist Film Criticism"
Chris Straayer, "The Hypothetical Lesbian Heroine in Narrative Feature Film"
Janet Walker. Psychoanalysis and Feminist film Theory: The Problem of Sexual Difference and Identity.
Andrea Weiss, "A Queer Feeling When I Look at You: Hollywood Stars and Lesbian Spectatorship in the 1930s"
Janice R. Welsch, "Bakhtin, Language, and Women's Documentary Filmmaking"
        (above, all contained in Multiple Voices...-- required text for class)
Maggie Humm Feminism and Film, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997.
Susan Thornham (ed.) Feminist Film Theory: a Reader New York: New York University Press, 1999.
Lillian S. Robinson, " Out of the Mine and Into the Canyon: Working-Class Feminism, Yesterday and Today." in The Hidden Foundation: Cinema and Questions of Class, David E James and Rick Berg, Editors, University of Minnesota Press, 1996.