Study guide under construction (4/7)

Women in Classical Hollywood Filmmaking

• Virgin-whore complex (and how this relates to Victorian ideals of femininity)
  
• Why Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino were able to succeed as female directors
  
• How the enforcement of the Production Code changed images of women in Classical Hollywood
  
• Haskell’s major themes of the “women’s film” genre (sacrifice, affliction, choice, competition)
  
• How Hollywood persuaded women to join/leave the workforce during/after WWII
  
• Femme fatale vs. Blond bombshell vs. Girl-next-door (what each character type reflected)
  

Revised schedule for media presentations

March 17 and March 19 
:: Spring Break ::

March 24 and March 26
:: Classes Canceled due to Flooding ::

March 31 and April 2
:: Classes Canceled due to Flooding ::

Tuesday, April 7
Lana Waters

Thursday, April 9
Kim Balega

Tuesday, April 14
Matt Thompson

Thursday, April 16
Rebecca Peterson

Tuesday, April 21
Exam 2

Thursday, April 23
Pinaz Sharma
Tyler Axness

Tuesday, April 28
Evan Johnson
Chelsea Turner

Thursday, April 30
Alison Baumgarten

Tuesday, May 5
Rachel Stearns

Thursday, May 7
Last day of class

Update: No class Tuesday, March 24

Due to the continued need for volunteers, classes are still canceled at NDSU. So we won't be meeting on Tuesday, March 24.

The PPT for "Women in Classical Hollywood Filmmaking" can be downloaded here. There is a list of upcoming assignments/exams on the first slide. Note that you may opt to skip the next E-journal deadline (on April 9), and turn in two entries at the same time (on April 30).

Let's plan on covering both of this week's chapters on Thursday. If classes haven't resumed by that point, I'll send out a revised course schedule.

There's been an awesome turn-out of volunteers at NDSU:

Keep up the good work!

NDSU classes canceled until further notice

A message from President Chapman:

NDSU will cancel classes effective at 9:00 am today, Monday, March 23 until further notice. University offices will remain open, however, they may be operated at minimal staff levels.

Students, faculty, and staff are needed to help with the flood prevention efforts. Volunteers are needed for sandbagging. It is estimated that 2 million sandbags will be needed. With the current and predicted rain, the Red River is anticipated to crest for the first time on Thursday, March 26.

Please report to the NDSU Flood Protection Volunteer Center on the Main Floor of the Memorial Union (next to the Bison Connection) to check in and sign up for shifts. You may also call 231-7870 or email NDSU.floodsupport@ndsu.edu to sign up for future volunteer shifts.

Transportation from the Union will be provided to the locations where help is needed. It is important to use the bus transportation that is provided.

Thank you for your time and help. Our communities need us.

If class is canceled tomorrow, I will post the PPT and move Tuesday's media clip presentation to Thursday. We will then have two presentations that day (Lana and Kim). If classes are canceled on Tuesday and Thursday, I'll send out a revised schedule.

I encourage everyone to volunteer if/when they can.

African-Americans on Television

No Smooth Ride on TV Networks’ Road to Diversity

"On the eve of Barack Obama’s election last fall as the first African-American president, television seemed to be leaning toward a post-racial future. In October two prominent cable networks — CNN and Comedy Central — began new programs that featured black hosts, a development that was notable because so few current programs on cable or broadcast channels have minority leads.

Five months later both programs — “Chocolate News,” featuring David Alan Grier on Comedy Central, and “D. L. Hughley Breaks the News” on CNN — have been discontinued. In addition, CW, the broadcast network that regularly features comedies with largely African-American casts, announced in February that it was renewing six popular series, but its two with mostly black performers — “Everybody Hates Chris” and “The Game” — were not among them. (The network says it is still deciding their fates.)"

Study guide under construction (3/12)

Cinematic Class Struggle After the Depression

• Labor unions in Hollywood before, during, and after World War II 187-190
  
• How Hollywood used the “Red Scare” and the HUAC to weaken power of labor unions 189
  
• How America and capitalism were equated (and celebrated) in 1940s and 1950s film 193-195
  
• Why independent and avant-garde films found greater success during the 1960s 199-202
  
• Key differences between 1970s and 1980s films (link differences to broader social changes) 198-202
  
• Contemporary images of class struggle: Titanic (1997) vs. Bulworth (1998) 203-205
  

Class in Contemporary Film

Silk Stockings (1957)


The Graduate (1967)


Wall Street (1987)


Bulworth (1998)

Study guide under construction (3/10)

Classical Hollywood Cinema and Class

• How class is determined and talked about in the contemporary United States 167
  
• How the American dream, rugged individualism, & Protestant work ethic erase structural barriers 167-170
  
• Labor trends of the Industrial Revolution (and how they contributed to class differences) 171-173
  
• Class themes in early American cinema (how did Charlie Chaplin challenge these themes?) 176
  
• The Horatio Alger myth (be able to give examples from classical and contemporary cinema) 173-178
  
• Influence of 1930s Depression on Hollywood film (and how this influence shifted over time) 184-186
  

Today's PowerPoint

A copy of the PowerPoint for today's chapter (pages 171 - 186) can be downloaded here. Please look it over and write down any questions that remain after reading. We'll cover the next chapter (pages 187 - 210) as planned on Thursday. We'll also have today's media presentation on Thursday.

The deadline for the next E-journal will be Friday at 5 p.m.

Ideologies of female beauty

Channeling the Ideal of Modern Beauty

-

Native American portrayals (group activity)

Classical Westerns (early to mid 20th century)

Native Americans portrayed as blood thirsty savages, bad guys, head dresses, bow and arrows, chases on horses.

Classical Western themes in Back to the Future 3:
We see them the first thing when going back and they were attacking him. They were there to show that he was in the west. Battle between whites and Native Americans were thrown in there to saw they were in the old west. Almost used as a prop.


Key themes/portrayals in Dances with Wolves (1990)

• Portrayed Native Americans as people that could be reasoned with and understood, but required Costner’s character to lower his standard of life to fit in with them.
  
• More complex Native American characters than the basic “bloodthirsty savages” that dominated earlier films.
  
• Music was softer and more appealing than earlier movies.
  
• Actually used Native American actors.
  
• Interesting dynamic of positively portraying Native Americans, but had to use a white man’s perspective to accomplish it.

Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black in Twilight (2008):


Twilight Casting Angers Native Americans

-

Study guide under construction (3/5)

Native Americans and American Film

• How bloodthirsty/noble savage images, manifest destiny, genocide influenced representations 104
  
• How ethnographic films functioned to naturalize stereotypes of Native Americans 106
  
• Key themes and iconography of the Classical Western (be able to give examples from films) 106-108
  
• Why post-WWII social problem films focusing on Native Americans were still problematic 110
  
• How images/involvement of Native Americans in film has and has not changed over time 102-122
  
• Positive and negative images of Native Americans in contemporary film (give examples) 115, 118
  

Native Americans on film

Stagecoach (1939)


Little Big Man (1970)


Back to the Future 3 (1990)

Back To The Future Part 3 (Theatrical Trailer)
by NakedBrotha2007

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Dances with Wolves - Trailer | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Tropic Thunder blackface controversy

Study guide under construction (3/3)

African-Americans and American Film

• How the legacies of slavery and minstrel shows/blackface contributed to representations 78-81
  
• Film stereotypes of African Americans (Coon, Uncle Tom, Mammy, Tragic Mulatto, Black Buck) 79
  
• How the production code of Classical Hollywood limited roles available to African-Americans 82-83
  
• Progressive themes and problems associated with post-WWII social problem films on race 85-87
  
• How Hollywood profited from “blaxploitation” films and black & white “buddy movies” 88-89, 91
  
• Positive and negative images of African-Americans in contemporary film (give examples)
  98-99

African Americans on film

The Little Colonel (1935)


Song of the South (1946)


Shaft (1971)


Lethal Weapon (1987)