ENGLISH 213
FILM & LITERATURE
Fall 2000
Helen H. Roulston




FH 208
T 6:00-9:00
Office FH 7BIO
Office Hours: MW 11:30-12:30
Office: FH 7BIO
TTH 8:30-11:00 T 11:00-2:00
Office Phone: 762-4712
Home Phone: 753-6590
Please Use Answering Machine.
E-mail: helen.roulston@murraystate.edu
Website: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5426
http://www.geocities.com/helenroulston

11. Catalogue Description: This course is a study of the correlations between the film and traditional literary forms.

111. Purpose: This course is designed to teach the student how to analyze novels and plays and their cinematic counterparts. The course is based on the concept of Director Sergei Eisenstein's concept of Montage--one plus one equals three. In other words, students will study various literary and cinematic treatments of the same story in a three-dimensional, holographic manner. Thus, students will learn the ways each treatment deals with and enhances or detracts from the story. Thus, each story treatment in each section will take on far more importance when studied with its counterparts than each would examined on its own.

IV. Course Objective: Students must learn literary and cinematic terms and techniques and be able to apply them to analyses of the novels and plays, as well as to their cinematic counterparts. Students must be able to discern the ways in which the flimic adaptations are similar to and different from their literary originals and if the adaptations improve upon or detract from their originals.

V. Course Outline: The class will be divided into sections, in which a particular story will be analyzed in more than one medium. One class will be devoted to a lecture/discussion on the assigned literary work. Usually excerpts of the film version will be shown and discussed in a panel the following week.

VI. Instructional Activities: The course consists of lectures, discussions, quizzes, exams, outside papers, and conferences when necessary.

VII. Field, Clinical, and/or Laboratory Experiences: None

VIII. Resources: Students may use various computer labs to type their papers and the library and the internet to do extra research. Students are encouraged to email the professor about questions related to the course.

IX. Grading Procedures: Students will do a variety of written assignments and serve on at least one panel discussion.
        (Or write an extra paper in lieu of the latter).
        Brief written assignments (10) on the literary works (10 points).
        At least 6 papers (300 word min.) on a precise aspect of a cinematic adaptation (10 points each--60 points).
        Optional rewrites or revised essays to improve the grade, writing skills, and chance of having them included in Montage. The rewrite grade will be worth 1/4 the total theme grade. Each student may write extra essays, with each one eliminating another essay with a lower grade.
      Students will be encouraged to hand their works in on disk or email them, especially the revisions. After essays are suitably edited by the professor and the students, the essays, with the students' permission, will be put into HTML format and posted to the latest issue of Montage on the professor's website.
      A fair degree of latitude in the choice of topics will be allowed: for example, more than one essay on one cinematic adaptation and/or comparison/contrast essays between two film versions. However, at least two essays must be handed in before midterm grades are assigned.
      Students will keep journals in a format of their choice, to be handed in twice a semester. In these journals, they will comment on the assigned books and films both shown in class and outside, on the class discussions, and on the student essays both from this semester and in the Montage issues from previous years, plus any outside relevant experiences (10 points).
      Students should serve on at least one panel discussion and may serve on more during the semester. Students will be free to select their book/film discussion(s). Each panel discussion will be worth a maximum of 10 points. Students may write an extra paper in lieu of being on a panel.
There will be a two-hour final essay exam (10 points).

The point scale for final grades is below:
A=90-100 B=80-89 C=70-79 D=60-69 E=0-59 1 Panel Discussion
A=98-110 B=88-97.9 C=78-87.9 D=68-77.9 E=0-67.9 2 Panel Discussions
A=108-120 B=96-109.9 C=84-95.9 D=72-83.4 E=0-71.9 3 Panel Discussions
Students must complete all assigned work to get a course grade.

X. Attendance Policy: Students should make every effort to attend class. If they miss a showing of a film, they should make arrangements to see the films on video at another time. Students must offer plausible excuses for any absence(s). Students missing 3 or more classes without excuses will fail the course. Students are responsible for presenting the professor with valid excuses to avoid being penalized. Students are encouraged to email their excuses to the professor.

XI. Academic Honesty Policy: Students are responsible for following the College of Humanistic Studies policy on academic integrity. "Cheating, plagiarism (submitting another person's material as one's own or doing work for another person which will receive academic credit) are all impermissible. This includes the use of unauthorized copying of examinations, assignments, reports or term papers, or the presentation of acknowledged material as if it were the student's own work. Disciplinary action may be taken beyond the academic discipline administered by the faculty member who teaches the course in which the cheating took place." Students are also responsible for the policy statement on the classroom walls.

XII. Texts and References:

213 COURSE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Archibald, William. The Innocents. A New Play. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1950.
        (Copies given to students to be returned at the end of the semester)

Brontė, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Ed. V. S. Prichett. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, Riverside Edition,
        1956.

Goetz, Ruth, and Augustus Goetz. The Heiress: A Play. New York: Dramatists Play Services, Inc., 1948.

Hecht, Ben, and Charles MacArthur. Wuthering Heights Screenplay. 1939.
        (Copies given to students to be returned at the end of the semester)

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. New York: Dover, 1992.

James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. Ed. with an lntrod. by Clarence A. Andrews. New York:
        Airmont, 1967.

James, Henry. Washington Square. New York: Dover, 1998.

Lerner, Alan J. My Fair Lady & Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts. New York:
        Signet, 1985.

Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: Nal/Dutton, 1985.

Use of Student Essay Journals as Texts in Film Classes

     In English 213--Film and Literature--classes, which I have taught on a regular basis since 1978, I have incorporated the best student essays (and I find that many outstanding students have been attracted to these classes) into Montage,class journals for the students in subsequent classes.

Student Essays from Film and Literature Fall 1996

Montage '96

Student Essays from Film and Literature Spring 1999

Montage '99

Journal of Student Essays from Film and Literature Spring 2000

Montage 2000

Journal of Student Essays from Film and Literature Fall 2000

Montage 2001

Please visit the "Movie Favorites" site of Wade Kingston, a stellar student from the Fall English 213 class, who has eight essays published in Montage 2001. On this site are his reviews of his many favorite films.

(Assorted issues of Montage to be handed out to students in class)

XIII. Prerequisites: English 101 & 102 or the equivalent

Teaching

English 213 Schedule

English 213 Reading Exercises

Film Analysis Guidelines

Movie Sites

http://www.afionline.org--American Film Institute
http://www.allmovie.com--all-purpose movie reference
http://www.film.com--all-purpose movie reference
http://www.filmtreat.com
http://www.hollywood.com
http://www.imdb.com (internet movie data base)--perhaps the best all-purpose movie site
http://LandmarkTheatres.com
http://moviereviews.com
http://www.mrqe.com--movie review query engine"
http://www.mrcranky.com--humorous movie reviews
http://www.reel.com
http://www.rottentomatoes.com--recent movie reviews
http://www.suntimes.com--then go to Roger Ebert's section--in-depth on selected films>
http://www.siskel-ebert.com
http://www.tvguide.com
http://web3.starwave.com/showbiz/--good all-purpose site about movies
http://www.well.com/user/vertigo/cliches.html--funny stuff about film

Other Sites of Interest

http://www.allmusic.com -- all purpose reference site about music
http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/books--on-line books, classics and other titles