Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
F/TVD02BH
Course Title (CB02)
History of Cinema (1950-Present) - HONORS
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2024
Course Description
This course surveys the international development of the motion picture since 1950 as a distinct form of artistic expression, through classic films, notable artists, and key events; investigates the aesthetic, technological, economic, and social factors that contributed to the evolution of cinematic arts; and examines the value systems reflected in and shaped by these works from diverse cultures. As an honors course, students will be expected to complete extra assignments to gain deeper insight into the history of cinematic arts.
Faculty Requirements
Discipline 1
[Film Studies]
FSA
[FHDA FSA - FILM/TV]
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is transferable to CSU and UC and belongs on the Film/Television: Screenwriting A.A. Degree. The course meets a general education requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½, CSU GE, and IGETC and provides students with an introduction to film history after 1950. This course is the honors version and as a result, includes more advanced assignments and assessments.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GC1°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area C1 - ArtsApproved
2GC2°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGC1CSU GE Area C1 - ArtsApproved
CGC2CSU GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG3AIGETC Area 3A - ArtsApproved
IG3BIGETC Area 3B - HumanitiesApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

  • (Not open to students with credit in the non-Honors related course.)
  • (Admission into this course requires consent of the Honors Program Coordinator.)

(Not open to students with credit in F/TV D002B, F/TV D02BW or F/TV D2BWH.)

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Film screenings and facilitated group discussions

In-class essays

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Discussion of assigned reading

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Guest speakers

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Assignments

  1. Assigned reading
    1. Required textbook
    2. Periodicals, journals, and scholarly articles on Internet sites
    3. Instructor-created handouts
  2. Writing
    1. Film analysis, including written portions of the midterm and final exam, requiring students to identify and employ various and appropriate rhetorical forms and strategies and to demonstrate some achievement of course objectives
    2. Research paper requiring students to evaluate and synthesize facts, opinions, and presentations about film history from various sources and to present this information utilizing MLA guidelines for formatting, citing sources, and compiling a works cited page; or film analysis paper applying a critical methodology learned in class
  3. Film screenings
  4. The Honors project assignment requires 10 or more hours of work on a topic/project selected by and of individual interest to the student, approved by the instructor, and include one of the following:
    1. Written research project (10-15 pages), using primary and secondary sources and proper documentation utilizing MLA guidelines
    2. Oral presentation of research project, including use of primary and secondary sources and proper documentation
    3. Close analysis of a film text(s) by applying an advanced critical methodology or post-1950 film theory (10-15 pages)

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Quizzes, midterm and two-hour final examination using a combination of objective, short answer, and essay questions to evaluate the student's grasp of the facts, terminology, theories, core concepts, and methods of analysis that comprise the course content. The essay component will require critical thinking and analysis.
  2. Demonstration of the student's abilities to examine a significant issue or problem of film-history study after 1950. The written assignments will involve summary, synthesis, and critical analysis of theoretical perspectives pertaining to film history and applied to selected films and artists within a specific national cinema and time period.
  3. Instructor evaluation of student participation in and contribution to classroom discussions, collaborative learning and small group exercises, including analyses of screenings in the context of the facts, theories, core concepts and methods of inquiry that comprise the course content.
  4. Honors project assignment must demonstrate the depth of research or analysis, critical-thinking skills, comprehensive discussion of the research topic or close analysis of the film text(s), a minimum of ten (10) scholarly sources for a research paper utilizing MLA style guidelines, and the highest writing standards.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None
Essential College Facilities:
  • Lecture room with DVD/Blu-ray deck, 1/2-inch VHS tape deck and 16mm film projection equipment

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Cook, David A.A History of Narrative FilmW. W. Norton2016/5th edition
Mast, Gerald, and Bruce F. KawinA Short History of the MoviesPearson2010/11th edition
Thompson, KristinFilm History: An IntroductionMcGraw-Hill Higher Education2021/5th edition

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

None.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Identify, examine, and evaluate the discipline and methods of film history
  • Identify and analyze narrative, visual, and aural aesthetics and the constituent creative techniques in seminal works of cinematic arts
  • Recognize and evaluate the evolution of cinematic arts in social, cultural, technological, economic and industrial contexts, including the significant works and contributions of artists from diverse nations and circumstances, class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and ability
  • Examine how representations of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and ability reflect and shape the culture in which the works of cinematic arts were produced
  • Examine how cinematic arts, both directly and indirectly, reveal information about experience, identity, and culture; assess works of cinematic arts in regard to the cultural conditions that produced them and attracted audiences to them
  • Formulate critical/historical analyses and evaluations of the works and issues of cinematic arts
  • Demonstrate advanced-level understanding of the discipline and methods of film history through examples and application

CSLOs

  • Examine the historical development of narrative film since 1950, including film language and film art.

  • Display ability to critically appraise motion pictures from different time periods and parts of the world in aesthetic, technological, economic and socio-historical contexts.

  • Distinguish significant genres, movements, film artists and national schools of filmmaking since 1950.

  • Analyze representations of class, race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, demonstrating an understanding of the politics of representation learned in class.

Outline

  1. Identify, examine, and evaluate the discipline and methods of film history
    1. Examine the nature of historical inquiry
      1. Debate issues of objectivity and interpretation
      2. Examine differences in philosophical orientations among film historians
      3. Analyze the changes that have occurred to the cinema since 1950, as well as account for aspects of the cinema that have resisted change
      4. Examine developments in historical inquiry from grand/master narratives towards multiple histories of the cinema
    2. Analyze the economic context of production, distribution and exhibition
      1. Examine the type (mass market, avant-garde, niche), scale (factory, workshop, individual), organization (studio, independent), and resources (private, government) of production
      2. Compare distribution and exhibition models, including emerging digital models
    3. Analyze the social/cultural context and impact of a collaborative art form that reaches a mass audience
      1. Appraise how film purveys popular culture and reflects the producer-writer-director's values in respect to identity and culture; political ideology; and representations of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation and ability
      2. Appraise how film shapes the values of majority, minority, and international audiences in respect to identity and culture; political ideology; and representations of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation and ability
  2. Identify and analyze narrative, visual, and aural aesthetics and the constituent creative techniques in seminal works of cinematic arts
    1. Apply evolving aesthetics terms (shot, scene, sequence) and concepts (theatricality, continuity, deep focus, montage, Brechtian distanciation) in notable works
    2. Appraise the impact of evolving technology on aesthetics
      1. Materials such as film stock, lenses, cameras, sound recording technology, digital tools
      2. Techniques such as mise en scene, camera movement, lighting, editing and color grading, sound design, special and visual effects
      3. Distribution platforms such as theatrical release, video-on-demand, home video sales and rentals, pay-for-view services, cable, broadcast and Internet distribution
    3. Examine and analyze the historical poetics of classicism, post-classicism and postmodernism
      1. Classicism: 3-act and 5-act dramatic structures; narrative closure; goal-oriented, likable protagonists; verisimilitude; continuity editing conventions; spectator identification
      2. Post-classicism and postmodernism: loosening of causal connections between narrative events; introduction of aimless protagonists; foregrounding of stylistic devices in their own right; lack of narrative closure
  3. Recognize and evaluate the evolution of cinematic arts in social, cultural, technological, economic and industrial contexts, including the significant works and contributions of artists from diverse nations and circumstances, class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and ability
    1. Postwar Italian Neorealism
      1. Foundations, decline, and impact of Neorealism
      2. Representative film artists and their films from the following list: Luchino Visconti (Ossessione,ÌýLa terra trema), Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City,ÌýPaisan), Vittorio de Sica (The Bicycle Thief,ÌýUmberto D), Federico Fellini (La dolce vita, 8 1/2), Michelangelo Antonio (L'avventura), among others
    2. Postwar America, 1952-1965
      1. Nationalist protectionism, returning servicemen, labor unrest, women in the workforce and society, HUAC, blacklisting and anti-communism, the Paramount Decrees, the arrival of television, the decline of the studio system
      2. Technological advancements such as conversion to color, widescreen processes, 3D and gimmicks such as Smell-O-Vision
      3. Film genre: Film noir, including the literary origins, narrative conventions and anti-traditional stylistics, existential values, depictions of class and gender
      4. Film genres: science fiction, the musical, the Western, comedy, the gangster film, the anti-communist film, the horror film
      5. Representative film artists and their films from the following list: Alfred Hitchcock (Strangers On A Train,ÌýDial M for Murder),ÌýIda Lupino (The Hitch-Hiker, The Bigamist), Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront), Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause,ÌýThey Live By Night), Douglas Sirk (Written on the Wind), Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly), Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain), Vincente Minnelli (The Band Wagon), Fred Zinnemann (High Noon), Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity,ÌýSunset Boulevard), Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), among others
    3. French New Wave
      1. Origins of the French New Wave: French film culture, Andre Bazin, Cahiers du Cinema
      2. Principles: Alexandre Astruc, auteur theory, modernism
      3. Representative film artists and their films from the following list: Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows,ÌýJules and Jim), Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless,ÌýMy Life to Live), Alain Resnais (La Guerre est finie), Claude Chabrol (Les Biches), Louis Malle (Les Amants), Agnes Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7), among others
    4. Britain and the English-Speaking Commonwealth
      1. British Free Cinema: literature and theatre of anger, social realism
      2. Australia and New Zealand
      3. Canada
      4. Representative film artists and their films from the following list: Lindsay Anderson (This Sporting Life), Tony Richardson (Look Back in Anger), Karl Reisz (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning), John Schlesinger (Billy Liar), Jack Clayton (Room at the Top), Joseph Losey (The Servant), Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock,ÌýThe Last Wave), Fred Schepisi (The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith), Jane Campion (The Piano), among others
    5. Western European Renaissance
      1. Sweden: theatrical traditions of Ibsen and Strindberg, Scandinavian film tradition of Dreyer and Sjostrom, Ingmar Bergman
      2. Spain: Luis Bunuel
      3. Germany Das Neue Kino: origins, technical and Expressionist traditions, film culture and manifestos, government sponsorship through schools and grants
      4. Representative filmmakers and their films from the following list: Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal,ÌýPersona), Luis Bunuel (Los olvidados,ÌýViridiana,ÌýThe Exterminating Angel), Volker Schlondorff (Young Torless), Werner Herzog (Aguirre, The Wrath of God), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?,ÌýVeronica Voss), Wim Wenders (The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick,ÌýThe American Friend), Margarethe von Trotta (The German Sisters), Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, Another Round), among others
      5. Dogme95 Movement: founders Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier, rules and restrictions, aesthetics
    6. Eastern European Renaissance
      1. Poland, Hungary, Former Czechoslovakia, Former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania
      2. Representative filmmakers and their films from the following list: Andrzej Wajda (A Generation,ÌýAshes and Diamonds,ÌýMan of Marble), Roman Polanski (Knife in the Water), Krzysztof Kieslowski (Camera Buff,ÌýDekalog), Milos Forman (Loves of a Blonde), Jiri Menzel (Closely Watched Trains), Istvan Szabo (Mephisto), among others
    7. Cinema of the East: Japan, India, China and South Korea
      1. Japanese cinema: full national cinema by 1958, separation from the West, graphic arts and scroll paintings, 5-tone music, Noh and Kabuki theatre, Eastern architecture, flower arrangement, Shinto and Buddhist religions
      2. Indian cinema: parallel and regional cinemas
      3. Cinema of the Three Chinas: People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan
      4. Representative filmmakers and their films from the following list: Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon,ÌýThe Seven Samurai,ÌýRan), Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu), Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story,ÌýFloating Weeds), Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali), S. S. Rajamouli (RRR), Zhang Yimou (Red Sorghum,ÌýRaise the Red Lantern,ÌýHero), Chen Kaige (Yellow Earth, Farewell My Concubine), John Woo (The Killer), Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love), Ang Lee (Eat Drink Man Woman), Edward Yang (Taipei Story), Hou Hsiao-hsien (City of Sadness,ÌýThe Puppetmaster), Park Chan-wook (Joint Security Area,ÌýOldboy), Bong Joo-ho (Parasite), Lee Song Hee-il (No Regret), among others
    8. Third World Cinema
      1. Definitions of Third World: issues of geography, race, class, gender, and non-Western perspectives
      2. Latin America: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Cuba
      3. Africa: North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa
      4. Middle East: Iran and Israel
      5. Representative filmmakers and their films from the following list: Arturo Ripstein (Hell without Limits), Glauber Rocha (Black God, White Devil), Bruno Barreto (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands), Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino (The Hour of the Furnaces), Jorge Sanjines (Blood of the Condor), Miguel Littin (The Promised Land), Humberto Solas (Lucia), Ousmane Sembene (Black Girl,ÌýXala), Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry), Ashgar Farhadi (A Separation), among others
    9. Hollywood, 1965-1979
      1. American society of 1960s: the New Frontier and the Great Society; civil disorder, Civil Rights, Free Speech, Anti-Vietnam, Feminist and other movements
      2. American film industry: new youth audience, distribution, conglomerates, censorship replaced with ratings system in 1968
      3. Representative filmmakers and their films from the following list: Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), Mike Nichols (The Graduate), Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch), Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider), Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey), Haskell Wexler (Medium Cool), John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy), Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather,ÌýThe Conversation), George Lucas (Star Wars), Roman Polanski (Chinatown), Martin Scorsese (Mean Streets,ÌýTaxi Driver), Steven Spielberg (Jaws), Woody Allen (Annie Hall), among others
    10. American Cinema, 1980s to the Present
      1. American society in the 1980s to the Present: the audience, styles and trends in music and fashion
      2. American media industry: independent filmmaking, new audiences, economic integration, new studios and streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Studios
      3. Cinematic arts: blockbusters, special effects, postmodern aesthetics, commerce versus authorship, new narratives, audience segmentation, digital technology
      4. Representative filmmakers and their films from the following list: John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus 7), Luis Valdez (Zoot Suit), John Waters (Hairspray), Wayne Wang (Chan is Missing), Joel and Ethan Coen (Blood Simple,ÌýNo Country for Old Men), Spike Lee (Do The Right Thing,Ìý25th Hour), Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull,ÌýThe Departed), Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark,ÌýE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler's List), David Lynch (Blue Velvet,ÌýMulholland Drive), Ridley Scott (Blade Runner,ÌýThelma and Louise), James Cameron (The Terminator,Ìý´¡±¹²¹³Ù²¹°ù), Oliver Stone (Platoon), Tim Burton (Batman), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction,ÌýDjango Unchained), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker,ÌýZero Dark Thirty),ÌýJohn Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), Dee Rees (Pariah,ÌýMudbound), Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station,ÌýBlack Panther),ÌýChloe Zhao (Nomadland), Sian Heder's (Coda), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), among others
    11. Global cinema
      1. Digital technology tools promise the democratization of production and distribution
      2. Mobile, online and streaming distribution and consumption
      3. Cross-cultural influences
      4. Multinational media/entertainment conglomerates
  4. Examine how representations of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and ability reflect and shape the culture in which the works of cinematic arts were produced
    1. Examine the filmic representations and cinematic histories of specific groups
    2. Identify and analyze stereotypical images, tracing the emergence of important issues about representation and difference, the power structure and labor practices of the industry, spectatorship and identification, and the relationship between motion pictures and culture
    3. Compare the relationship of stereotypes to broad historical and political processes
  5. Examine how cinematic arts, both directly and indirectly, reveal information about experience, identity, and culture; assess works of cinematic arts in regard to the cultural conditions that produced them and attracted audiences to them
    1. Examine how film preserves audiovisual information, functioning as a social and historical document
    2. Analyze how popular works of cinematic arts comprise a record of the aspirations, obsessions, and frustrations of those spending time and money making or viewing them
    3. Appraise how cinema mirrors and shapes a society
      1. Record the frequency with which various social types crop up in the films of a particular time and place
      2. Interpret the way groups are depicted and, therefore, valued
      3. Question how domestic and foreign-language films become the mechanism for massive dissemination of significant cultural and ideological values
    4. Recognize how government policies, including funding and censorship, affect popular expression
  6. Formulate critical/historical analyses and evaluations of the works and issues of cinematic arts
    1. Realism as a theory of film history
      1. The past as having an existence independent of the historian
      2. Historical evidence as the partial, mediated, yet indispensable record of the past
      3. Cinematic arts as an open system, an interrelated set of components that condition and are conditioned by each other, such as artistic effects being dependent in part on the state of media technology and technological developments being conditioned by economic factors
      4. Causal analysis
    2. Analyze and interpret media using critical and theoretical approaches to cinematic arts analysis such as neoformalism, genre study, authorship/auteurism, psychological criticism (Freudianism, cognitive psychology) and ideological criticism (Marxism, feminism, queer and cultural studies)
  7. Demonstrate advanced-level understanding of the discipline and methods of film history through examples and application
    1. Demonstrate advanced-level understanding of post-1950 film theory by evaluating the writings of film theorists such as Kracauer, Astruc, Bazin, Wollen, Doane, Metz, among others
    2. Apply the writings of a post-WW2 film theorist to analyze a specific film(s) of that era
    3. Evaluate how film theory reflects the distinct concerns of the national filmmaking movements to which the theorists belong; draws on the latest developments in psychology to explain cinema's affect on spectators; and/or are concerned with cinema’s transformative impact on society and how it may be used as a tool of enlightenment or deception
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