Required Texts: Course copy packet.
Dash, Julie. Daughters of the Dust. New York: Penguin, 1997.
Humm, Maggie. Feminism and Film. Edinburgh: U of Edinburgh P, 1997.
Redding, Judith, and Victoria Brownworth. Film Fatales. Seattle: Seal P, 1997.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. New York: HBJ, 1927.
Course Requirements:
1) 3 writing assignments (2 at 20%; 1 at 30%) = 70% (see details below)
2) Midterm viewing assignment = 10% (details below)
3) Attendance, participation, & quizzes = 10% (attendance required; more than 3
unexcused absences will result in reduced grade; five or more absences will result
in failure of course)
4) Cumulative final exam & learning analysis= 10% (see attached sheet on learning analysis)
Writing Assignments:
First paper is due Wednesday, October 6. 6-8 pp. Choose from the following:
(more details later)
a) visual pleasure and changing cultural constructions of gender
b) woman as object of the gaze/subject of her own gaze
c) mother/daughter relationships in film
d) something structural: sound, editing, color and meaning production
Second paper is due Wednesday, November 3. 6-8 pp. Choose from the following:
a) how the filmic apparatus contributes to the production of meaning in documentary
b) how documentaries do/do not contribute to the social/cultural production of gender, etc.
c) what are the key elements of a feminist documentary?
d) how do feminist documentaries position the spectator? Who spectates? How does this affect
the production of meaning?
Third paper is on a film and novel, either by Julie Dash or Sally Potter/Virginia Woolf.
8-10 pp.
a) Julie Dash directed a movie and wrote a novel, both with the title Daughters of the Dust,
though they do not tell the same stories. If you write on Dash, you will explore how the
two works by the same filmmaker/author interact with one another;how the film operates
differently/ similarly to the written text. You will also be expected to consider how you
would have shot a scene from the book that is not realized/done in the film.
Due November 18.
b) Potter adapted Woolf's novel Orlando into a film. If you write on Potter, you will explore
how she adapts Woolf. You will consider what translates well from the written into the
film version, and what is lost. You should not argue that the film is better than the novel
or vice versa, but consider how they are different and how each informs the other. Finally,
you will select a scene or event from the novel that Potter does not stage, and consider
how it should be done; on the other hand, you could choose something that she does do,
or something that she changes from the novel, and write about how you would have done
it differently as a director and why. Due Dec. 9.
Midterm Viewing Assignment:
Sometime during October, go see a film or rent one. It must be a film that you think is
going to deal with gender or a woman main character in some capacity. It can be directed
by a woman or a man, and can be a Hollywood, foreign or independent production.
Approve selection with me ahead of time. (Good examples out as I write this include
Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Runaway Bride, Run Lola Run). Write an analysis of
how the film positions women. Take into consideration how the story of the film is told,
how the woman/women are portrayed, what assumptions about gender are made, and
how the film produces meaning about women/gender in contemporary (U.S. or other)
culture. 5 pages. Due Oct. 21 in class.
Final Exam due by: Friday, December 17, 10:30 a.m. in my office.
EN 399--Women and Film/ Syllabus
EARLY WOMEN'S FILMS AND INTRO TO COURSE
24 Aug Course Introduction. What do you expect from this class? Key definitions and terms.
Screening: Dorothy Arzner's Dance, Girl, Dance (1940). Beginning of Adam's Rib (1949).
26 Read intro to Film Fatales (FF). George Cukor, Adam's Rib (1949). 101 m.
Recommended viewing: George Stevens, Woman of the Year (1942). On reserve.
31 Mulvey "Visual Pleasure"; E. Ann Kaplan, definitions and "Is the Gaze Male?"; Ch.1 of Humm.
Discuss Hepburn & the Woman's Film of the 1940's. Production and representation of
gender(ed) identities.
Screening: AgnesVarda, Cleo from 5 to 7 (1961). 120 m.
2 Sept Read Flitterman-Lewis, "From Deesse to Idee: Cleo from 5 to 7." Discuss Varda.
7 Read "Uncompromising Feminist" in FF. Ch. 4 in Humm.
Screening: Marleen Gorris, A Question of Silence (1982). 96 m.
9 Read Murphy "A Question of Silence," and Root "Distributing…." Discuss Gorris.
14 Discuss Gorris.
Screening: Gorris, Antonia's Line (1995). 93 m.
16 Discuss Gorris.
EXPERIMENTAL WOMEN'S FILMS
21 Maya Deren. Recommended: Deren, "Cinematography: the Creative Use of Reality."
Screening: Deren, The films of Maya Deren (1943-59). 76 m.
23 Read Heck-Rabi, "Delicate Magician." Discuss Deren.
28 Mona Hatoum.
Screening: Hatoum, Measures of Distance (1988) 15 m.
30. Ngozi Onwurah.
Screening: The Body Beautiful (1991) 23 m.
5 Oct Jane Campion. Read "A Girl's Own Story," FF.
Screening: A Girl's Own Story (1983) 27 m; Passionless Moments 13 m; Peel 9 m.
6 First paper due in my office by 2 p.m.
7 No class; fall break.
EXPERIMENTAL FEMINIST DOCUMENTARIES
12 Trinh Minh-ha. Read "Surname Viet" in FF. Read script.
Screening: Trinh, Surname Viet Given Name Nam (1989) 108 m.
14 Read interview. Discuss Trinh.
19 Lourdes Portillo. Read "You can only make a good film…" from FF.
Screening: Portillo, The Devil Never Sleeps (1995) 57 m.
21 Discuss Portillo. Midterm viewing assignment due.
26 Barbara Hammer, read "Filling the Blank Screens," in FF.
Screening: Hammer, Nitrate Kisses (1992) 63 m.
28 No class; reading day. Read Daughters of the Dust.
2 Nov Screening: Winer and Koenigsburg, Rate it X (1986) 93 m. (explicit contents)
3 Second paper due in my office by 2 p.m.
4 No class; reading day. Read Daughters of the Dust.
FEMINIST FILMS AND NOVELS
9 Julie Dash; Read "Someone Always Says No" in FF. Discuss novel and prep for film.
Screening: Dash, Daughters of the Dust (1991) 114 m. Humm Ch 5.
11 Discuss Dash; Read Mellencamp "Making History" and Alexander handout.
16 Dash.
18 Dash; written response to Dash due.
23 No class: read Orlando over the break.
25 No class.
30 Sally Potter and Virginia Woolf; discuss the novel and prep for film.
Screening: Potter, Orlando (1992) 93 m.
2 Dec Read Humm Ch. 6. Discuss film and novel.
7 Potter.
9 Potter; written response to Potter due.
Final Exam: Fri., Dec. 17, 8:30-10:30 am.