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Films about the American South


Course Description

A study of important films about the American South and their perspectives on the history and culture of the region; the literary sources on which many of the films are based.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will watch films in addition to those on the undergraduate syllabus and will read additional secondary materials and scholarship both on the source texts for the films and on the films themselves. They will present to the class a 15-20 minute oral report on a film not covered in class that considers the film in the context of the themes and issues of the course. This report will be an opportunity both for critical and cultural interpretation and also teaching the topic. One week after delivery of the report students will submit a written version. By the end of the term graduate students will propose and justify a topic for, and then research and write, a 5000-word critical paper that will investigate some dimension of the subjects, themes, issues, and materials explored in the course. Students will be asked to think of the paper as an intermediate step towards production of a paper for delivery at a professional conference or for publication.


Athena Title

Films about the American South


Non-Traditional Format

Students will be asked to attend film screenings outside of class time.


Undergraduate Prerequisite

Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)


Graduate Prerequisite

Permission of department


Semester Course Offered

Offered every year.


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Student learning Outcomes

  • Students will have a deeper understanding of the relationship of literature and film.
  • Students will learn how to speak and write critically and analytically about literature and film.
  • Students will examine how the history and culture of the American South are portrayed in literature and film, and how the South sometimes serves as a metaphor for issues extending well beyond regional boundaries.
  • Students will analyze how race, class, gender, history, economics, religion, ideology, and other aspects, often less tangible and more abstract, of the human condition provide the substance of literature and film.

Topical Outline

  • This course will cover a range of film types and categories. It might be organized chronologically, or thematically, or in some other fashion. The following list is an example of one approach to the course:
  • Week 1: Introduction
  • Week 2: Jezebel (1938)
  • Week 3: Intruder in the Dust (1949); read the Faulkner novel
  • Week 4: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
  • Week 5: Baby Doll (1956); read the Williams screenplay
  • Week 6: God’s Little Acre (1959; Paper 1 due; read the Caldwell novel
  • Week 7: Nothing But a Man (1964)
  • Week 8: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968); read the McCullers novel
  • Week 9: Nashville (1977)
  • Week 10: Deliverance (1972); read the Dickey novel
  • Week 11: 4 Little Girls (1997)
  • Week 12: Wise Blood (1979) ; read the O’Connor novel
  • Week 13: Eve’s Bayou (1997)
  • Week 14: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
  • Week 15: Junebug (2005)

Syllabus


Public CV