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syllabus.md
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# Theories and Practices of the Cinema
## CIN1101HS
Make a change.
### Administrativia
* _Instructor_: Scott Richmond, Associate Professor Cinema and Digital Media
* _Meets_: Wednesdays, 3-7pm, in Innis 223E
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My goals for you for this semester are: (1) to get a solid grounding in how to read, think, and write film-theoretically; and (2) to develop a sense of film theory as a contemporary practice that emerges out of a set of shared concerns. Because of this, the course will be split, broadly, into two parts: (1) a decidedly quick-and-dirty tour through some of the most important texts in film theory, according to me; and (2) Zoom visits from some of the more important/interesting practitioners of film theory these days. The former should inform the latter.
#### Assignments & marking
There are two papers for the course. A midterm paper due on March 1 (5-7pp.), and a final paper on April 30 (18-20pp.).
There are two papers for the course. A midterm paper due on March 1 (5-7pp.), and a final paper on April 26 (18-20pp.). Please note that all written work will be submitted to all participants in the course: we are a community of scholars working and thinking together.
**Midterm paper.** Worth 25% of your final mark. The midterm paper will involve close engagement with one of the essays from Kyle Stevens, _The Oxford Handbook of Film Theory_. This will involve an analytical summary and theoretical critique of this essay. Students will all work on different essays.
**Midterm paper.** Worth 25% of your final mark. The midterm paper will involve close engagement with any one of the essays from Kyle Stevens, _The Oxford Handbook of Film Theory_ (that we are not otherwise reading together in class). This will involve an analytical summary and theoretical critique of this essay. Students will all work on different essays.
**Final paper.** Worth 50% of your final mark. The final paper will be an act of theorizing of your own. This will be guided (if not quite scaffolded) over the second half of the course. The midterm paper should be a starting point for this.
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* Announcements & program notes.
* Good news. For about 5 minutes, everybody shares good news from their professional and/or personal and/or culinary and/or pet lives.
* Mini-lecture. For 10-15 minutes, Scott will digest the major background information for working through the texts at hand. This will be brief, interactive, and informal.
* Questions. For about 10 minutes, the two guides for the week set up our questions for the seminar discussion. The group will decide which question(s) to address ourselves to.
* Think/Pair/Share. 10 minutes. Students will spend 5 minutes identifying specific passages from the reading that may be useful for working through a question, reading those passages, and taking notes on them & the question. Then, they will spend 5 minutes in pairs discussing what they read, wrote, and thought.
* Student driven discussion. For the next 40-60 minutes, students will have a discussion. For the first 20 minutes of that discussion, Scott is not allowed to speak unless asked a direct question from a student.
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* Break. At least 5, as much as 15 minutes, depending on energy levels, screening length, etc.
* Screening (or similar). Scott will introduce the screening and what to look for/think with/perplex over.
* Another break. At least 5 minutes, likely only ever 5 minutes.
* What did you see? Discussion of the screening.
* What did you see? Discussion of the screening. Continues until the end of class.
#### Reading
This is a reading-heavy and reading-forward course. The attachment here is to the site of theory. I know it's a lot; you need to get through it. That doesn't mean you need to read every word carefully! Part of the explicit project here will be to relinquish an attachment to mastery. That often means burning out the anxiety about understanding every word. I'm here to help you get it right, but I'm more concerned with your finding sincere & authentically productive ways to engage.
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2024-01-10
* No guides.
* We will discuss this, and other, course documents.
* Scott Richmond, "On the Impersonality of Experience," from _The Oxford Handbook of Film Theory_
* Roland Barthes, "The Third Meaning," from _Image, Music, Text_
* Stanley Cavell, "Music Discomposed," from _Must We Mean What We Say?_
* Scott Richmond, "On the Impersonality of Experience," from _The Oxford Handbook of Film Theory_ (2022)
* Roland Barthes, "The Third Meaning," from _Image, Music, Text_ (1973)
* Stanley Cavell, "Music Discomposed," from _Must We Mean What We Say?_ (1979)
#### Week 2: Cinema, or the invention of modern life
2024-01-17
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#### Week 7: More film theory: Kyle Stevens
2024-02-28
* Guides TBD.
* Readings TBA.
* Screening: Lynne Ramsay, _You Were Never Really Here_ (UK/France/USA, 2019, 90 mins.)
#### Week 8: Cont'd
2024-03-06
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#### Week 9:The altered spectator: Caetlin Benson-Allott
2024-03-13
* Guides TBD.
* Zhou Chenshu, "Introduction: 'Projecting Cinema'," from _Cinema Off Screen: Moviegoing in Socialist China_ (2021)
* Addtional screening & readings TBA.
#### Week 10: Cont'd
2024-03-20
* Caetlin Benson-Allott, "Contesting the White Gaze: Black Film and Postcinematic Spectatorship" from _The Oxford Handbook of Film Theory_
* Caetlin Benson-Allott, "Introduction: Material Mediations," "Blunt Spectatorship: Inedbriated Poetics in Contemporary US Television," and "Conculsion: Expanding the Scene of the Screen" from _The Stuff of Spectatorship_
* Caetlin Benson-Allott, "Introduction: Material Mediations," "Shot in Black and White: The Racialized Reception of US Cinema Violence," and "Conclusion: Expanding the Scene of the Screen" from _The Stuff of Spectatorship_
* Zoom visit from Caetlin Benson-Allott (Georgetown University)
#### Week 11:The subject in technology: Damon Young
2024-03-27
* Guides TBD.
* Sigmund Freud, "A Child is Being Beaten," _International Journal of Psycho-Analysis_ 1 (1920)
* Bela Belasz, "The Close Up" and "The Face of Man," from _Theory of the Film_ (1952)
* Michel Foucault, "The Gay Science," _Critical Inquiry_ 37.3 (2011)
* Robin Wood, "Psycho," from _Hitchcock's Films Revisited_ (1989)
* Sianne Ngai, "Our Aesthetic Categories," _PMLA_ 125.4 (2010)
* Screening: John Cameron Mitchell, _Shortbus_ (USA, 2006, 101 min.)
#### Week 12: Cont'd
2024-04-03
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* Damon Young, "Ironies of Web 2.0," _Post45_ 2 (2019)
* Zoom visit from Damon Young (University of California, Berkeley)
#### WIP standups/workshop: date TBD, sometime between April 3 and 26.
#### WIP standups/workshop: date TBD, sometime between April 3 and 19.
#### Final paper due: April 26, 2024, by 11:59pm
@ -149,7 +159,7 @@ I take it that a strike will not _directly_ affect us in this class, since you a
That said, I do suspect that a strike may _indirectly_ affect us: you'll be distracted, and possibly distraught. Not great conditions for learning. We'll feel our way through this, and I'd like to know what I can do to help.
#### Academic misconduct and plagiarism
School of Graduate Studies policies on academic misconduct and plagiarism are in full effect. These can be found at https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/policies-guidelines/academic-integrity-resources/. This is deadly serious stuff for graduate students; I am a deep stickler for academic integrity. If you have questions or even hesitations about what is permissible, please ask early and often. Also, if it comes down to giving me something plagiarized or flubbing a deadline, flub the deadline (the late work policy above notwithstanding).
School of Graduate Studies policies on academic misconduct and plagiarism are in full effect. These can be found at https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/policies-guidelines/academic-integrity-resources/. This is deadly serious stuff for graduate students; I am a deep stickler for academic integrity. If you have questions or even hesitations about what is permissible, please ask early and often. Also, if it comes down to giving me something plagiarized or flubbing a deadline, flub the deadline (the late work policy above should take a lot of pressure off, here).
I have taken no provisions to mitigate academic dishonesty from ChatGPT. I trust you, and I _actively want to know what you think_. That said, it does not quite go without saying: please do not use LLMs in an academically dishonest manner. That means: do not represent its output as your own thoughts, insights, or writing. (Seriously: do not take your thought so unseriously as to suggest, even to yourself, that it can be replaced by fancy autocomplete.)