Difference between revisions of "The Critical Essay: Film"

From RealCTY
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(No difference)

Revision as of 10:47, 2 May 2018

Part of a series on
Realcty logo 20060831.png
CTY Courses
Category · Template · Baby CTY
Sites
Allentown · Bristol · Haverford · Hong Kong · Santa Cruz · Seattle
Humanities
Foundations of Psychology
Bioethics · Great Cases: American Legal History
Introduction to Logic · Philosophy
The Roots of English · Comparative Law
Writing
Whodunit? Mystery and Suspense in Literature and Film
Crafting the Essay
The Graphic Novel
Math
Geometry through Art
Paradoxes and Infinities · Mathematical Modeling
Computer Science
Foundations of Programming
Economics
The Mathematics of Money · Game Theory and Economics
Science
Zoology · Principles of Engineering Design
Biotechnology · Chemistry in Society
Introduction to Astronomy
Anatomy and Physiology
The Physics of Sports
Whales and Estuary Systems · The Chesapeake Bay
Defunct Courses
Colonial Life · Beyond America
Civil War and Reconstruction · US Environmental History
Victorian Women · America in the Cold War
The Making of California · The Civil Rights Movement
Politics of Place · Eastern Philosophy
Drama · Writing and Reading Seminar
Public Speaking and Communication · Poetry
Writing the History Paper · Writing American Autobiography
The Short Story · Drama 2: From Stage to Screen
Shakespeare in Performance · Math and Music
Math Workshop · Mathematical Investigations
Math and Art · Algebra and its Applications
Geometry and its Applications · Probability and Statistics
Chaos and Fractals · Introduction to Geology
Exercise Physiology · Environmental Engineering
Nuclear Science · The Critical Essay: Cinema
Medical Sciences: Pharmacology & Toxicology · The Modern City
Writing About Place: The Monterey Bay

The Critical Essay: Cinema (FILM) was a CAA Writing course examining and analyzing film works and writing three essays on scenes and their meanings to the films as a plot. This course was offered at Bethlehem, Bristol, Santa Cruz.

Course Description

From the CTY Course Catalog (2003):

From the bustling Manhattan of Charlie Chaplins City Lights (1931) to the mythologized American west of John Fords The Searchers (1956), films have captured our imagination and our culture. More than just popular entertainment, films reflect the society that produces them. What, for example, does a gangster film like Howard Hawks Scarface (1932), a screwball comedy like Preston Sturges Sullivan's Travels (1942), or an adventure classic like Merian C. Coopers King Kong (1933) reveal about how we viewed our institutions, our country, and ourselves during the Great Depression?

Through lectures, critical readings, and discussions, students in this writing course acquire the sophisticated skills necessary for analyzing the form and content of classic Hollywood cinema (1910-1960). Students explore how directors employ specific strategies to achieve desired results and how films make meaning, target audiences, and affect society at large. In addition to clips from various cultures and eras, students watch four complete films, including one work by an acknowledged pioneer of world cinema, such as Akira Kurosawa, F.W. Murnau, Satyajit Ray, or Francois Truffaut.

Students write three critical essays in addition to a number of shorter assignments such as scene analyses and reviews. Each essay is developed though a process of drafting, work-shopping, and revising. Students learn to research specific details to support their thesis statements, organize their thoughts coherently, and forge an original voice with which to express their views.