E.K
Sparks
Engl
450
Spring
2006
MW
11:15-12:05 D 313
T
3:30-6:15 D313
Science
Fiction Film-- Spring
2006
Definitive
Web Syllabus
Back
to Main Page
Glossary
| 
Chronological
Chart
Research
Project | 
Midterm
|
Student
Projects | Final
Definitions
& History | Hero's
Journey | 50's:
Alien Invasions |
60's
Holocausts | 70's
Critiques | Gender Issues | 80's
Postmodern SF |
Star
Wars | Metropolis | The
Thing and Day the Earth Stood Still |
Invasion
of the Body Snatchers |
Dr.
Strangelove | 2001
| A
Boy and His Dog
| The
Stepford Wives |
Alien
|
Blade
Runner | Brazil
| Twelve Monkeys
| The
Matrix
=
in Xerox book 
= on reserve 
=on the web 
=handout 
=Blackboard
1. W, Jan 11:
Intro to course [Syllabus,
Policy Statement]
M,
Jan 16: MLK Holiday
Definitions
and History of SF Film
T,
Jan 17: LAB1: A&E: History of SF Film
2. W, Jan 18: Readings on
Definition: [
Bibliography, Reserve List]
- Telotte, Chap 1 (pp. 3-33)
- King and Krzywinska, Intro “Spectacle
and Speculation” 1-11
- SFE on which films included and why, pp.
xvii-xviii
- Web
Site on Definitions of SF: <http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html>
Journal
#1: Intro to self and discussion of definition and history of SF
film.
Due by Mon day Jan 23. Hard Copy at my office (613 Strode)
plus e-mail
to list
The Hero’s
Journey
3. M, Jan 23: Readings on Hero’s Journey:
LAB2: Star
Wars IV (New Hope) and V (Empire Strikes
Back)
4. W, Jan 25: Discuss
Campbell Quest and Readings
on Star Wars
Web
Materials on Campbell
Information
on Tarot
Star
Wars Biblio and Links
- Gordon,
Andrew. “Star Wars: A Myth for Our Time.”
(1978): .
- Gordon,
Andrew. “The Empire Strikes Back: Monsters from the
Id.” (1980)
- Rubey,
Dan. “Star Wars: “Not So Long Ago, Not So
Far Away.” 1978
Intro
to History of SF Film Chronological
Chart
5.
M, Jan 30: Readings on History of SF
Film:
- Telotte, Chap 3 (63-123)
- Nicholas,
“Cinema” entry in SFE (X)
- Handy,
Intro to Overlook SF Encyclopedia `(X)
T, Jan 31: LAB3:
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis
(1924) Web
Page on SF Utopias and Metropolis
6. W, Jan 21: Discuss
Readings on Metropolis
Required:
- Patalas,
Enno. “Metropolis: Screen 103.” In Penley
et al, Close Encounters.
(1991) 161-70.
- Desser,
David. “Race, Space and Class: The Politics of the SF Film
from Metropolis
to Blade Runner” In Kerman, Retrofitting
Blade Runner (1990).
110-123.
- Telotte,
J.P. “The Seductive Text of Metropolis.” Chapter 2
of Replications
Extra Credit
- Available
On-Line Through Expanded Academic Index (Go to Clemson Libraries/ Article
Indexes and Databases, and click on Expanded Academic; once
you are
in the database, search for the articles using author's names and words
in the title for keywords.
- Emily S. Payne, "Fritz Lang's
Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear." Historical
Journal
of Film and Television. 22.1 (June 2002): 214 (2). Short
review
of new book, collecting essays on Metrop. Gives overview of
criticism
on film.
- Roberts, Rex. Auld Lang
Syne: A Restored Print of the Silent Classic…” Insight
on the News 18.28
(August 5, 2002): 33. Review of the new DVD gives
good history
of movie versions (3 pp).
- Steve Vineberg. “Heartbreak
City.” Christian Century 119.20
(September 25, 2002): 48 (2). Nice
summary/overview (2 pp.)
- Testa, Bart. Rev of Michael
Minden and Holger Bachman, eds. Fritz's Lang's
Metropolis: Cinematic
Visions of Technology and Fear. Utopian Studies 13.2
(Spring
2002): 179 (5). Longer and more detailed review of
new book; very
good explanation of critical perspectives.
- Clark, Jill. "Scientific
Gazing and the Cinematic Body Politic: The Demonized Cyborg of
Metropolis." Intertexts
(3.2 (Fall 1999): 168 (13). Advanced
feminist/postmodernist
analysis of the movie using Donna
Haraway's ideas about cyborgs.
- Dolgenos, Peter. "The Star
on C.A. Rotwang's Door: Turning Kracauer on its Head." Journal
of Popular Film and Television 25.2 (Summer 1997): 68
(8).
Political-ideological anaysis of the film, dealing with Nazi and Jewish
elements.
- Grad Students read: Dadoun, Roger.
“Metropolis: Mother City
–“Mittler’
– Hitler.” In Penley, Close Encounters
End of
Unit #2 on Hero's Journey and Metropolis. If you don't have 6
points on unit quizzes, you need to do some extra credit by Friday Feb
10. (send to me via e-mail)
- One unit point for writing at least 250 word analysis of
a film or book of your choice using Campbell's hero chart.
- One unit point for reading an extra credit essay and
wriitng 250 words on it.
- One unit point for turning in your reading notes
for a class day when you did not take a quiz
- One unit point for writing a response or a poem that
shows you did the reading for one class day when you did not take a
quiz.
The
50's:Alien Invasions and
Creature Features Web
Site on 50's SF Film
7. M, Feb 6: Iconography of SF
- King and Krzywinska, Intro “Spectacle
and Speculation” 11-50
- Lucino,
Patrick. “Myths and Motifs of the Monster Movie.”
- Hutchins,
"We're the Martians Now: British SF Invasion Fantasies..."
- Extra
Reading On- Line on Expanded Academic Index:
- Utopian Studies, Wntr 2001 v12
i1 p196. "Paranoia, the Bomb and 1950s Science-Fiction Films." (book
review)
Christopher K. Cosner.
- Mosaic (Winnipeg), Dec 1999 v32
i4 p73. "From Trauma to Paranoia: Nuclear Weapons, Science Fiction and
History." CYNDY HENDERSHOT.
T, Feb 7: LAB4:
The Thing (1951) and
The Day
the Earth Stood Still
(1951)
My
viewing Notes on The Thing from Another Planet
My
viewing Notes on The Day the Earth Stood Still
8. W, Feb 8: Discuss Readings
on The
Thing and Day the Earth Stood Still
- Warren,
Bill. Entries on The Thing from Another World and
The Day the Eaarth Stood Still from Keep Watching
the Skies, pp. 48-54.
- Biskind,
Peter. “The Russians Are Coming, Aren’t
They? Them!, The Thing, and
the Extremists from Beyond the Center.” In Seeing
Is Believing, pp.
123-36.
- Biskind,
Peter. “Friends in High Places:The Day the Earth
Stood Still , It
Came from Outer Space and the Suppression of
Paranoia” In Seeing
Is Believing, pp. 145-59.
Comparsion/Contrast
of The Thing and Day the Earth Stood Still
- Grad Students read: ?Landon,
Brooks. “The Thing in All Its Guises: Reconsidering
a Science Fiction
Classic”
- End
Xerox Installment I/ Begin Installment II
9. M, Feb 13:
Readings on Paranoia
in the 50's
- Sobchack,
120-136 (dehumanizing humans)
- Weels, "The Invisible
Shrinking Man: Shrinking Masculinity in the 50's SF B Movie"
- Biskind,
Peter. “The Mind Managers: Invasion of the Body
Snatchers and the
Paranoid Style in American Movies.” In Seeing is
Believing
- Extra
Reading On- Line on Expanded Academic Index:
- "Genre
and closure in the seven versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers:
Finney
('54, '55, '78), Siegel ('56, '56), Kaufman ('78), and Ferrara ('93)."
(Critical Essay) Robert Shelton. West Virginia University Philological
Papers Fall 2002 p71(7) (4274 words)
- "FILMS FOR OUR TIME: USING 'INVASION
OF THE BODY SNATCHERS' TO TEACH RECENT AMERICAN HISTORY." Neil Liss,
Cameron
White. Teaching History: A Journal of Methods Spring 2001 v26 i1 p13
(4369
words)
- "The
Other Americans, Biskin, Seeing is Believing pp.
102-122. (On Reserve)
LAB5:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Biblio
on IBS
My
viewing Notes on Invasion
of the Body Snatchers
10 W, Feb 15:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- Entry
on The Invasion of the Body Snatchers from Keep Watching the Skies
- Steffen
Fluhr, Nancy. “Women and the Inner Game of Don Siegel's
Invasion of the
Body Snatchers”
- Johnson,
Glen M. “'We'd Fight~.~.~.~We Had To': The Body Snatchers as
Novel and
Film.” Journal of Popular Culture, 1979, 13, 5 14.
- Comparsion/Contrast
of all four fifties films
Unit
#3 Fifties Movies (Thing, Day Earth Stood Still, Invasion of BS) Extra
Points Due F, Feb 24.
The 60's : Holocausts and
Expanded Visions Holocaust
Films |
11. M, Feb 20: Readings on
Disasters
- Sontag,
Susan, “The Imagination of Disaster”
Study
Questions
- Cumbow,
Robert C. “Survivors: The Day After
Doomsday.” (Peary 1984)
- Broderick,
Mick. “Surviving Armageddon: Beyond the Imagination
of Disaster.”
(1993)
- Extra
Reading On- Line on Expanded Academic Index:
LAB6:
Dr. Strangelove
(1964) Dr.
Strangelove Web Site & Biblio
My
viewing Notes on Dr. Stranglelove | Sean
Callot's Viewing Notes
Class
Discussion Notes on Dr. Strangleove | Sean's
Class Notes
Some
Dr.
Strangelove Links:
12. W, Feb 22: Discuss
Readings on Strangelove
- Brustein,
Robert. "Out of This World." The New York Review of
Books,
February 6, 1970. Rpt. In Perspectives on Stanley
Kubrick,
ed, Mario Falsetto, pp. 136-40.
- Kolker, Robert Phillip.
"Dr. Strangelove nad 2001: A Space Odyssey" 1980. Rpt. In
Perspectives
on Stanley Kubrick, ed, Mario Falsetto, 141
- Nelson,
Thomas Allen. "The Descent of Man." Chapter 4 of
Kubrick:
Inside a Film Artist's Maze. Bloomington:Indiana UP, 1982.
- Devries,
Daniel. Chapter 4 of Kubrick: The Films
of Stanley Kubrick.
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1973, pp. 34-44.
- Kagan,
Norman. Excerpt from The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick.
New York:
Continuum, 1993, pp. 132-144.
- Extra
Reading On- Line on Expanded Academic Index:
- The New Leader, Oct 10, 1994 v77
n10 p20(2) Dr. Strangelove. (movie reviews) David Bromwich.
Monday, Feb 27: Proposal and Initial
Reference biblio for Research Project due
See Blackboard
for Topics and Biblio for 2006.
End
Xerox Installment II/ Begin Installment III
13. M, Feb 27: Readings
on 2001
I 2001
Web Site & Biblio
- Michel
Ciment “The Odyssey of Stanley Kubrick” (1972)
(Early short summary)
- Daniel Devries, Chapter on 2001 (pretty short,
intro main ideas)
- Excerpts from Perspectives on Stanley Kubrick, ed.
Mario Falsetto: Herb
Lightman “Filming 2001: A Space Odyssey”,
Douglas Trumbull, “Creating
Special Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey,” and David G.
Hoch, “Mythic
Patterns in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Extra
Reading On- Line on Expanded Academic Index:
- "From technology to transcendence:
humanity's evolutionary journey in 2001: A Space Odyssey." (Critical
Essay)
Carrol L. Fry. Extrapolation
Fall 2003 v44 i3
p331(14)
- "2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY." (Critical
Essay) Robert Poole. History Today Jan
2001 v51 i1 p39 (3862
words)
- ,Timothy E. Scheurer The
score for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Journal of Popular Film and
Television. Wntr
1998 v25 n4 p172(11)
- "2001 at 25." (movie '2001: A
Space Odyssey') Piers Bizony. Omni May 1993 v15 n7 p42(6)
(2904 words)
LAB
7: 2001: A Space Odyssey
(1968)
My
viewing Notes on 2001
List
of things to talk about re: 2001
Hero's
Journey in 2001
14. W, March 1: Readings on
2001 II
- Miller,
Mark Krispin. "2001: A Cold Descent." Sight and Sound
4:1 (January
1994): 18 25.
- Nelson,
Thomas Allen. Chapter 5 of Kubrick: Inside
a Film Artist's
Maze. 1982.
- Falsetto,
Mario. Excerpt from SK: A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis
(1994)
(space & time)
The
70's: Critiques Web
Site on 70's Critiques
15. M, Mar 6: MIDTERM 2006
(take-home) | 2006 Core
List of Articles | Tips on taking the midterm
- Ryan,
Michael and Douglas Kellner.
“Technophobia” From Camera Politics.
Rpt. In Kuhn, Alien Zone. (On THX1138, Logan’s Run and BR)
- Bruce
Franklin, “Visions of the Future in SF Films from
1970-82.” Rpt in Alien
Zone (1990)
- Chart
on Politics of Tecnophobia: Ryan and Kellner
- Optional--may
help with Miderm: Telotte, Chapter 2, SF: The Critical
Context, 33-63
Tuesday, March 7:
LAB 8: A Boy
and His Dog | Web Site on A Boy & His Dog
and PostHolocaust
My Viewing Notes on A Boy and His Dog
16. W, Mar 3:
Discuss Boy and His Dog.
- Crow,
John “Mythic
Patterns in Ellison's A Boy and His
Dog.”(1977) 162-66
- .
Hall,
Peter C “Beyond
Topeka
and Thunderdome: Variations on the Comic-Romance Pattern in Recent
Science-Fiction Film” (1987), 316-325.
Midterm
due Monday Mar 13.
The 70's: Gender Issues
17. M, Mar 13: Readings on
Gender Issues: Gender
Issues in SF Film
- Mulvey,
Laura, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
Tuesday, March 14: LAB9:
The Stepford Wives
(1975)
My
viewing Notes on Stepford Wives
18. W, Mar 15:
Discuss Movie.
Readings on Sex in SF Films
SPRING
BREAK (March 20-25)
The
70's: Horror meets SF
19. M, Mar 27: Alien
Contexts Critical Biblio
on Alien
and Sequals
- Byers, Thomas B. "Commodity
Futures: Corporate State and Personal Style in Three Recent Science
Fiction
Movies." (Alien , BR, STII: Kahn)
- Barbara
Creed. “Gynesis,
Postmodernism and the Science Fiction Horror Film.” (Kuhn
1990)
- Nostromo
by Joseph Conrad
Tuesday, March 28: LAB10:
Alien (1979)
My
viewing Notes on Alien
Study
Questions on Alien
Alien
and Campbell
20. W, Mar
29: Readings on Alien Griemas
Semantic Rectangle
- T.J Matheson, “Triumphant Technology
and Minimal Man: The Technological Society, Science Fiction Films, and
Ridley Scott’s Alien”(1992)
- Rebecca Bell-Metereau, “Woman:
The Other Alien in Alien” (1985)
- Judith Newton. “Feminism and Anxiety
in Alien.” (SFS 1980)
-
James Kavanagh,
Feminism, Humanism and Science in Alien”
(Extra credit: Griemasian semantic rectangle)
Kuhn, Alien Zone I (1990)
- Extra
Reading On- Line on Expanded Academic Index:
- Steffen Hantke. "In the
belly of the mechanical beast: technological environments in the Alien
films." Journal of Popular
Culture Wntr 2003 v36
i3 p518(29) (11387 words)
- Grad
Students Read
- Robert Torrey, “Awakening
to the Other: Feminism and the Ego-Ideal in Alien” (1994)
End Xerox Installment III/
Begin Installment
IV (all articles posteds on Blackboard)
The 80's:
The Future Revisioned: Postmodernism meets SF
21. M, Apr 3: Alien and Blade
Runner and PoMo
Web
Site on Blade Runner and the Postmodern City | Basic
Concepts from Jameson
- Lev, Peter. WHOSE
FUTURE? STAR WARS, ALIEN, AND BLADE RUNNER.
Literature Film
Quarterly, 26.1 1998."
- Gordon, Andrew,
"The Postmodern Always Rings Twice"
- Begley, Varun.
Blade Runner and the
Postmodern: A Reconsideration.
Literature
Film Quarterly,
2004; 32 (3): 186-92.
- Rare Starlog
Interview with PK Dick about Blade Runner (1982)
- Dick,
Philip K. Excerpt
from “Man, Android, and Machine”
-
My P. K. Dick Pages
- My
Reading and Discussion Questions Comparing Book and Movie
- Things
to Discuss About the Film
- Explanation
of anamorphic filming
LAB11:
Blade Runner (1982)
My
viewing Notes on Blade Runner (conceptual, visual, allusions)
A
Transcript of the Script of the 1982 Version of the Film
22. W, Apr 5: Discuss Blade
Runner
- Doll,
Susan and Faller, Greg .
“Blade Runner and Genre: Film Noir and
Science Fiction”
- Desser, David . :"Blade
Runner, Science Fiction, and
Transcendence." Literature
Film Quarterly
- E.K. Sparks: "Visions
of Dick: Men, Women and machines in Blade Runner and Total Recall""
- Marlene
Barr, "Metahuman Kipple,
Or, Do Male Movie Makers Dream of Electric Women?
Speciesism
and Sexism in Blade Runner,"
- Extra
Reading
- Nola Galagher. "Bleak visions:
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Director's
Cut." Australian
Screen Education, Winter 2002 i29 p169(6)
- Grads
Read
- Guilliana Bruno, "Ramble City:
Postmodernism and Blade Runner." In Alien
Zone, ed.
Annette Kuhn (1990) (On reserve)
F, Apr 7: 5 Summaries of important
articles DUE
23. M, Apr
10: More on PostModernism and SF Film: BRAZIL
Class
Notes on Discussion of PoMo and Brazil
- Boyd, Katrina,
"Pastiche and Post-Modernism in
Brazil." (1990)
- Telotte,
J. P. “The Tremulous
Public Body: Robots, Change and the Science Fiction
Film.” (Spring
1991)
LAB12: Brazil
(1986)
My Viewing Notes on
Brazil
IMSDB Script for Brazil
24. W, Apr 12: Readings
on Brazil
- Gilliam
on making of Brazil
- Williams, Linda
Ruth. "Dream Girls and Mechanic Panic"
- Fister, Barbara, MUGGING
FOR THE CAMERA: NARRATIVE STRATEGIES IN BRAZIL
,
Literature Film Quarterly, 24.3 (1996)
- Extra Credit: Wheeler, Ben. Reality is
What You Can Get Away With: Fantastic Imaginings, Rebellion and Control
in
Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Critical Survey,17.1
(2005):95-108 My
notes on Wheeler
The 90's:
Commerce is Our Goal
25. M, Apr 17: Discuss final
exam: essay
and ID’s; SF Film in the 90's. Twelve
Monkeys
LAB13:
Twelve Monkeys
(1995)
My
viewing Notes on Twelve Monkeys
Shooting
Script for Twelve Monkeys
26. W, Apr 19:
Discuss Readings on Twelve Monkeys
Class
Discussion on Twelve
Monkeys
- Gilliam
on
Twelve Monkeys (1999)
- Lashmet,
"The Future is History": 12 Monkeys and the Origin of AIDS"
(2000)
- "The
Remaking of La Jetée's Time-Travel Narrative: Twelve Monkeys
and the Rhetoric
of Absolute Visibility" (2001)
- Extra Credit: Alaimo,
Endangered Humans? Wired Bodies and the Human Wilds in Carnosaur,
Carnosaur 2, and 12 Monkeys
27. M, Apr 24:
Readings on The Matrix
- Kimball, Not Begetting the Future:
Technological Autochthony, Sexual Reproduction, and the Mythic
Structure of The Matrix
- Schuchardt,
Read, “What Is the
Matrix?” (Yeffeth, 5-22)
- Gordon,
Andrew, “The Matrix: Paradigm
of Post-Modernism..” II. (Yeffeth, 85-102)
LAB14:
The Matrix (2000) Matrix
Links
My viewing Notes on The Matrix
Class Notes on the Matrix
28: W, Apr 26:
Discuss Matrix and
Final Exam
- Jason Haslam.
Coded
Discourse: Romancing the (Electronic) Shadow in The Matrix
- Thomas Frentz
and Janice Rushing, "'Mother
Isn't Quite Herself Today:' Myth and
Spectacle in The Matrix"
W,
Apr 26: Final Research Project DUE (Everyone has an extension until 4:30, Friday, April 28)
King and Krzywinska
