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Recommended and Required Movies Free Online

Thanks to Professor Eversley, whom some of you know, I am now aware of a site where some of our recommended and required viewings are available for free. You may need to install a plugin to watch them, however. If that’s the case, you’ll need to follow the links right below the viewer window to install DivX. You may not be able to do so if you are in a computer lab.

You can watch Double Indemnity (1944) (required for next Thursday) and Blue Velvet (1986)(recommended for this Thursday) on stagevu.com for free. Click on the poster images above to visit the site and watch the movies.

Going forward, movies available on stagevu.com will be linked from the calendar page.

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Response Paper #1: Significance Statement

Double spaced, standard 12pt font (Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, etc.), approximately 2 pages.
Due Thursday, Feb. 4 in class.

The assignment:
Choose a short passage (1-3 sentences) from one of the assigned readings (Phillips, Monaco, Plantinga, or the 3 entries from the Dictionary of Psychoanalysis that you found particularly interesting, illuminating, infuriating, or otherwise significant and write a brief essay discussing this passage and why you think it is important to the the central arguments of the reading as you understand it. Please include your passage at the top of the page and be sure to note the author and the source, including page number.

Consider the following questions and use them to help you formulate a response; you don’t have to answer every one. What does the passage mean? Does it mean something different on its own than it does in the context of this essay? Why? How are the ideas in the passage related to the author’s main argument? What can you say about the meanings of individual words, particularly the technical terms? Do particular words have more than one meaning in the sentence? Try to really dig into the quote you’ve chosen — look at it as closely as you can.

Some Tips:
Before you start writing, take some time looking at your quote, taking notes, looking up words, or whatever else you need to do to formulate your argument. Try to have some sort of idea of what you will say before you start writing. Good planning is a large part of good writing.

Support your arguments with evidence from movies and/or the text. Make sure you back up your assertions.

Don’t worry about impressing your reader with fancy vocabulary and sophisticated syntax; big words and convoluted sentence structure do not necessarily make good writing. Don’t use a thesaurus and make sure that you know the meaning of each word you use. Work to get your thoughts across clearly and accurately rather than to impress your reader. Substance is much more important here than style but proofread carefully and avoid careless mistakes.

If any of this is unclear, or if you think you might have misunderstood the instructions, be sure to let me know. You can post a question in a comment if you’d like or email me.

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Draculas

For our discussion today, here’s the trailer for the 1938 rerelease of Universal’s Dracula (1931) directed by Tod Browning. The whole film is available in parts on Youtube and for instant streaming in Netflix.

Here is a trailer for Francis Ford Coppola‘s 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Note how this trailer emphasizes the truly supernatural qualities of the vampire that Phillips says made the 1931 version particularly terrifying to contemporary audiences.

And here is the full version of Murnau’s 1922 expressionist take on the famous vampire, Nosferatu (1922), which was discussed in some detail in our reading:

Note the difference in appearance between . . .

Max Schreck’s Dracula in Murnau’s film and

Bela Lugosi’s dapper aristocratic Dracula in Browning’s. We’ll discuss Phillips’ take on this difference in class.

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Welcome to ENG3940H

Welcome to the online home of ENG3940H: Topics in Film: The Cinema of Fear, Anxiety and Paranoia.

psycho

Make yourself at home, say hello and introduce yourself!

Here’s what you’re in for:

Course Description (from the About page):

This course will explore representations and manifestations of fear, anxiety, and paranoia in American films between the end of WWII and the present. We will consider the ways in which films speak to broader cultural anxieties particular to specific historical moments. We will likewise explore the ways in which the stylistic and aesthetic means of representing fear and anxiety on screen have evolved over the medium’s history. Viewing will include a variety of films across periods and genres including Pickup on South Street, Rear Window, Dawn of the Dead (Romero and Snyder versions), The Conversation, and The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimer and Demme versions). Readings will include works of social history as well as theoretical texts on spectatorship, the psychology of fear and paranoia, film genres, and film aesthetics; they will facilitate a critical exploration of the complex ways popular films are informed by, play on, and reinforce prevailing fears and anxieties.

Course Learning Goals
In this course, students will:

1) become familiar with key principles of film studies

2) develop a critical vocabulary for film analysis

3) engage the complex interplay between commercial films and cultural norms, mores, and anxieties

4) explore the nature of spectator experience and the means through which films evoke visceral experience and emotional responses, particularly fright, anxiety, and disgust

Visit the course calendar page for specific details on viewing, reading and writing assignments.

Here’s looking forward to an exciting semester.

jleighscream