Tuesday, November 30
We finished Baby Face (1933), then briefly discussed the film's attitude toward women and sexual relations as well as why the film could not have been made merely one year later.
Mr. P announced that he had successfully rerecorded Complicated Women, that we will watch it Wednesday and that the quiz over the Hays Cosde and pre-Code films would be given on Thursday.
HW due Thursday:
Quiz to cover the two handouts and the two films (Baby Face and Complicated Women).
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, November 22
We finished watching Freaks, then in the short time remaining (because of the snow-shortened period) very briefy discussed the film's dual nature as exploiter and defender of the society's pariahs.
Mr. P passed out a handout of the Hays Code of 1930 and advised the class that in case school is cancelled Wednesday they are to download two other handouts from room301.org. A quiz over the three handouts is scheduled for Monday.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the handout on the Hays Code.
We finished watching Freaks, then in the short time remaining (because of the snow-shortened period) very briefy discussed the film's dual nature as exploiter and defender of the society's pariahs.
Mr. P passed out a handout of the Hays Code of 1930 and advised the class that in case school is cancelled Wednesday they are to download two other handouts from room301.org. A quiz over the three handouts is scheduled for Monday.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the handout on the Hays Code.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Thursday, November 18
Students were asked to keep two questions especially in mind as they watched the beginning of Freaks (1932):
* What connections does the film have with German Expressionism?
and
* Does the film stand up for "freaks" or does it exploit them?
At the end of class students received a three-page handout with information about the individual people who appear in the film.
HW due Monday (no 6th period Friday):
Read the handout distributed today.
Students were asked to keep two questions especially in mind as they watched the beginning of Freaks (1932):
* What connections does the film have with German Expressionism?
and
* Does the film stand up for "freaks" or does it exploit them?
At the end of class students received a three-page handout with information about the individual people who appear in the film.
HW due Monday (no 6th period Friday):
Read the handout distributed today.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 17
Students took a 45-point quiz over Expressionism and we graded it together.
Afterwards, we briefly discussed M as a serious monster film showing the inability of either the rationality of the police or the rationality of the underworld to deal with the monstrous irrational forces possessing Franz Beckert.
Mr. P briefly introduced our next film, the cult favorite Freaks, directed by Tod Browning, who also directed Dracula.
Students took a 45-point quiz over Expressionism and we graded it together.
Afterwards, we briefly discussed M as a serious monster film showing the inability of either the rationality of the police or the rationality of the underworld to deal with the monstrous irrational forces possessing Franz Beckert.
Mr. P briefly introduced our next film, the cult favorite Freaks, directed by Tod Browning, who also directed Dracula.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 16
We finished watching M, then discussed it briefly, beginning with an exchange of views about the indeterminate ending of the film and the questions it leaves hanging? Should Beckert be killed? Is that the only sensible verdict or the justice meted by criminals? What will it accomplish? We then began to compare M with other films we watched parts of (Caligari, Nosferatu, Metropolis) and we raided the question of the film's relation to Expressionism.
HW due Wednesday:
Prepare for amedium-sized quiz over Expressionism, including the films viewed, the tree handouts, and the images posted on the class website (www.room301.org).
We finished watching M, then discussed it briefly, beginning with an exchange of views about the indeterminate ending of the film and the questions it leaves hanging? Should Beckert be killed? Is that the only sensible verdict or the justice meted by criminals? What will it accomplish? We then began to compare M with other films we watched parts of (Caligari, Nosferatu, Metropolis) and we raided the question of the film's relation to Expressionism.
HW due Wednesday:
Prepare for amedium-sized quiz over Expressionism, including the films viewed, the tree handouts, and the images posted on the class website (www.room301.org).
Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, November 15
Mr. P announced that the quiz over Expressionism will be on Wednesday, rather than Tuesday as previously announced.
We watched more of M till the end of the period. Students were asked to pay especial attention to the back-and-forth juxtaposition of scene of the police and scenes of the criminal underworld.
HW due Wednesday:
Quiz over Expressionism.
Mr. P announced that the quiz over Expressionism will be on Wednesday, rather than Tuesday as previously announced.
We watched more of M till the end of the period. Students were asked to pay especial attention to the back-and-forth juxtaposition of scene of the police and scenes of the criminal underworld.
HW due Wednesday:
Quiz over Expressionism.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tuesday, November 9
To enlarge our experience of German Expressionist cinema, we watched an additional scene from Nosferatu, then devoted the remainder of the period to key excerpts from Fritz Lang's futuristic epic Metropolis (1925).
Wednesday: Fritz Lang's M.
Monday, November 8
We reviewed the assigned handout on German Expressionism by David Hudson, then watched selected scene's from the original Dracula movie, F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu.
To enlarge our experience of German Expressionist cinema, we watched an additional scene from Nosferatu, then devoted the remainder of the period to key excerpts from Fritz Lang's futuristic epic Metropolis (1925).
Wednesday: Fritz Lang's M.
Monday, November 8
We reviewed the assigned handout on German Expressionism by David Hudson, then watched selected scene's from the original Dracula movie, F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday, November 5
Students received another handout (8 pp.) on German Expressionism, this one by David Hudson.
Students were shown the new web page added to the class website (room301.org) containing the Expressionist images viewed in class yesterday and today.
We completed our viewing of those images with the compassionate, grief-suffused woodcuts and charcoal drawings of Kaethe Kollwitz and the acidic, venomous social satire of George Grosz and Otto Dix.
HW due Monday:
Read the David Hudson handout and highlight or underline what you consider to be key passages.
Students received another handout (8 pp.) on German Expressionism, this one by David Hudson.
Students were shown the new web page added to the class website (room301.org) containing the Expressionist images viewed in class yesterday and today.
We completed our viewing of those images with the compassionate, grief-suffused woodcuts and charcoal drawings of Kaethe Kollwitz and the acidic, venomous social satire of George Grosz and Otto Dix.
HW due Monday:
Read the David Hudson handout and highlight or underline what you consider to be key passages.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Thursday, November 4
We went over both of yesterday's handouts. Mr. P shared his highlighting of key passages in the excerpts on Caligari from Kracauer's From Caligari to Hitler, and he pledged that the quiz on German Expressionism would cover only these passages. Similarly, he said that the boldface passages in the other handout -- the entry on Expressionism from the Encyclopedia Britannica -- would be the source of any questions on the quiz pertaining to that document.
Next, we numbered on the Expressionism handout eleven Expressionist artists from Vincent Van Gogh to Otto Dix, and we looked at reproductions of works -- primarily oil paintings and woodblock prints -- from the first eight.
We went over both of yesterday's handouts. Mr. P shared his highlighting of key passages in the excerpts on Caligari from Kracauer's From Caligari to Hitler, and he pledged that the quiz on German Expressionism would cover only these passages. Similarly, he said that the boldface passages in the other handout -- the entry on Expressionism from the Encyclopedia Britannica -- would be the source of any questions on the quiz pertaining to that document.
Next, we numbered on the Expressionism handout eleven Expressionist artists from Vincent Van Gogh to Otto Dix, and we looked at reproductions of works -- primarily oil paintings and woodblock prints -- from the first eight.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Wednesday, November 3
We watched 25 minutes more of Caligari, then came up with adjectives ranging from distorted through trippy to nightmarish to describe what we had seen. Next, students received two handouts, one on Caligari specifically (from Kracauer's From Caligari to Hitler) and one on Expressionism from the Encyclopedia Brittanica. We read briefly from each.
HW due Thursday:
Read both handouts.
We watched 25 minutes more of Caligari, then came up with adjectives ranging from distorted through trippy to nightmarish to describe what we had seen. Next, students received two handouts, one on Caligari specifically (from Kracauer's From Caligari to Hitler) and one on Expressionism from the Encyclopedia Brittanica. We read briefly from each.
HW due Thursday:
Read both handouts.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Monday, November 1
First, we watched the last few minutes on The Man with the Movie Camera again, this time with Yuri Tsivian's commentary, which among other things holds the scene with the children watching the Chinese magician to be both an example of the film as actuality -- life caught unawares -- and of the film as itself a magic show.
Next we watched twenty minutes og Abel Gance's 1927 Napoleeon. As a romantic fiction film and as an exposition of the Great Man school of history, Napoleon embodies what Vertov and the Kinoks opposed, but as, a masterpiece of innovative montage it is in places The Man with a Movie Camera's equal.
Tuesday:
Montage quiz over Potemkin, The Man with a Movie Camera, Napoleon, and associated handouts.
First, we watched the last few minutes on The Man with the Movie Camera again, this time with Yuri Tsivian's commentary, which among other things holds the scene with the children watching the Chinese magician to be both an example of the film as actuality -- life caught unawares -- and of the film as itself a magic show.
Next we watched twenty minutes og Abel Gance's 1927 Napoleeon. As a romantic fiction film and as an exposition of the Great Man school of history, Napoleon embodies what Vertov and the Kinoks opposed, but as, a masterpiece of innovative montage it is in places The Man with a Movie Camera's equal.
Tuesday:
Montage quiz over Potemkin, The Man with a Movie Camera, Napoleon, and associated handouts.
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