Tuesday, December 9

Pre-Code excerpts

We watched

(1) the ending of Golddiggers of 1933, including "The Ballad of the Forgotten Man," followed by a brief discussion,

and

(2) scenes from Tarzan and His Mate (1934).

Here come the forces of decency!

Monday, December 8

We watched the beginning of the Depression-era document of escapism and social upheaval Golddiggers of 1933.

Friday, December 5

Students retrieved their notes from Thursday, and we watched the final few minutes of Complicated Women, then discussed it. At the end of class students turned in their completed notes.

Thursday, December 4

We watched most of Complicated Women, a documentary film about the treatment of women in "pre-code" films made between 1929 and 1934.

Students took notes on the major ideas presented in the film, which they turned in at the end of the period.

Wednesday, December 3

Students took a quiz over Citizen Kane which required them to identify images from the film according to where they are in the film and their thematic significance. Afterwards we looked at and discussed one or two of the images.

Next Mr. Potratz passed out copies of the Hays Code of 1930. Students read it, then we discussed what it prohibited and one or two of its contradictions.

Tuesday, December 2

We returned to Citizen Kane one last time to examine its use of the subjective camera.

We compared the two treatments of Susan's operatic career in this connection: first the nightmarish sequence as seen from Susan's tortured perspective (which actually occurs second in the film) and then the earlier presentation with its shifting perspectives, reflecting the viewpoints of the singing coach, Bernstein, Leland, and especially Kane.

Tomorrow's class will begin with a second (and final) quiz over Citizen Kane.

Monday, December 1

Students listed what they thought were the leading visual motifs in Citizen Kane -- such as windows, statues, smoke, shadows, and the entire complex of motifs surrounding "Rosebud": the sled, the snowglobe , snow itself.

Following that we reviewed several early scenes in the film with an eye out for those motifs.