The Western in Literature and Film

Transcription

1 20 th Century American Literature: The Western in Literature and Film [ENGL ] Spring 2019 Wed. 6:00-8:50 p.m. English Room 103 Dr. Sara Spurgeon Office: English 206 Office Hours: MWF 10:00-11:00 a.m. or by appointment Sara Spurgeon Department Webpage Course Overview and Purpose This class will examine works of fiction and film that have helped to establish and to challenge what is often called the only original American genre, the Western a genre that seems to have its roots in the nineteenth century, comes of age in the twentieth, and continues branching into unexpected forms in the twenty-first. Some of the texts we will encounter will be canonical classics, and some will undermine, subvert, or expand our ideas about what Westerns are, what they mean, and why we can t stop making them. We will explore these texts from a number of different angles: What did the myth of the frontier look like in the past and what shape is it assuming in American literature and film today? How has it been used to justify or deconstruct American ideas about gender, race, class, sexuality, national identity, and borders? How does the work of non-anglos writing and filming from the other side of the frontier reinterpret that myth? We will be doing close readings of novels, films, and theory. Learning Outcomes and Methods of Assessment Students successfully completing this course will be able to: Demonstrate familiarity with the genre of the Western in both literature and film, as well as the major streams of critical and scholarly engagement with the Western. The method of assessment for this learning outcome will be weekly Response Papers ( words). Perform critical analysis of and demonstrate engagement with multiple critical texts, write persuasively about them, and make and support an original argument. The methods of assessment for this learning outcome will be a fully-developed, formal Topic Proposal with Annotated Bibliography ( words), and an article length Seminar Paper (approx words) Participate regularly in class discussions about required texts and act as a Discussion Leader once during the semester. For this last, you ll need to prepare a short presentation and teach your chosen text(s) to the class using pedagogy appropriate for grad students Methods of Assessment and Grades Guided Response Papers (10) Discussion Leader Topic Proposal Seminar Paper w/ Abstract Total Possible Points 1 point each = 10 points 5 points 15 points 70 points 100 points graded on a % scale

2 Required Readings Last of the Mohicans. James Fenimore Cooper. Penguin Classic Edition with Introduction by Richard Slotkin. (1826) The Virginian. Owen Wister. (1903) Riders of the Purple Sage. Zane Grey. (1912) Ceremony. Leslie Marmon Silko. (1977) True Grit. Charles Portis. (1968) Blood Meridian. Cormac McCarthy. (1985) Exploding the Western. Sara Spurgeon (2005) Reading Packet available on DropBox. Download it onto a thumb drive, get it copied and bound at Copy Tech in the Student Union Building, and bring it to class with the readings already highlighted/annotated for that day s discussion. Required Films The Searchers. John Ford. (1956) The Missing. Ron Howard. (2003) My Darling Clementine. John Ford (1946) High Noon. Fred Zinnemann. (1952) Dances with Wolves. Kevin Costner. (1990) Avatar. James Cameron. (2009) Unforgiven. Clint Eastwood. (1992) Westworld, Seasons 1 and 2 ( ) Class Policies Attendance and Participation Mandatory. Plagiarism Don t even. Due dates As indicated. Accommodation for disabilities - Any student who because of a disability may require special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary accommodations. Unit One Captivity Westerns: Cowboys & Indians Last of the Mohicans. James Fenimore Cooper. (1826) Among the Indians, Anette Kolodny and Israel in Babylon, Richard Slotkin The Searchers. John Ford. (1956) The Missing. Ron Howard. (2003) On Western Films, Richard Slotkin Unit Two Gunfighter Westerns: Gender & the Gun The Virginian. Owen Wister. (1903) Wister s Mother, Jane Tompkins Riders of the Purple Sage. Zane Grey. (1912) White Slaves in Purple Sage, Lee Clarke Mitchell My Darling Clementine. John Ford (1946) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema and Afterthoughts, Laura Mulvey High Noon. Fred Zinnemann. (1952) Gatekeeping the West, Monica Montelongo-Flores Westworld, Season 1. (2016)

3 Unit Three Indian Westerns: Indians & Aliens Dances with Wolves. Kevin Costner. (1990) The Image of the Other in Dances with Wolves, Armando Jose Prats Avatar. James Cameron. (2009) Colonial Narratives in Avatar, Tom Ue Ceremony. Leslie Marmon Silko. (1977) Decolonizing Imperialism, Sara Spurgeon and Masculinity and the Western, Lydia Cooper Unit Four Anti-Westerns: Sex, Violence, & Horses True Grit. Charles Portis. (1968) The Search for the True West in True Grit, Kenneth Millard Unforgiven. Clint Eastwood. (1992) Western Manhood in Unforgiven, Clay Motley Blood Meridian. Cormac McCarthy. (1985) The Eucharist of the Wilderness, Sara Spurgeon Westworld, Season 2. (2018) Semester Calendar UNIT 1 Captivity Westerns: Cowboys & Indians W 1/16 Intro to class. You need to come today having already read Spurgeon s Introduction from Exploding the Western, Kolodny s Among the Indians: The Uses of Captivity, and the first half of Cooper s Last of the Mohicans. Short lecture on James Fenimore Cooper and the literary Western. Sign up today for being a Discussion Leader. For next week, read the second half of Last of the Mohicans and Slotkin s Chapter 4 Israel in Babylon: The Archetype of the Captivity Narrative from Regeneration Through Violence, and write Guided Response Paper 1 engaging Cooper and at least one of the scholarly readings. W 1/23 Lecture and class discussion on Last of the Mohicans, Slotkin, Kolodny, and your Guided Response Paper 1. Short lecture and demonstration on how to do a close reading of a film scene, short lecture on John Ford and the filmic Western. I will send you a written example of a close reading of a film scene. Please go through this handy vocabulary list of film terms at the very bottom of my webpage under the heading Research Links: Sara Spurgeon Department Webpage For next week read Chapter 1 from The Critical Eye, Slotkin s essay on Western Films, watch Ford s The Searchers and Howard s The Missing, and write Guided Response Paper 2 as a close reading of a scene from one of these films. Come to class ready to perform your own close reading (I will have dvd copies of the films), and to discuss at least two of the following tropes: white women and the threat of miscegenation, white men and the threat of miscegenation, white culture and the threat of cultural miscegenation, definitions of national identity (racial and cultural) and who gets counted as an American, presentations of Native Americans and the figure of the

4 white Indian, the frontier as a site of danger and desire, and one trope of your own choosing that you see running through all three Captivity Westerns. W 1/30 Class discussion on The Searchers, The Missing, your scene analysis and Response Paper 2. Short lecture on Gunfighter Westerns (Unit 2), and Owen Wister. For next week read Owen Wister s The Virginian and Jane Tompkins chapter, Wister s Mother, and write Guided Response Paper 3. Unit 2 Gunfighter Westerns: Gender & the Gun W 2/6 Class discussion on The Virginian and Tompkins, and your Guided Response Paper 3. Lecture on Zane Grey. For next week Riders of the Purple Sage, and Lee Clarke Mitchell s White Slaves in Purple Sage, and write Guided Response Paper 4. W 2/13 Class discussion Riders and Mitchell s White Slaves, and your Guided Response Paper 4. Lecture on Golden Age Westerns, My Darling Clementine, High Noon, and Senator Joseph McCathy s House Un-American Activities Committee. For next week watch (in this order) Ford s My Darling Clementine and Zinnemann s High Noon, and read Mulvey s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Afterthoughts on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, and Montelongo-Flores Gatekeeping the West. Write Guided Response Paper 5 engaging at least one of the films and at least one of the critical readings. Come prepared to do a scene analysis from either of the films and to talk about the common tropes we ve seen in the evolution of the Gunfighter Western. W 2/20 Guest lecturer Dr. Ben Rogerson for this class! (I ll be at a conference). Class discussion Clementine and High Noon, Mulvey, Montelongo-Flores, and your Guided Response Paper 5. Just give these to Dr. Rogerson and I ll collect them when I return. For next week, watch episodes 1-5 of Season 1 of Westworld, and come prepared to discuss one episode of your choice (no Response Paper due next week). W 2/28 Episodes 1-5, Season 1 Westworld For next week, watch Episodes 6-10 and write Guided Response Paper 6 W 3/6 Class discussion Episodes 6-10 of Westworld and your Guided Response Paper 6. Discuss handout for the Topic Proposal and Seminar Paper. Short lecture on the Indian Western, Dances with Wolves, and Avatar. Over Spring Break, begin research for your Topic Proposal. For Wednesday after Spring Break watch (in this order) Costner s Dances with Wolves and Cameron s Avatar, read The Image of the Other and the Other Dances with Wolves and Colonial Narratives in Avatar and write Guided Response Paper 7. This begins UNIT THREE Indian Westerns. Come prepared to do a close reading of a scene of your choice.

5 W 3/13 SPRING BREAK Unit 3 Indian Westerns: Indians & Aliens W 3/20 Class discussion on Dances with Wolves, Avatar, and critical readings, your scene analyses, and your Guided Response Paper 7. Lecture on Leslie Marmon Silko and Ceremony. For next week read Silko s Ceremony, Spurgeon s Chapter on Ceremony, and Lydia Cooper s Masculinity and the Western in Ceremony and write Guided Response Paper 8. W 3/27 Class discussion Ceremony, Spurgeon s chapter, Cooper s article, and your Guided Response Paper 8. Short lecture on True Grit, Unforgiven and the Anti- Western/Revisionist Western. For next week read Portis s True Grit and watch Eastwood s Unforgiven, also read Millard s History, Fiction, and Ethics: The Search for the True West in True Grit and Motley s Western Manhood in Unforgiven. This begins UNIT FOUR Anti- Westerns. Write Response Paper 9, engaging at least one of the main texts, and one of the critical readings, and come prepared to do an analysis of a scene of your choice from Unforgiven. Your Topic Proposal is due next week. Unit 4 Anti-Westerns: Sex, Violence, & Horses W 4/3 Class discussion True Grit, Unforgiven, your scene analysis and Response Paper 9. Short lecture on Cormac McCarthy and Blood Meridian. Topic Proposal due today (please it as an attachment). I will it back to you with my comments by next class. For next week read Blood Meridian, Spurgeon chapter Eucharist of the Wilderness, and write final Guided Response Paper 10. W 4/10 Class discussion Blood Meridian, Spurgeon chapter, your Guided Response Paper 10. Lecture on Westworld and the sci-fi Western. For next week watch Westworld Season 2 episodes 1-5 and come prepared to analyze an episode of your choice. Confirm for me by 4/17 the topic (and if possible, title) of your Article Length Essay and I will you the name and contact information of your Peer Review Partner(s). W 4/17 Class discussion Westworld Season 2 episodes 1-5. Go over handout for Peer Review Guidelines. For next week watch Westworld Season 2, episodes Get a COMPLETE first draft of your seminar paper to your Peer Review Partner(s) by Wednesday, 4/24. Read and review your partner s paper by April 30th.

6 W 4/24 Class discussion Westworld S2, E W 5/1 For next week read and review your partners paper(s) by Tuesday April 30, and bring a copy, either paper or on the device of your choice, to go over during class on 5/1. LAST DAY OF CLASS Go over handout Turning your Seminar Paper into an Article. Sit in class with your Peer Review Partner(s) today and go over the first draft of their seminar paper in detail. I ll bring bagels and cream cheese, and coffee. Feel free to bring whatever other sorts of snacks you think we need to get through the last class meeting. Final draft of Seminar Paper due Wednesday 5/8 by 6:00 p.m. Please to me as an attachment. I will return them to you by . Guided Response Papers These papers should be short, but focused. Take us somewhere specific. Each primary text for the semester is paired with at least one scholarly text, and the Response Papers should engage both. Here is the format I d like you to follow, at least loosely: Broad, general statement about the primary text A more specific, narrow statement about an idea, trope, theme, or some other sort of topic that might make for an interesting essay topic should you decide to write on this text in some hypothetical future An actual argument you might make, a sort of fantasy thesis statement, for an imaginary essay. Go ahead and take some risks here if you like. You will not be required to stick with anything you write in these Response Papers when you work on your Topic Proposal or your Article Length Essay. Brief analysis/close reading of a scene or two (including citations of pg. numbers or chapter/time signatures for films) from the primary text that could be used to support your argument Two short quotes from the associated critical text that could be used either to support your argument, or to give you a chance to state how/why you think the scholarly article is wrong