ENGL 404(F) Auteur Cinema and the Very Long Film (Same as Comparative Literature 324)
This course will focus on six master works by six major film directors: Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura; Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor; Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander; Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now!; Federico Fellini's 8 1/2; and Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. These films were not always well received: the audience to L'Avventura at Cannes yelled "Cut!" in exasperation with Antonioni's desultory editing; Pauline Kael regarded both Fanny and Alexander and The Last Emperor as far inferior to Bergman's and Bertolucci's youthful efforts, arguing that both had betrayed their former intellectual rigor with a new sentimentality; Fellini was roundly criticized for narcissism and egotism in casting the heartthrob Marcello Mastroianni as himself and devoting such a long film to his personal creative blockage; and Coppola's Apocalypse Now! was perceived as a disaster in terms of its budget, its prolonged shooting schedule in a jungle environment, and its devastating impact on the health of its cast and crew. Only The Seven Samurai seems to have been recognized immediately as a masterpiece. All of these films are self-reflexive works, representing both the distinctive personalities of their directors and their individual stylistic and thematic concerns-what makes them examples of auteur cinema. During the first half of the course, we will meet to discuss these films individually together with selected readings. At the same time students will be assigned one of these directors to research for a long paper and oral presentation during the second half of the course.
Format: seminar. Requirements: oral presentation and one long paper (15-20 pages).
Prerequisites: one 300-level English class or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 15). Preference given to junior and senior English majors.
(Criticism)
Hour: BUNDTZEN