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THE SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY
Radio-Television-Film 345
Instructor: Dr. Laura
Stein
University of Texas at Austin;
Spring 2004
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides a conceptual overview of the
forms, strategies, structures and conventions of documentary film
and video with an emphasis on North American. The course focuses
mainly on social documentaries, or documentaries that construct
arguments about the social world, addresses power relations in society,
and aim to raise awareness and motivate action for social justice.
Students will examine dominant, experimental and emergent modes
of representation; important documentary texts, movements, and filmmakers;
and selected documentary genres. The aims of this course are two-fold.
Students will gain knowledge of the current theoretical dilemmas
and debates in documentary filmmaking, including questions of how
to define documentary, what constitutes the ethical treatment of
subjects and subject matter, documentary’s construction and
positioning of its audience, and political and economic constraints
on documentary filmmaking. In addition, the course will emphasize
critical thinking and viewing skills related to representations
of the social world through audio-visual media.
READINGS
See Bibliography>>
RECOMMENDED
Barnouw, Erik. (1993). "Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction
Film, 2nd ed." New York: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, Jack C. (1989). "The Documentary Idea:
A Critical History of English-language Documentary Film and Video."
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Nichols, Bill. (1991). "Representing Reality."
Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
M. Renov (Ed.), Theorizing Documentary. New York: Routledge.
Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (Eds.).,
"Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary
Film and Video." Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS & EXAMS
1. Documentary Journal: Each student will keep a journal
that critically discusses all of the documentaries viewed in class.
Journal entries should include in their headings the title, director
and year of each documentary. The substance of each journal entry
may include any of the following: a synopsis and analysis of the
documentary, critical and personal reactions to the work, discussion
of techniques and modes of representation, ethical questions raised
by the work, styles and strategies utilized to convey meaning, the
appropriateness of style to content, the relationship of the work
to a particular documentary movement, etc. When grading the journal,
I will mark down 1 full letter grade for every 10% of films that
are missing. I will place each week’s screenings in the Instructional
Media Center (IMC) for 1 full week for make-up viewing. After that,
the films will no longer be available to view, no exceptions.
2. Each student will write either a research paper
or grant narrative.
A. Research paper. The paper should be about 25
pages in length. Students will choose the paper topic to reflect
a substantive and/or analytical issue addressed by the course.
A one-page paper proposal is due at least one month before the
final paper.
B. NEH grant narrative. The grant narrative
should be approximately 25 pages in length. Follow the guidelines
for a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant for “Television
Projects: Production Grants”
(See NEH websites: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/tvprojects.html
http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/tvprojects.html#howto).
You should answer the following questions listed under the “Narrative”
section of the “Television Projects” grant: 1. nature
of the request 2. overview of the subject 3. description of the
project 6. audience and broadcast prospects & Appendix B:
treatment.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1 (1/19 & 1/20)
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE: Paradoxes of narrative
nonfiction.
*NO SCREENING
Week 2 (1/26 & 1/27)
DEFINING DOCUMENTARY AND DOCUMENTARY MODES OF REPRESENTATION:
What is documentary? Semiotic analysis and representational forms.
*NO SCREENING
Read:
Nichols, “How Do Documentaries Differ from Other Types of
Film”
Nichols, “What Types of Documentary Are There”
Eitzen, “When Is a Documentary?: Documentary as a Mode of
Reception”
Monaco, “The Language of Film: Signs and Syntax”
Week 3 (2/2 & 2/3)
EXPOSITORY REPRESENTATION.
Screen:
Selected Lumiere films
Industrial Britain, Robert Flaherty and John Grierson, Great Britain,
21 min., 1933
The Plow That Broke the Plains, Pare Lorentz, 25 min., 1934
Song of Ceylon, Basil Wright, 1933
Night Mail, Harry Watt and Basil Wright, 25 min, 1936
Land Without Bread, Luis Buñuel, 27 min., Spain, 1932
Read:
Grierson, “First Principles of Documentary”
Grierson, “The Nature of Propaganda”
Grierson, “The Documentary Idea”
Keil, “Persuasion and Expression in ‘The Plow That Broke
the Plains’ and ‘The City’” (you can skip
sections on “The City”)
Guyn, “Basil Wright’s ‘Song of Ceylon’”
Rothman, “Land Without Bread”
Recommended Reading:
Barnouw, “Prophet,” pp. 3-30
Barnouw, “Advocate,” pp. 85-139
Week 4 (2/9 & 2/10)
EXPOSITORY REPRESENTATION (continued).
Screen:
Harvest of Shame, Edward R. Murrow, CBS News, 60 min., 1960
Panama Deception, Barbara Trent, 1992
Read:
Nichols, “How Have Documentaries Addressed Social and Political
Issues?”
Recommended Reading:
Barnouw, “Promoter,” pp. 213-228
Week 5 (2/16 & 2/17)
OBSERVATIONAL REPRESENTATION
Screen:
Nanook of the North, R.J. Flaherty, 79 min., 1922
Salesman, Maysles, 90 minutes, 1969
Read:
Flaherty, “How I filmed ‘Nanook of the North’”
Rothman, “‘Nanook of the North’”
Stubbs, “Albert Maysles: Father of Direct Cinema”
Recommend Reading:
Barnouw, Explorer, pp. 33-51
Barnouw, “Observer,” pp. 231-253
Week 6 (2/23 & 2/24)
OBSERVATIONAL REPRESENTATION (continued)
Screen:
Streetwise, Martin Bell, Mary Ellen Mark, and Cheryl McCall, 92
min., 1984
Read:
Pryluck, “Ultimately, We are All Outsiders”
Schwartz, “Streetwise and Seventeen”
Week 7 (3/1 & 3/2)
INTERACTIVE REPRESENTATION
Screen:
Chronicle of a Summer, Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin, France, 90
min., 1960
Harlan County U.S.A., Barbara Kopple, 103 min., 1976
Read:
Rothman, “Chronicle of a Summer”
King, “Recent ‘Political’ Documentary”
Stubbs, “Barbara Kopple: Through the Lens Fearlessly”
Recommended Reading: Barnouw, “Catalyst,”
pp. 253-262
Week 8 (3/8 & 3/9)
INTERACTIVE REPRESENTATION (continued)
Screen:
Sherman’s March, Ross McElwee, 155 min., 1985
George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, Paul Stekler, 2000
Read:
Fischer, “Ross McElwee’s ‘Sherman’s March’”
Stubbs, “Ross McElwee: Personal Journeyman”
Week 9 (SPRING BREAK)
Week 10 (3/22 & 3/23)
REFLEXIVE MODES OF REPRESENTATION
Screen:
No Lies, Mitchell Block, 25 min., 1973
The Man With a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, U.S.S.R., 103 min. 1929
Read:
Feldman, “Dziga Vertov’s ‘The Man with a Movie
Camera’”
Michelson, “Introduction”(from Kino-Eye)
Vertov, “We: Variant of a Manifesto”
Recommended Reading:
Barnouw, “Reporter,” pp. 51-71
Week 11 (3/29 & 3/30)
REFLEXIVE MODES OF REPRESENTATION (continued)
Screen:
Roger and Me, Michael Moore, 87 min., 1989
Letter from Waco, Don Howard, 60 min., 1996
Read:
Bernstein, “Documentaphobia and Mixed Modes”
Ruby, “The Image Mirrored: Reflexivity in Documentary Film”
Bullert, “Roger & Me and the Heartbeat of America”
Arthur, “Jargons of Authenticity”
Week 12 (4/5 & 4/6)
GENRES, SUBGENRES AND MOVEMENTS: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
DOCUMENTARY.
Screen:
The Work of Sadie Benning, Sadie Benning, 1989
Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter, D. Hoffman, 1994, 44 min.
Tongues Untied, Marlon Riggs, 50 min., 1989
1 page paper proposal due.
Read:
Lane, “Notes on Theory and the Autobiographical Documentary
Film in America”
Petty, “Silence and Its Opposite: Expressions of Race in ‘Tongues
Untied’”
Bullert, “Tongues Untied”
Bordowitz, “Operative Assumptions”
Riggs, “Tongues Re-tied”
Week 13 (4/12 & 4/13)
GENRES, SUBGENRES AND MOVEMENTS: MUSIC DOCUMENTARY.
Screen:
Don’t Look Back, D.A. Pennebaker, 90 min., 1966
Blondie: VH1 Behind the Music
This is Spinal Tap
Read:
Rothman, “Cinema Verité in America and ‘Don’t
Look Back’”
Levin, “Donn Alan Pennebaker”
Plantinga, “Satirizing Masculinity in ‘This is Spinal
Tap’”
Week 14 (4/19 & 4/20)
GENRES, SUBGENRES AND MOVEMENTS: REALITY TELEVISION
& ITS ANTECEDENTS
Screen:
Candid Camera, 1960s-present
An American Family, Craig Gilbert, 1973
The Real World-New York, MTV, 1992
An American Love Story, Jennifer Fox, 1999
Read:
Nichols, “At the Limits of Reality (TV)”
Andrejevic, “Rediscovering Reality,” and “The
Kinder, Gentler Gaze of Big Brother”
Week 15 (4/26 & 4/27)
GENRES, SUBGENRES AND MOVEMENTS: GUERILLA TELEVISION.
Screen:
Selected works from Paper Tiger Television, Termite TV and Free
Speech TV
Battle of Trafalgar, Despite TV Collective, 1990
What Democracy Looks Like, Showdown in Seattle, Deep Dish TV and
Independent Media Center-Seattle, 28 min, 1999
Read:
Boyle, “From Portapak to Camcorder: A Brief History of Guerrilla
Television”
Millner, “Bargain Video”
http://www.termite.org/ (read “about” Termite TV, delve
around the “articles & reviews”)
Stein, “Access Television and Grassroots Political Communication
in the United States”
Recommended Reading:
Barnouw, “Guerilla,” pp. 262-293
Barnouw, “Movement,” pp. 297-349
Week 16 (5/3 & 5/4)
THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY: Mixed modes. New
and emergent forms of documentary. Social documentary as an institutionalized
practice.
Screen:
The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris, American Playhouse, PBS, 115 min.,
1987.
Señorita Extraviada, Lourdes Portillo, 70 min., 2001
Read:
Williams, “Truth, History, and ‘The Thin Blue Line’”
Bates, “Truth Not Guaranteed: An Interview with Errol Morris”
Barnouw, “Seeing and Believing: The Thin Blue Line of Documentary
Objectivity”
Engardio, “ITVS: Might See TV”
5/10 Papers and journals due
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