Thanks for your patience with my getting the blog to you. Please begin using this space to post–several times per week–your reactions to and thoughts about 1) readings, 2) screenings, 3) class discussions, 4) assignments, 5) outside the classroom issues connected to the study of film and media.
As you will recall from class on Wednesday, our work for this week is to:
- Acquire the course books.
- Read Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal (Preface-199).
- For Wednesday, prepare to speak in some detail about at least two chapters (your choice) in Storytelling Animal.
- Begin to read around in The Film Experience, especially in the early chapters of the book.
- Find and watch Apocalypse Now (1979). There are other versions of the film, principally the longer Apocalypse Now Redux (2001). It’s fine to watch that version, but I’ll be referring mostly to the 1979 film.
- Begin blogging. You should be able to supply at least 3 posts to get going: One to react to what we did in class last Wednesday; one to organize what you want to say about Gottschall’s book; another to react to Apocalypse Now (see questions on the FILMS page).
This week I’ll go over some syllabus details, but you might look around on the blog pages to see some of this information ahead of time. I’ll field any questions you might have on Wednesday.
Hoping this is how I upload to the blog section. Hello class its Ahmed. I wasn’t sure how to respond to the post so I figured I would start it off in a slightly irritating fashion…apologies, hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day Weekend though. For starters last class period (hoping to sound as little of a suck up as possible) was great especially the kicker with the “Batman: Dark Night” analysis it as I mentioned in class sparked the idea of how Batman has thematically and since its origins been used to address issues of Americanism, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO0ACBZFcz8
In the clip given, it is merely a small clip of a 1943 “Batman” movie where essentially Batman must save an American from the cusp of a Japanese operative tasked with the annihilation of America’s prestigious democratic government. While many other movies have a similar theme of confronting the political realm of America, few have had the longevity because none have matched the trope of the superhero. Even Batman’s character has evolved, in the earlier times he was hired by the federal government and was more so a caped spy, willing to do whatever to defend the honor and legacy of the people all while hiding his identity to ensure the utmost humility. In this sense both Batman and Bruce Wayne represented all it meant to be a young, white male in America at the time: extremely patriotic and willing to do whatever for the nation while simultaneously having a playboy image. Now in Gotham City, which is apparently a pseudonym for New York, the caped crusader is seen as a dangerous threat to the city and is wanted by the police despite the fact he is supposed to be saving the nation from anarchy at the hands of the Joker even after he saves the day, he escapes into the smoke. If this is to reflect 9/11 it makes perfect sense as to why to use Batman, if he is to represent America as a somewhat transcendental figure and how much America was demonized by its citizens for its response to 9/11 in comparison to the patriotism and non-challenging of the government in dealing with the Japanese in Pearl Harbor.