Narrative and Film
English 9.10
Monday-Thursday 9:30-10:20
Tuesday 11:00-11:50
Katherine Larsen
George Washington University
Department of English
Rome 669
E-mail: klarsen@gwu.edu
Office Hours: TBA and by appointment
Course Description
This is primarily an intensive writing course. That said, we will spend
our time thinking about and writing about film. Simple.
Except that good film analysis, like good literary analysis or good
analysis of any sort, is never that simple.
We will be attempting to do several things simultaneously.
Part of the course will be devoted to understanding films, how they
are made, the techniques used to convey a message, to elicit a response,
to tell a story. Once you are familiar with these tools of filmmaking you
will be able to apply this knowledge to your analysis of the films we will
be watching.
The other focus of this course is re-writing. Everyone rewrites and
rewrites are built into the structure of the course. Rewrites range from
a few minor revisions to complete reinterpretations of the
original. Keeping this in mind, we will be spending the semester looking
at originals (both texts and films) and then examining how these originals
are reworked.
Finally, throughout all our readings and viewings and writing, the
primary, recurring focus will be on audience. Who is the writer targeting
with his work? How does that affect his/her choices, methods,
approaches? Who does the filmaker have in mind? Again, how does audience
affect the final product?
And finally, who are you writing to? How does your own voice, diction,
approach change?
Required Texts
The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Orchid Theif - Susan Orlean
Movies and Meaning - Stephen Prince
Required Viewing
The Taming of the Shrew
10 Things I Hate About You
Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein (1996)
Adaptation
Two more films TBA
Course Requirements
Schedule of Assignments
Schedule of Presentations
Research Resources