It's All Legal

In Spring 2013, I'll be teaching a new Honors seminar with Dr. Dupuis (associate dean of the Honors College) about film and the law. We'll be looking at 10-12 movies that deal with legal issues and/or the legal profession, and we'll be discussing both the cinematic and legal questions raised by those films. Even though the seminar isn't until the Spring, it's already almost full. So if you're interested, you shouldn't put off enrolling. I think the class will eventually be called Law in Film, but right now it's called Honors Special Topic. It's listed as both FIL 3930H and POS 3930H.  Just a heads up for lucky readers of this blog.

Discussion Topics

Adaptation

Discussion topics for 7.2.12:
1) What do you like/not like about the main characters in All About Eve?
2) How would you describe the narrator of the short story?
3) Who narrates the movie?
4) We don't see a stage performance in the movie. Does that strike you as a flaw? As noteworthy?

Continuing readings:
1) Finish reading "The Wisdom of Eve."
2) Read Ghost World. Find two examples where the graphic novel makes a point visually and be prepared to share that with the class on 7/9/12.
3) Continue reading The Long Goodbye. Find three passages that describe the world of the novel and be prepared to share them with the class on 7/16/12.

Walking on Water

                                                   Adaptation


Lots of great comments this week on Being There. The students really seemed engaged by the film and novella, and by such questions as what the title means and what the film's final scene of Chance walking on water adds to the story. I think they were surprised to hear that the idea for the story may have been inspired by the early political career of Ronald Reagan. And I think they were amused by the outtakes that director Hal Ashby slapped onto the very end of the movie. Wish we had more time for discussion, but our film for the night, All About Eve, runs two hours and 38 minutes. At Camp Burnett, we like to stay on schedule.

TV Alert

Adaptation

This Sunday, June 24, at 9 pm, TV Land will present a program showing the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award presentation to Shirley MacLaine. We're interested in this because Shirley MacLaine plays Eve in Being There.  [This is not an assignment, just a suggestion.]

Discussion Topics

Adaptation

Discussion topics for 6.25.12:
1) What does final, walking-on-water scene in Being There mean?
2) What does the title mean?
3) What are the movie and novella about?
4) What are the movie and novella saying about television?

Continuing readings:
1) Read Being There. Focus on the tone of the novella. Look for two passages that demonstrate that tone and be prepared to share them on 6.25.12.
2) Continue reading "The Wisdom of Eve." Pay attention to the personality of the narrator.
3) Begin reading The Long Goodbye. Find three passages that describe the world of the novel and be prepared to share them with the class eventually.

Papers & Printers, Part 2

Adaptation
If you're having printer issues, here's a tip from fellow-student Rachel Pittaluga:

The Honors college and the student union both close at 5 p.m. in the summer, so students who utilize their printing services (like me) can use something called knight study, apparently located by the arena. Thought that might be helpful for students who ran into the same problem.

Papers & Printers

Adaptation


There's been an epidemic of students who come to class without their papers printed out. So they ask if they can email the papers to me right after class.
Out of a class of 19, I've had seven students so far with this problem. This is getting out of hand. So I have decided, reluctantly, to institute a new rule.
From now on, if you come to class without your paper, you lose half a letter grade if you email it to me that day. (Of course, you lose a full letter grade if you email it to me the next day, as it says in the syllabus.) The only exception is for students who don't come to class on a given day. If you're actually absent, you can email me your paper that day and get full credit for the paper (although, of course, you're counted as absent).
This new rule does not apply to papers that have already been emailed.
We're about halfway though this semester, campers. Let's focus!