SUMMER 2020 MOVIES AND AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - FITV 3579 R21

COMMUNICATION & MEDIA STUDIES FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

Instructor: Arthur S. Hayes ahayes@Fordham.edu

Contact info: email: ahayes@Fordham.edu; phone: 718 817-1262;

OFFICE: FMH 437. CLASS RM: FACULTY MEMORIAL HALL 232

Office hours. Noon -12:30 pm.

CLASS MEETS: 9 AM- NOON; MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, JUNE

30–AUGUST 4.

Course description. “Anyone who wishes to know about the twentieth-century U.S. would do well to go to the movies. Films represent much more than mere mass entertainment. Movies—even bad movies—are important sociological and cultural documents. Like any popular commercial art form, movies are highly sensitive barometers that both reflect and influence public attitudes. From the beginning of the last century, films have recorded and even shaped American values, beliefs, and behavior.” The first paragraph of the assigned text, Hollywood’s America, posted above aptly describes the theme of this course, “Movies and the American Experience.” Course objectives. ● To use films to illustrate central themes of the 19th, 20th & 21st –century American politics and culture; ● To understand film as a medium for public opinion shaping our understanding or misunderstanding of history, gender, ethnicity and class. ● To provide a basic understanding of film interpretation, focusing on textual analysis.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS.

MIDTERM: WEDNESDAY, JULY 18 –EXAM I (40%)

FINAL: MONDAY, AUGUST 6. (40%) CLASS PARTICIPATION: (20%)

REQUIRED READINGS.

● Steven Mintz and Randy W. Roberts, eds., Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film (Wiley-Blackwell, 5th edition).

● Documents identified below and on Blackboard.

Grading policy “All members of the faculty are encouraged to consider the grade of “C+” as the grade for average level performance by a Fordham student. While circumstances may vary, a consistent pattern of giving predominantly very high grades will be viewed with concern. Grade inflation hurts students by undermining the University’s reputation with graduate and professional schools.” 3.2.1 Grades Given by Course Instructors—http://www.fordham.edu/Audience/handbooks.shtml I seek to comply with the University’s policy stated above. I assign number grades based on mostly objective criteria. I then translate the final number grade average into a letter grade: A 100-95, A- 94-90, B+ 89-85, B 84-81, B-80-77, C+ 76-73, C 72-69, C- 68-65, D 64-60, F 59-0. Attendance Students missing more than FOUR sessions will forfeit 11 points from their final class grade. The exceptions, of course, are legitimate illness or other emergencies that can be documented for veracity.

COURSE SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, JULY 5 & MONDAY, JULY 9

A few tools to apply to interpret how Hollywood films have depicted culture, political events, social trends, gender and ethnicity in U.S. history: propaganda analysis, comparison to factual accounts and use of tropes, stereotypes, archetypes and motifs.

● READ FOR CLASS: Chapter 32, p. 392. Movies and the Construction of Historical Memory Steven Mintz, “Movies, History, and the Disneyfication of

the Past: The Case of Pocahontas

● READ FOR CLASS: Shooting (Down) the Past Historians vs. Hollywood.

(See Blackboard).

● “The director’s ethical obligation to depict the truth in fictional works and

works based on historical events.”

The Ethics of Fiction Writing, https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/more/resources/the-ethics-of-fiction-writing/

History According to Hollywood, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/opinion/History-According-to-Hollywood.html

History in Film: Real or Just Reel?, http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/films/list/0_35_9_14

● ‘Braveheart’ screening stokes Scottish debate ,

https://www.ft.com/content/745b6474-faf4-11e3-a9cd-00144feab7de?mhq5j=e1

● 10 Popular Movies That LIED About History! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGVbHKuv7lE

● 10 Historically inaccurate movies,

http://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/10-historically-inaccurate-movies.htm

● Tropes are storytelling devices and conventions, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes; http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NationalStereotypingTropes

(See Blackboard)

● Genre Tropes, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes

● Action Adventure Tropes

● Advertising Tropes

● Alternate History Tropes

● Art Tropes

● Comedy Tropes

● Crime and Punishment Tropes

● Derivative Works

● Drama Tropes

● Espionage Tropes

● Game Show Tropes

● Horror Tropes

● Love Tropes

● Military and Warfare Tropes

● News Tropes

● Professional Wrestling

● Reality TV Tropes

● Speculative Fiction Tropes

● Sports Story Tropes

● Superhero Tropes

● Tokusatsu Tropes

Interpretations of the Matrix:

● Matrix Mythology, http://www.matrixmythology.com/#Neo

● Daniel Dennett and Cornel West Decode the Philosophy of The Matrix in 2004

Film, http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/daniel_dennett_and_cornel_west_decode_the_philosophy_of_the_ithe_matrixi_in_2004_film.html

● Islamic Phobia and Media Studies since 911: Semiotic Analysis of the Movie

Argo, http://www.slideshare.net/HameelKhan/semiotic-analysis-of-movie-argo-research-paper-22258531

MONDAY, JULY 9

Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: PART I THE SILENT

ERA 31

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Introduction: Intolerance and the Rise of the Feature Film, p. 31.

● Silent Cinema as Social Criticism

● Front Page Movies

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 1 Workers in Early Film, p. 33, Michael Shull, “Silent

Agitators: Militant Labor in the Movies, 1909–1919.”

Illustrates the labor versus capital theme in American movies during

the 1910's. More than one hundred companies produced films

portraying militant laborers, selfish profligate capitalists, suffering

families, and innocent workers easily manipulated by outside agitators.

They usually ended with a reconciliation, such as a romantic pledge by

the capitalist to his or her working-class sweetheart. The legitimate

grievances and resulting activism of workers disappeared from the

screen during World War I, when movies resorted to patriotic scenarios

in which an enemy agent or foreign radical incited workers to un-

American behavior.

● “Films and the depiction of class,” from The Encyclopedia of Class

Den hvide slavehandel (The White Slave Trade) 1910 - YouTube

▶ 32:19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIKjmTyqSTI

Nov 2, 2017 - Uploaded by Films by the Year

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0001258/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_2 Release date: August 2, 1910

Director: August Blom ...

The.Inside.of.the.White.Slave.Traffic.1913.720p.BluRay - YouTube

▶ 28:53

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZHihjo_eBQ

Mar 22, 2013 - Uploaded by Adrian Mihai

The.Inside.of.the.White.Slave.Traffic.1913.720p.BluRay. Adrian Mihai. Loading...

Unsubscribe from Adrian ...

Traffic in Souls, 1913 - YouTube

▶ 55:13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLZLhdqQXug

TUESDAY, JULY 10

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 2, .p 42. Silent Cinema as Historical Mythmaker: Eric Niderost, “The Birth of a Nation.”

● View: “The Birth of a Nation,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkmLs-2UiNY

● Birth of a Nation: Viewed Today, http://offscreen.com/view/birthofnation

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: Chapter 4 Primary

Sources, p.63, Edison v. American Mutoscope Company 63

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: “The Nickel Madness” p. 65

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio. p. 68

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: Fighting a Vicious

Film: Protest Against The Birth of a Nation p. 69

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: Boston Branch of

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1915 p. 69

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: Analysis by

Francis Hackett p. 69

TUESDAY, JULY 10 CONTINUED PART II HOLLYWOOD’S GOLDEN AGE.

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Introduction: Backstage During the Great Depression: 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Footlight Parade, p. 76

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 5 Depression America and its Films: Maury Klein, “Laughing Through Tears,” p. 79

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 & THURSDAY, JULY 12

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 6 The Depression’s Human Toll: Peter Roffman and Jim Purdy, “Gangsters and Fallen Women,” p.86

● Great Gangster movies,

http://classicfilm.about.com/od/classicmoviereviews/tp/7-Great-Gangster-Movies.htm

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: Film Censorship, p

120

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: The Sins of

Hollywood, 1922, p.120

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: “The Don’ts and Be

Carefuls,” p. 122

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: The Motion Picture

Production Code of 1930, p. 123

● READ FOR CLASS: Censoring Hollywood: Youth, Moral Panic and Crime/Gangster Movies of the 1930s, The Journal of Popular Culture, 32, pp. 135–154, Winter 1998.

● A Brief History of Film Censorship, http://ncac.org/resource/a-brief-history-of-

film-censorship

● The Breakdown of Censorship in American Cinema,

http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/209/the-breakdown-of-censorship-in-

american-cinema

● American Film Violence: An Analytic Portrait,

http://journals.sagepub.com.avoserv2.library.fordham.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/08862

60502017004001

MONDAY, JULY 16 & TUESDAY, JULY 17

Gone with the Wind

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: 7 Depression Allegories: Thomas H. Pauly, “Gone with the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath as Hollywood Histories of the Great Depression,” p. 95

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: 8 African Americans on the Silver Screen, p. 104

● What the Wind Blew In, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/books/review/White-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

VIEWING: GONE W/H THE WIND.

● Gone With The Wind vs 12 Years a Slave ● ,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX9qZVldxHU

● READ FOR CLASS: Slave Life and Slave Codes, http://www.ushistory.org/us/27b.asp

● RECONSTRUCTION, HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/AMERICAN-CIVIL-

WAR/RECONSTRUCTION

● An Interactive Study Guide to Toms, Coons, Mulattos, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Film By Donald Bogle, http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&context=gs_rp

●

● “12 Years a Slave”

● 12 Years a Slave: true story? Fact and fiction in mostly accurate movie , http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/10/17/_12_years_a_slave_true_story_fact_and_fiction_in_mostly_accurate_movie_about.html

● Oct 17, 2013 - Steve McQueen's devastating new movie, 12 Years a Slave,

begins with the words “based on a true story” and ends with a description of what ...

● How 12 Years a Slave Gets History Right: By Getting It Wrong - The ... ● https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/...12-years-a-

slave.../280911/

● Oct 28, 2013 - At the beginning of 12 Years a Slave, the kidnapped freeman .... or Glory precisely because they do not make a claim to historical accuracy.

● 12 Years a Slave True Story - Real Solomon Northup, Edwin Epps ● www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/12-years-a-slave.php

● We pit the 12 Years a Slave true story vs. the movie. Learn about ... Is William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) accurately portrayed in the movie? No. The movie ...

● Historian at the Movies: Golden Globe-winning 12 Years a Slave ... ● www.historyextra.com/feature/historian-movies-12-years-slave-reviewed

● Jan 13, 2014 - A: The subject matter made 12 Years a Slave a very uncomfortable film to watch, although some of the ... Q: Was the film historically accurate?

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18 & THURSDAY, JULY 19

Top 10 War Propaganda Films, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Ir8S1lsMQ

Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: PART III

HOLLYWOOD IN THE WORLD WAR II ERA, p. 137

READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film:

Chapter 11 Blockbuster as Propaganda, p. 156

READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film:

Chapter 12 John Wayne and Wartime Hollywood, p. 166

Bio of John Wayne

The John Wayne Syndrome, http://www.jungiansociety.org/index.php/the-john-wayne-

syndrome-jung-the-hero-archetype-and-the-american-hero

A discussion of themes and character development in John Ford’s “The Searchers,”

://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=4WFC1N6Be8w

MONDAY, JULY 23

The Western

● A Brief History of Western Films, http://imgur.com/gallery/RpRws

● Genre - "The Western", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNHLkcRcazQ

● Film Theory: Western Genre - Film Genres and Hollywood Ep. 2 ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHARlbUktEA

● 4 Westerns - Martin Scorsese - A Personal Journey Through American Movies (1995)

,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUcgI9jwhlA

● Shane, http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=51022

● READ FOR CLASS: The Men of Westerns: Masculine Values Through

Films, http://strikeaposefilms.com/essays/the-men-of-westerns-masculine-values-

through-films

● Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

● Blazing Saddles

The Urban Sheriff

● “The French Connection”

● Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry: “http://www.avclub.com/article/dirty-harry-series-provoked-peeved-and-transformed-236103,” http://www.avclub.com/article/dirty-harry-series-provoked-peeved-and-transformed-236103

●

The Contemptuous and Racist Dirty Harry,http://www.splicetoday.com/moving-pictures/the-contemptuous-and-racist-dirty-harry

● “The Selective Use of Cinema in Criminal Justice Education,” http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol15is3/TurnerPerkins.pdf

Tuesday, July 24 & Wednesday, July 25

Postwar WWII Hollywood

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Introduction: Double Indemnity and Film Noir, p. 207

● Noir America, http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/dvdextras/2007/03/noir_america.html

● Introduction to Film—Genre Study I Film Noir, https://www.slideshare.net/shanovitz/introduction-to-film-genre-study-1-film-noir

● The Rules of Film Noir, https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=G2_wWc99g88

● Ten Great New York Film Noir, http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-new-york-noirs

● The Sweet Smell of Success, https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2010/04/movie-marked-danger-200004

Postwar Hollywood: Cold War Hysteria

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 15 The Red Scare in Hollywood, p. 211 Hollywoods’

America: Understanding History Through Film: Peter Roffman and Jim Purdy, “HUAC and the End of an Era”

● Walt Disney, Ronald Reagan, and the Fear of Hollywood Communism. http://time.com/3513597/huac-hollywood-hearings/

● Joseph McCarthy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8llS0ZkLVGA ● Karl Malden and Budd Schulberg: Naming names,

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/magazine/27malden-t.html

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 17 The Morality of Informing: Ambivalence and On the

Waterfront” p. 229

● The Morality of Informing: Kenneth R. Hey, “Ambivalence and On the

Waterfront.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ncOt9Yi_ho

● Remembering Brainwashing,

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/weekinreview/06weiner.html

● The Manchurian Candidate. (See Blackboard)

● Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through Film: Chapter 18 Science

Fiction as Social Commentary, p. 240

Thursday, July 26

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 18 Science Fiction as Social Commentary, p. 240

U.S. Cold War Foreign Policy & Hollywood Movies

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 20. “Worrying about the Bomb: Stanley Kubrick and the

Nuclear War Film.

● Dr. Strangelove, https://fordham.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-2372088-dt-

content-rid-

3728039_1/courses/FITV3579R21201730/DR.%20STRANGELOVE%202017.p

df

● Duck & Cover, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_1jkLxhh20

● Classic Atomic Bomb Shelter Promotional Ad-

1960s,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzRhaKb7fGs

● The Cuban Missile Crisis, https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missile-crisis

Monday, July 30

● The Rise and Fall on New Deal Liberalism

● READ FOR CLASS: Hodgson, Godfrey. Revisiting the Liberal Consensus, https://d2r6h7ytneza1l.cloudfront.net/title/6abe5378-f05c-48dd-b851-d63a6b9e1ab1/mason&morgan_excerpt.pdf

● Gunfighters and the Green Beret, https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=div2facpubs

● The Magnificent 7.

Hollywood Depictions of Young Adults.

● Teen Riot, https://cinefilles.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/teenage-riot-part-1/

● Hollywood and the Rebel Image in the 1950s, http://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/6106/610610.html

● Rebel Without a Cause, http://www.filmsite.org/rebel.html

● Clueless, https://clueless1995.wordpress.com/

Tuesday, July 31. ● Mean Girls, http://syndicatemizzou.org/resources/behm-

morawitz/Mean_Girls.pdf

● The Bling Ring, https://blackiswhiteblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/film-analysis-sofia-coppolas-the-bling-ring-2013/

● Teen Values, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/teenagers-

values-materialistic-work_n_3193782.html

Tuesday, July 31 & Wednesday, August 1

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History Through

Film: Chapter13 The Woman’s Film, Jeanine Basinger, “When Women Wept,” p.163, http://americanfilm.afi.com/issue/2013/1/archives#.WxrmwIWr_ox

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 27. Aspasia Kotsopoulos, “Gendering Expectations: Genre and Allegory in Readings of Thelma and Louise,” p.331

● Chick Flick Anatomy 101, http://spoileralertpodcast.blogspot.com/2013/07/chick-flick-anatomy-101.html

● Ashley E. York, From Chick Flicks to Millennial Blockbusters: Spinning

Female-Driven Narratives into Franchises.

● READ FOR CLASS: “The Three Waves of Feminism,”http://archive.pacificu.edu/magazine_archives/2008/fall/echoes/feminism.cfm

● The 10 Most Damaging Chick Flicks,

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/09/10/the-10-most-damaging-chick-flicks-ever-made/

● The Wonder Woman Phenomenon,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95a2aqEAbo8

● Look Who is still Talking the Most in Movies: White Men,

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/arts/diversity-films-women-race.html

Thursday, August 2.

Hollywood and Depictions of White Males, White Working Class & Poor.

● LAD FLICKS, HTTPS://KCLPURE.KCL.AC.UK/PORTAL/FILES/4680314/GILL%20LADFLICKS.PDF

Depictions of ethnic and national groups

Discussion: If the films were the only source of information you had about White America’s working and working-poor classes, what would we you learn about their values, attitudes, goals, dress, pastimes, the type of work they do, etc., from the following films? Mystic River (2003) 8 Mile (2003) The Wrestler (2008) The Fighter (2010) The Town (2010), https://willwilsoniii.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/the-true-life-tragedy-of-the-town/

http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/18/afflecks_new_film_is_the_talk_of_the_townies/ Magic Mike (2012) The Paper Boy (2012) Blue Jasmine (2013) Dallas Buyer’s Club (2013) Rustic noir subgenre: No Country for Old Men (2007), Winter’s Bone (2010), Out of the Furnace (2013). Hollywood stereotypes

Vasquez always dies: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VasquezAlwaysDies

6 Insane Stereotypes That Movies Can't Seem to Get OverRead

more: http://www.cracked.com/article_20082_6-insane-stereotypes-that-movies-cant-

seem-to-get-over.html#ixzz34KJsIVXI

http://www.cracked.com/article_19549_5-old-timey-prejudices-that-still-show-up-in-

every-movie.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_15989_hollywoods-6-favorite-offensive-

stereotypes.html

Asian stereotypes in Hollywood films, http://voices.yahoo.com/asian-stereotypes-film-

history-52753.html

● The Changing Image of Chinese in Hollywood Films,

http://www.atimes.com/article/the-changing-image-of-chinese-in-hollywood-

films/

● How Bruce Lee Exploded a Stereotype with a One-Inch Punch,

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/movies/bruce-lee-movies.html

● Why is Hollywood still using “Yellow Face” in 2016?,

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/05/yellowface-hollywood-asian-

stereotypes-birth-of-a-dragon

● The Karate Kid and Asian Stereotypes,

http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2010/06/aly-morita-calls-boycott-

karate-kid

● Racism in Lord of the Rings,

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Racism_in_Tolkien%27s_Works

● Jack G. Shaheen, Hollywood’s Muslim Arabs, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-

1913.2000.tb03680.x

● Stuff Hollywood taught you about Russia,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfdqjSUIK68Russians

Thursday, August 2.

HOLLYWOOD AND WAR

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 30 Encountering Distant Lands, p. 369 (Charlie Wilson’s

War).

● READ FOR CLASS: Pollard, T. The Hollywood War Machine

● Jordan Zakarin, “‘Act of Valor’ and the Military’s Long Hollywood Mission,”

Huffington Post, February 17, 2012,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/act-of-valor-military-

hollywood_n_1284338.html.

● What Hollywood Gets Wrong About The Navy SEALs - Task & Purpose ● https://taskandpurpose.com/navy-seals-hollywood-stereotypes/

May 19, 2017 - There are movies, TV shows, and video games about the U.S. Navy

SEALs, and nearly all of them portray the SEALs as real-life superheroes.

navy Seals Gone Wild,

https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/47927/15Dec_Crowell_Fo

rrest.pdf

“Over the past decade, Naval Special Warfare (NSW) has built up

significant symbolic capital due to a string of highly politicized and

romanticized military operations. The publicity, and the ensuing fame,

helped set the conditions for the emergence of a SEAL counterculture

characterized by an increasingly commodified and public persona. There

has been a shift away from the traditional SEAL Ethos of quiet

professionalism to a Market Ethos of commercialization and self-

promotion, especially among former SEALs. At the same time,

government officials, special interest groups, Hollywood, the publishing

industry, and the media writ large have seen the profitability of associating

their agendas with the SEAL identity. They are likewise tapping into

SEAL fame and offering SEALs an outlet for the commodification of their

SEAL affiliation. Such a promotional construct contravenes the dual

requirements of security and surprise necessary for the success of SEAL

missions. This paper analyzes these trends, and argues that the cultivation

of celebrity status has incentivized narcissistic and profit-focused behavior

within the SEAL community, which in turn has eroded organizational

effectiveness, damaged national security, and undermined healthy civil-

military relations. To redress this, all parties must work to reestablish an

environment that refrains from promoting special operations for

entertainment value, for profit, or for political gain.”

● The six war most authentic war movies, from a soldiers perspective, movies

HTTPS://WWW.MILITARY1.COM/MILITARY-

ENTERTAINMENT/ARTICLE/1632237014-THE-6-MOST-AUTHENTIC-WAR-

MOVIES-FROM-A-SOLDIERS-PERSPECTIVE/

● Top 10 Most Realistic War Movies According to Military Veterans,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kcRTNBgqGc

●

Superheroes

● READ FOR CLASS: Hollywoods’ America: Understanding History

Through Film: Chapter 31 Superheroes for the Twenty-First Century, p. 384

● From Avengers to X-Men: A Brief History of Superhero Movies, http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/from-avengers-to-x-men-a-brief-history-of-superhero-movies-20150422

● Before Marvel & DC: Superheroes of the Ancient World,

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150819-before-marvel-and-dc-superheroes-of-the-ancient-world

● Superman and Jesus: Superman's Origin and Parallels to Jesus,

http://www1.cbn.com/movies/superman-and-jesus-supermans-origin-and-parallels-jesus

● Superman Jesus: Superheroes, Symbolism & Archetypes

,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFE5xFn4tqc

● Here's Why 'Wonder Woman' Is a Step Forward For Feminism ● https://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/06/14/wonder-woman-feminist/

● Jun 14, 2017 - The new Patty Jenkins-directed 'Wonder Woman' is the biggest ...

'Wonder Woman' Isn't the Perfect Feminist Superhero Movie, But It's a Big ...

● Why Wonder Woman is a masterpiece of subversive feminism | Life ... ● https://www.theguardian.com/.../why-wonder-woman-is-a-masterpiece-of-

subversive-fe...

● Jun 5, 2017 - Wonder Woman is a half-god, half-mortal super-creature; she is

without peer even in superhero leagues. And yet, when she arrives in London ...

● Amazon.com: Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes ... ● https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Women-Superheroes-Lillian.../dp/0415966329

● "This book solidifies Lillian Robinson's place in that small pantheon of scholars

who deserve to be recognized as feminist superheroes in their own right.

● Wonder Woman As A Feminist Hero | HuffPost ● https://www.huffingtonpost.com/.../wonder-woman-as-a-feminist-

hero_us_595088c3e...

● Jun 26, 2017 - The success of the new superhero movie “Wonder Woman” raises

the old question: can a woman be sexy and a feminist at the same time?

● Wonder Woman: Feminist Icon, Feminist Failure, or Both? | Big Think ● bigthink.com/Picture-This/wonder-woman-feminist-icon-feminist-failure-or-both

● Sadly, one of the oldest (and one of the first female) superheroes seems ... ...

While some claim Wonder Woman as a feminist icon, others label her a feminist ...

● At 'Wonder Woman' premiere, feminists and superhero fans - The ... ● https://www.bostonglobe.com/.../wonder-woman...feminists-and-

superhero.../story.html

● Jun 3, 2017 - Wonder Woman, the first female superhero film directed by an

actual real-life woman, hadn't even opened yet when it sparked controversy: ...

● Wonder Woman isn't just the superhero Hollywood needs. She's the ... ● https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/6/7/15740804/wonder-woman-amazons-

feminist

● Jun 9, 2017 - She's the one exhausted feminists deserve. ... Wonder Woman is a

gorgeous, joyful triumph of a superhero film. But I didn't just breathe a sigh ...

● 'Wonder Woman' Is the Feminist Hero We've Been Waiting For ● https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-wonder-woman-is-the-feminist-hero-we-need-

now

● Jun 2, 2017 - The all-female paradise of Themyscira, Wonder Woman's home ...

the first female-led superhero film helmed by a female director, and find ...

● Black Panther, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/black-panther-

taps-500-years-history-1085334

● The Panther Reader, https://docs.google.com/document/d/167vHXdc6fNXTJY-

Id3UgRqPeE-c58q2ZHYyYRAaNcGY/edit

MONDAY, AUGUST 7. FINAL

Grading policy ● POINTS WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR EXAMS THAT ARE FILED LATE. THREE POINTS

FOR THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES; SIX POINTS FOR THE FIRST TEN MINUTES. AFTER, 15 POINTS FOR EACH DAY.

● POINTS WILL BE ADDED TO EACH EXAM GRADE—AS MANY AS 10 POINTS—FOR SUSTAINED CLASS PARTICIPATION.

“All members of the faculty are encouraged to consider the grade of “C+” as the grade for average level performance by a Fordham student. While circumstances may vary, a consistent pattern of giving predominantly very high grades will be viewed with concern. Grade inflation hurts students by undermining the University’s reputation with graduate and professional schools.” 3.2.1 Grades Given by Course Instructors—http://www.fordham.edu/Audience/handbooks.shtml I seek to comply with the University’s policy stated above. I assign number grades based on mostly objective criteria. I then translate the final number grade average into a letter grade: A 100-95, A- 94-90, B+ 89-85, B 84-81, B-80-77, C+ 76-73, C 72-69, C- 68-65, D 64-60, F 59-0.

Attendance Students missing more than FOUR sessions will forfeit 11 points from their final class grade. The exceptions, of course, are legitimate illness or other emergencies that can be documented for veracity. NO Cell Phones: Set your cell phone to vibrate. Don’t answer your cell phone during class. Don’t text during class. This rule is based on simple courtesy. Using your cell phone is a distraction to others. It’s also a distraction for you. If you’re on the phone, you’re not paying attention to what’s going on in class. If you cannot abide by this rule, you will be removed from the course. Use Laptops ONLY for TAKING NOTES: Laptops may be used only to take notes and to refer to reading notes. Extraneous uses, such as email and Facebook, are prohibited. This rule is based on simple courtesy. Playing on your laptop is a distraction to others. It’s also a distraction for you. If you’re playing on the laptop, you’re not paying attention to what’s going on in class. If you cannot abide by this rule, you will lose the privilege of using a laptop in class. Students are expected to abide by the University’s Academic Code of Conduct. http://www.fordham.edu/academics/handbooks__publicati/undergraduate_academ/undergraduate_ai_pol/standards_of_ai_72295.asp

Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an honest, truthful, and responsible manner. Violations of academic integrity include, but are not limited to, plagiarism, cheating on exams, falsification, unapproved collaboration, and destruction of library materials. Below are instances of violations with which all members of the academic community should be familiar.

A. Plagiarism:

Plagiarism occurs when individuals attempt to present as their own what has come from another source. Plagiarism takes place whether such theft is accidental or deliberate. It is no defense to claim that one has “forgotten” to document ideas or material taken from another source.

Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to:

Using the ideas of another person, whether or not such ideas are paraphrased, from whatever source including oral, print, broadcast, or computer-mediated communication;

Rewriting borrowed material by simply dropping a word here and there, substituting a few words for others, or moving around words or sentence;

Presenting borrowed material, whether a phrase, sentence, or whole paragraphs without placing quotation marks around the borrowed material in the approved style;

Presenting, as one’s own an assignment, paper, or computer program partially or wholly prepared by another person, whether by another student, friend, or by a business or on-line service that sells or distributes such papers and programs;

Failing to use proper citation for information obtained from print sources or the internet, according to citation criteria specified by the instructor or in cases where instructor guidance is not given, by standard manuals of style (e.g. The Chicago Manual of Style).

B. Cheating

Cheating occurs when individuals use course materials, information or devices (e.g., programmable calculator, cell phone) when such is unauthorized or prohibited.

Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to:

• Having or using unauthorized materials, information or an unauthorized device at an examination, test or quiz;

• Copying from another student at an examination, test or quiz, or copying another student’s assignment, data or laboratory report;

• Permitting another student to copy from an assignment, paper, computer program, project, examination, test or quiz;

• Obtaining and/or using an unauthorized examination, test, or quiz prior to its administration;

• Having another person act as proxy to take an examination, test or quiz or to complete an assignment, paper, computer program, or project.

C. Falsification

Falsification occurs when individuals make false statements that mislead others. Examples of falsification include, but are not limited to:

• The submission or presentation of a falsified excuse for an absence from a course requirement, examination, test or quiz;

• The presentation of false identification or credentials in order to gain admission to a course, examination, test, quiz or degree program;

• The creation of a false or misleading citation; • The manipulation or falsification of data for an academic assignment. D. Unapproved Collaboration

Certain coursework and assignments such as team projects, papers, and laboratory work may involve collaboration. Unless expressly permitted or prescribed by the faculty member, students shall not engage in collaboration on graded assignments. It is the student's responsibility to ask for clarification from a faculty member to what extent, if at all, collaboration with others is allowed.

E. Other Violations of Academic Integrity

Additional violations of academic integrity include, but are not limited to:

• Theft, destruction, or tampering with library materials, audio and videotapes, computer hardware or software;

• Submission of a paper or project to more than one course during the time in which a student is attending Fordham University, without the explicit permission from all the instructors involved;

Submission of work previously done in high school or at another institution, whether modified or not, without permission of the instructor.