Clarke Mackey (mackeyc@post.queensu.ca), Queen's University, Kingston, Canada; http://www.film.queensu.ca
Dept. of Film Studies
Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
http://www.film.queensu.ca
Instructor: Clarke Mackey, 545-6000 x7020, mackeyc@post.queensu.ca
Office Hours: Most Monday and Wednesday Mornings. Call first.
Classes and Screenings: Mondays, 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Ontario Hall, Room 207
This course is an historical examination of Canadian cinema, including television, emphasizing the analysis of selected works. We start with the assumption that there is a strong and unique (if somewhat invisible) cinematic tradition in both English and French Canada. The course considers such questions as the influence of the foreign media, the differences and similarities between the Quebec and English-Canadian cultures, the effect of government funding and control on the film and broadcast industries, and also seeks to develop a critical awareness of issues of national culture.
Most of the required readings will be from three main texts:
Take Two: a Tribute to Film in Canada, ed. by Seth Feldman, Toronto, Irwin, 1984 (at the Campus Bookstore)
Canadian Film Reader, ed. by Seth Feldman and Joyce Nelson,Toronto, Peter Martin Associates, 1977 (only available on reserve at the Douglas Library)
Self Portrait: Essays on the Canadian and Quebec Cinemas, ed. by Piers Handling and Pierre Veronneau, Ottawa, Canadian Film Institute, 1980 (only available on reserve)
Additional required readings are assigned from the following books. They are on reserve at Stauffer with a few copies in the bookstore.
The Film Companion, Peter Morris, Toronto, Irwin, 1984 (A major reference book on Canadian films and filmmakers, arranged in alphabetical order)
Marginal Notes, Rick Salutin, Toronto, Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1984
There are also required magazine and journal articles that can be found on three-hour reserve at Stauffer.
Assignments
1) Questions and Comments (4 X 10% = 40%) On four Mondays starting September 25 you will be handing in a two-page sheet of questions and comments on the assigned readings. Each set of Questions and Comments should include your thoughts on at least four of the requried readings for the previous period. (For example, your first Q and C assignment will include the readings up to and including the week of September 25-27.) They do not have to be typed or even in paragraph form. I'm not interested in a content summary (although some indication that you have read and understood the assigned readings is essential). What I'm looking for is your reaction to the ideas presented and/or questions the readings raise for you. You can also include comments about screenings, classroom discussions or anything else related to the course. I will use these Q and C sheets as the basis for classroom discussion.
These sheets will be evaluated on how much your questions and comments reveal independent, critical thought and a deep understanding of the central issues the course raises. Due: Sept. 25, Oct. 16, Nov. 6, Nov. 27
2)Personal Essay (20%) What are your thoughts on Canadian film and television? Is there something you can pinpoint as distinctly Canadian about things you've seen that have originated from this country? How much have you seen? Answer these and other questions in a brief (3-4 double-spaced pages) essay. There is no right or wrong answer here. You will be graded on the quality of your observations and thinking.
Due: Wednesday, Oct. 4 (forth week of the course)
3) Term Paper (40%) - Write a research paper of about 2000 words (8 pages) on one of the filmmakers studied or one of the issues raised in the course. This paper must incorporate readings and films that are not assigned. A list of suggested topics and a further reading list will be distributed in class.
Due: Wednesday, Nov. 29 (last day of class)
No exam.
Under no circumstances (except verified illness) will late work be accepted if no prior arrangement has been made with the instructor. It is Departmental policy that all late work not as a result of illness or injury will incur a penalty. The departmental "Guidelines for Teacher/Student Responsibilities" states the following: "Late assignments will be penalized 'grade step' basis. (Grade steps are A+,A,A, B+, B, B-, etc.) Assignments submitted from one-to-three days late will lose one grade step. There will be one additional grade step penalty for each successive three-day late period." Incompletes must be arranged in writing prior to the end of term.
You are expected to have the assigned readings completed by the Monday class. Screenings and assigned readings may change - stay informed.
Schedule
Sept. 11-13
Introduction and Early History
Screening:
Dreamland: A History of Canadian Movies(1981) 80 min.
Suggested reading:
What Use is Canadian Culture? by Tom Wayman (Border/Lines Magazine,
Winter 1988/89)
Burnout in the Great White North, by Jay Scott (Take Two)
Canadian Cinema:the First Six Decades, by Peter Morris (Self-Portrait)
Hollywood's Empire in Canada, by Kirwan Cox (SP)
Sept. 18 - 20
The National Film Board/L'office national du film
Screening:
City of Gold (1957) 22 min.
Lonely Boy (1961) 27 min.
Les Raqutteurs (1958) 15 min.
Day After Day (1962) 25 min.
Required Reading:
The Innocent Eye: an Aspect of the Work of the National Film Board of
Canada, by Peter Harcourt (Canadian Film Reader)
On the Candid-Eye Movement, by Bruce Elder (CFR)
Direct Cinema, by Michel Euvrard and Pierre Veronneau (SP)
Sept. 25 - 27
The Beginning of a Beginning
Screening:
Nobody Waved Goodbye (1964) 80 min.
First Q&C due.
Required Reading:
TheBeginning of a Beginning, by Peter Harcourt(SP)
The Encounter between Fiction and the Direct Cinema, by Robert Daudelin (SP)
The Silent Subject in English Canadian Film, by Seth Feldman (TT)
Oct. 2-4
Canada and Quebec: differences and similarities
Screening:
Le chat dans le sac (1964) 75 min.
Personal Essay due.
Required reading:
From the Picturesque to the Familiar: Films of the French Unit at the
NFB (1958-1964), by David Clandfield (TT)
Some Ideological and Thematic Aspects of the Quebec Cinema, by Michel
Houle (SP)
Oct. 10 Class discussion of personal essays
Oct. 16-18
CBC: Searching for the Canadian Identity
Screening:
This Hour Has Seven Days (1964) 55 min.
Wojeck (1967) 55 min.
Second Q&A due
Required reading:
The State or The States: on the CBC and Documentary Style: the Curse of
Canadian Culture, by Rick Salutin (From book Marginal Notes by
Salutin: on reserve)
Electronic Free Trade: How the CBC brought U.S.Television to Canada, by
Peter Morris (Cinema Canada, No.136, Dec. 1986)
Entries on: This Hour Has Seven Days, Beryl Fox, Summer in Mississippi,
Ron Kelly and Grahame Woods (Film Companion)
Oct. 23-25
Politics and National Culture
Screening:
Goin' Down the Road (1971) 90 min.
Required reading:
Coward, Bully or Clown: The Dream Life of a Younger Brother, by Robert
Fothergill (CFR)
Canadian Narrative Cinema from the Margins, by Christine Ramsey
(Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Vol. 2 #2-3, 1993)
Oct. 30 - Nov. 1
"Maximum results with minimal means"
Screening:
Les derniere fiançailles (1974) 90 min.
Required Reading:
The Old and the New, by Peter Harcourt (TT)
Second Images: Refections on the Canadian Cinema(s) in the Seventies, by
James Leach (TT)
Entries on: Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Marguerite Duparc, Les Dernieres
Fiancailles, etc.(FC)
Nov. 6 - 8
The Experimental Challenge:
Screening:
Seeing in the Rain by Chris Gallagher (1981) 10 min.
Trapline by Ellie Epp (1976) 17 min.
Surfacing on the Thames by David Rimmer (1970) 8 min.
Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper by Rimmer (1970) 8 min.
Wavelength by Michael Snow (1967) 45 min.
Required reading:
Image, Representation and Object: the Photographic Image in Canadian
Avant-Garde Film, by Bruce Elder (TT)
David Rimmer: a Critical Analysis, by Al Razutis (TT)
Reproduction and Repetition of History: David Rimmer's Found Footage, by
Catherine Russell (Cineaction Magazine, No. 16, Spring 1989)
Third Q&C due
Nov. 13 - 15
The 80's and Television
Screening:
Degrassi Jr. High (1988) 25 min.
Empire Inc. (1983) 54 min.
Required reading: Ruling the Airwaves, by Peter Harcourt (Canadian Forum, October 1991)
Nov. 20 - 22
Canadian Feminist Film
Screening:
The Company of Strangers (1990) 100 min.
Required reading: T.B.A.
Nov. 27 - 29
Feature Film Making in The Nineties
Screening:
32 Short Films About Glen Gould (1993) 90 min.
Last Q&C due
Term Paper Due
Required Reading:
The Concept of National Cinema, by Andrew Higson (Screen, Vol. 30 #4,
Autumn 1989)
The Canadian Nation: An Unfinished Text, by Peter Harcourt (Unpublished
1992)
NOTE: Attendance at screenings is mandatory. Many of these films are not available on video tape and the film department does not have the resources to provide make-up screenings; if you miss one you are out of luck.