This is the page for: Understanding Anglophone Cultures Through Film
(Course-related content will appear here in reverse chronological order: the newest things at the top of the page, and older posts toward the bottom.)
Grades Entered
Folks,
I have indeed finished grading (and given them to the Department Office Assistant, to be uploaded your grades to the UCUPS system). Feel free to go and check your grades.
If the grade you have received is a surprise, then consider the following questions:
- Did you submit every piece of assigned homework? How well did you do on your homework. (In most cases, a V+ ranking is a high ranking, a V is an average ranking, a V- is a very poor ranking, and a V++ is an outstanding ranking. In a scale out of 3, V-=1; V=2, V+=3, and V++=3.5 (a bonus mark of 0.5).
- Did you attend consistently? Were you often late?
- Did you participate in course discussions? Were you active in our classes, to the extent possible for the course?
- If there were quizzes offered in the course, did you score well on the quizzes?
- Were you well-prepared for any instances in which you were expected to lead or participate in a discussion for the whole class? (ie. leading a discussion, or a panel discussion)
- Did you fulfill all the online portions of the course, such as participating in course forum discussions online, or completing blog postings?
- Did you submit the Feedback for the Presentation Contest that was assigned for your class?
If your answer is no to any of the questions, you may have discovered the reason why your grade is not what you expected. (Especially if it is lower than you expected.) As a note, #6 and #7 above were particularly a problem for some people.
A special note to students in my Understanding Anglophone Cultures Through Film: your performance on the course forum website led me, in a moment of mercy, to alter the ranking system of the grades in the following way: if you scored better on forum participation than on quizzes, then (as originally planned) the forum is worth 20% of your grade, and the quizzes only 10%. If, however, you scored better on the quizzes offered in class than on the forum, then the quizzes make up 20% of your grade, and the forum only 10%. Therefore, each of you got the highest grade possible for you. Nobody else’s grade affected yours, and in fact the ranking of students did not change through this modification. It just allowed the grades for the whole class to be a little less harsh overall.
In any case, if you think your grade is an error, then before emailing me to demand a change, I ask that you review the following two pages:
These will help you decide whether, and how, to contact me with your concerns. I assure you, if you contact me in a reasonable and polite way, I will be happy to explain how you got your grade. If an error was made I will fix it. If not, however, I do not respond well to demands, or to begging. If your whole future depends on this grade, then I expect you to have behaved that way during semester — preparing for quizzes, submitting all homework on time and as well-done as you could, never missing class without a good excuse, and so on.
Have a wonderful holiday, and feel free to check out the courses I am supposed to be teaching next semester here.
The Beginners, Downloadable
Because I know some of you will lame out and not go to the cinema to see The Beginners (or, maaaaaaaybe, have a good reason, or be disorganized enough not to look here until Monday afternoon), I figured I’d find a place for you to download the film. That way, you can have no excuses for not seeing it.
Note: the subtitle is not a complete English subtitle, but it does have important dialog bits… it shows what the dog is saying to the man. If you don’t have the subtitle, some parts will make less sense to you.
The Beginners
Folks,
For this week, we’re going to do things a little differently: we’re going to discuss two films:
1. The Beginners, which is currently playing at several theaters in and around Seoul, such as Daehakno, Guro, and Apkujeong.
2. Captain America, which is showing on Monday evening at the English Language and Culture Department’s Movie Night event.
I am asking you to watch both of these movies. I will not take attendance on Monday night, but aside from the amazing door prizes, I imagine Prof. Hurt will say a few things worth discussing in class. (And there will be free beer, just like at Mosaic.) I understand if you have a job, but if you have nothing else really special going on, it’s a good idea to show up.
The panel discussion will deal with The Beginners. Then we will have a group discussion of Captain America.
As for The Beginners, please make the time to see the film this weekend in the cinema. For the truly desperate, you might be able to find this film online, but I strongly urge you to see it in the cinema instead, as I’d like to talk a little bit about the experience of going to a cinema, as compared to watching a film at home.
Our Department on Facebook, and Movie Night
If you’re a student in the English Language and Culture Department at CUK, or a student in one of the courses offered by the department, then please join our Facebook page.
Events, announcements, and more will be posted on our Facebook page in the future, so joining up is a good idea… even if you’re just taking one course in our department, and majoring in some other area, this page will let you know about important events, some of which are related to courses. So make sure you join up!
Also, this is a reminder that Monday night is MOVIE NIGHT at CUK. Professor Hurt has arranged for some wonderful prizes, and you can find out more about those, and the films showing, on the event page over at Facebook. Go have a look, and sign up.
Midnight in Paris
Folks,
Sorry again for the delayed posting. Our next film for discussion is Midnight in Paris, directed by Woody Allen. I don’t have a direct download link for you, but you can get a copy of the film via bittorrent if you look around online. This is one popular torrent for the film. You will need a program like Vuze or μtorrent to use this torrent file.
UPDATE: For those playing it close to the line (ie. last-minute) the file is downloadable in full here.
The Haunting of Julia
Folks,
Originally, I planned for our next film to be the first two of the Alien film series, Alien and Aliens. However, being unable to get a copy, I decided to go with a different kind of genre film: horror.
In the 1970s horror was quite different from the genre as it is today — and as you probably think of it — for one thing, the films were more often scary, and less often funny.
There were a ton of horror films in the 1970s, and most of them are very easy to find and watch — Rosemary’s Baby, The Amityville Horror, and The Exorcist being some of the most famous ones. However, I decided it might be more interesting to watch a horror movie that is less famous, and more of a “cult classic” — a film that a small number of people know about and love very much, but which is not available widely.
The Haunting of Julia hasn’t been released on DVD at all, so there are no subtitles. Do your best with just the audio. We will be discussing The Haunting of Julia in our next class, ie. on 22 November.
Froggy Flix has kindly made The Haunting of Julia available via megaupload. If you are not a Megaupload member, you can download the film in two parts, using the pair of links after “OR”, near the end of the post.
Finally, some reading. I would like you to try read Sigmund Freud’s essay on “The Uncanny.” Yes, it has some German words. The most important one is “unheimliche” — which literally means “un-home-like” but in English we translate as “uncanny.” IT’s tough reading, I know — so don’t expect you will understand every little part. Try to get a general sense of what Freud is saying about where the feeling of “the uncanny” comes from, and think about whether this applies to The Haunting of Julia and other scary movies you’ve seen.
Presentation Contest: Schedule and Feedback Sheets
Folks,
- 22 Nov. 6:30pm IH267
- 23 Nov. 6:00pm N301
- 24 Nov. 6:00pm IH340
You are expected to attend one complete session as part of your Department Events grade for any course you take with me.
(If you are taking my Public Speaking course, you are required to attend two (2) full sessions.)
For each speaker, I expect you to fill out one of the following forms, depending on the classes you’re taking:
IF YOU ARE IN MY PUBLIC SPEAKING COURSE:
IF YOU ARE NOT IN MY PUBLIC SPEAKING COURSE:
Make sure you use the correct sheets.
Make sure you prepare enough copies to have one sheet for each speaker — you should fill in the sheets at the end of each speech.
Make sure also to write some comments.
Also, make sure you do not write your name on the feedback sheets: they will be given anonymously to the speakers, so they can get some more proper feedback. Just staple all your feedback pages together, and attach a different sheet with your name and a list of classes you are taking with me to that pile.
Your feedback sheets are due to be handed in the day after the presentation contest session you attend. They can be handed in at the Department Office (IH341).
Brassed Off (Update)
If you aren’t having any luck getting the download link to work, you’re not alone. Check back later today (say, Saturday evening) for a download link that will work… and with subtitles! Apologies to those who struggled with the download link… I did too, until I finally decided it’s not me, it’s the file.
UPDATE: The film is here, and the subtitles are here. You’re welcome… and again, let me know (soon!) if you have problems getting these files.
Brassed Off
Hi there,
I’m just now testing out this link for Brassed Off (note: you need to download both parts). I don’t know if it’s a good link, but I’ll update with a new link this evening if necessary. (If you prefer Bittorrent, this might be the link you want, but I’m only testing the first link…)
In the meantime, check out these links which will help you understand the film:
- Margaret Thatcher (especially the section on her Second Government, 1983-1987)
- “The Tories,” ie. The UK Conservative Party
- UK Miner’s Strike (1984-85)
- Grimthorpe (the village on which the film’s Grimley is based), and some footage of the real-life Grimthorpe colliery band (who played the brass music on the soundtrack)
- UK Slang Dictionary: lots of the crazy language that you might struggle with in this film is listed here, like “bloody” or “bollocks” or “nowt” or “summat”
The Next Wave of Movies
Folks,
Sorry for the delayed update: I’ve been sick, and was trying to figure out which films we should watch during the remainder of semester. However, it’s even more delayed than I thought: I posted this on Friday, but it was posted under the wrong category. (I was sick and must not have noticed.)
I’m a bit alarmed that nobody let me know I hadn’t posted anything, but luckily for you I had planned for us to watch a film in class on Nov. 1 anyway.
Meanwhile, make sure you read the following, and sign up for a discussion panel soon.
****
Here are the films I’ve got planned for the next few weeks. I’ll also be including readings to help you prepare for the discussions we’ll have about these films.
1 November:
- We’re going to watch The Soloist (we’ll watch it in class, as I couldn’t find it online… and I’m not sure it was ever released in cinemas in Korea)
- Readings:
- Have a look at Anne Stahl’s thesis “Till Death Do Us Part: The Marriage of Art and Madness” (it’s shorter than it looks, and full of pictures)
- Check out this article on creativity and mental illness
8 November:
- James Bond 007 — You Only Live Twice (available here if you can’t find a copy, but it’s a horrible file)
- Readings pack from Sheridan Prasso’s The Asian Mystique to be distributed in class 1 November.
Some questions to consider for discussion the James Bond film… think about them, and we’ll discuss the ones people find most interesting:
- Is it possible to separate racism and sexism in the film, or are they inextricably tied together?
- A friend once commented to me that the James Bond books (by Ian Fleming) read as if they were written to fulfill the wildest fantasies of traveling salesmen. What does the popularity of the James Bond series of films tell us about its audience?
- Were the James Bond films famous or popular in Korea at the time of their original release? What was the first James Bond film screened in Korea, and when was it screened? How was it received by the public?
- Are there similar issues of sexism, racism, or a mixture of the two in the Korean film industry? Can you think of examples? (Consider, for example, Welcome to Dongmakgol or Please Teach Me English.)
- As an Asian viewer of a Western film, to what degree does the narrative logic of the film “work” for you? That is: Western viewers are supposed to see Japan, and the East in general (including the scene in Hong Kong at the beginning of the film) as “exotic” and “sensual” — but how do you experience this? Is the “white man’s fantasy of Asia” apparent to you, and when watching a film like this for enjoyment do you simply take it as given, or resist it, or ignore it?
- What do you think about the political undercurrent of the film? What significance does the idea of Japan being a “third power” rising to threaten the USA/USSR bipolar political world of the Cold War? Is there a similar sense today, if not of Japan, then of some other country posing a similar threat to the unipolar American-dominated status quo? And as a nation affected deeply by the Cold War, what place does Korea have in that conflict? (In other words, if the movie were being made today, where would it be set, and where would you imagine Korean sympathies would go?)
- Is the James Bond franchise essentially cinema “for men” or can women enjoy it too? What about James Bond might appeal to women?
- How would you feel about showing James Bond to your own child someday — and would it matter if your child was male or female?
15 November:
- Brassed Off
- Readings TBA
22 November:
- Alien/Aliens
- Readings TBA
29 November:
- TBA
- Readings TBA
6 December:
- TBA
There is a signup sheet for the discussions that will accompany the last five films here. Make sure you sign up for a discussion panel. I’ll talk more about panel discussions in our next class.
Also, be advised that your Final Reading (1500 words) will be due on 6 December. I will provide a list of films for you to choose from next week.