Marx Link

Here is a link to the Marx article we went over on Monday's class.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm#b3

Habermas Article: The Public Sphere

Jürgen Habermas' article on the public sphere can be found here

Full link:
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0ByZZr-slJG1iMzBkMWI1NWQtNjhjOS00OTczLTlmOWQtOTJjZGRkMWZkMWQ3&hl=en

Please contact me or Jane with questions.

Midterm Exam (FRIDAY ONLY)

VM 200 Friday Midterm Exam

I. Objectives (30 pts.)

a. 5 Quotations: match the author.

b. 5 fill-in the blank

c. 5 Identifications (Pick 5 and define it and tell how it fits into a larger theory)

II. 2 Short Essays about Film Art (30 pts.) You will choose two to write on.

III. 1 Long Essay (40 pts.)

Stuart Hall, Karl Marx, and Walter Benjamin are all students in Media Criticism and Theory! And Professor Shattuc has offered to reduce their number of blogs if they would debate. They all jumped at the idea.

Here is the question: Does the pilot of The Wire support dominant ideology?

1. Create a debate.

2. Be precise about their theories—similarities and differences.

3. Quote them where possible.

_______________________

Keywords

• appropriation
• representation
• syntagmatic code
• representation
• reproduction
• false consciousness
• codes
• denotative
• connotative
• myth
• sign
• signified
• signifier
• iconic sign
• symbolic sign
• aesthetics
• ideology
• economic base
• discourse
• nationalism
• spectator
• realism
• structuralism
• negotiated reading
• oppositional reading
• Dominant Reading
• Negotiated Reading
• Oppositional Reading
• aura
• exhibition value
• authenticity
• cult value
• referential meaning
• explicit meaning
• implicit meanings
• symptomatic meaning
• Encoding
• Decoding

Midterm Exam (MON/WED ONLY)

I. Objectives (30 pts.)

a. 5 Quotations: match the author.

b. 5 fill-in the blank

c. 5 Identifications (Pick 5 and define it and tell how it fits into a larger theory)

II. 2 Short Essays about Film Art (30 pts.) You will choose two to write on.

III. 1 Long Essay (40 pts.)

Juergen Habermas, Karl Marx, and Walter Benjamin are all students in Media Criticism and Theory! And Professor Shattuc has offered to reduce their number of blogs if they would debate. They all jumped at the idea.

Here is the question: Does the pilot of The Wire support dominant ideology?

• Create a debate.
• Be precise about their theories—similarities and differences.
• Quote them where possible.

_______________________

Keywords

• appropriation
• representation
• syntagmatic code
• representation
• reproduction
• false consciousness
• codes
• denotative
• connotative
• myth
• sign
• signified
• signifier
• iconic sign
• symbolic sign
• aesthetics
• ideology
• economic base
• discourse
• nationalism
• spectator
• realism
• structuralism
• negotiated reading
• oppositional reading
• public sphere
• private sphere
• aura
• exhibition value
• authenticity
• referential meaning
• explicit meaning
• implicit meanings
• symptomatic meaning

Mon./Wed. Blog Prompt 5

For the Monday/Wednesday class:

Look at Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/.

Using Habermas's words and Practice of Looking Chapter 5, discuss whether the blog discussion constitutes "public sphere".

This is due BEFORE CLASS on 10/26.

Blog Prompt 4

Find three quotations in “Rhetoric of the Image” that you find illuminating. Discuss them and apply the them to the following ad for the last episode of The Sopranos:

http://www.zoom-in.com/media/graphics/blog/content/soprano_poster_season6B.jpg

Friday Class Blogs

Here is the list of the blogs for each class member in the Friday section of VM 200. If you're blog isn't on this list, or the information is incorrect, let me know.

Log in to Blogger, visit these blogs, and look for a 'Follow' button in the sidebar. Follow each other, and try to comment on one another's work.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Elizabeth Amarancas - http://themycroft.blogspot.com/
Jeannie An - http://jeanniean.blogspot.com/
Dana Bryant - http://katievm200.blogspot.com/
Brittany Bennet - http://lacynicalidealist.blogspot.com/
Vinny Bittencourt - http://filmschooling.blogspot.com/
Brian Collins - http://vm200bpc.blogspot.com
Zachary D'Agostino - http://dongero.blogspot.com/
Christopher Husta - http://youturnelectric.blogspot.com/
Joshua Krellenstein - http://joshkrellenstein.blogspot.com/
Kristofer Mitchell - http://krismitchell.blogspot.com/
Brooke Rupe - http://blog-mediacriticismtheory.blogspot.com/
Andrew Tuchel - http://atuchel.blogspot.com

Monday/Wednesday Class Blogs

Here is the list of the blogs for each class member in the Monday/Wednesday section of VM 200. If you're blog isn't on this list, or the information is incorrect, let me know.

Log in to Blogger, visit these blogs, and look for a 'Follow' button in the sidebar. Follow each other, and try to comment on one another's work.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Amanda Albion - http://immediateideas.blogspot.com/
Danny Bailey - http://dannysvm200blog.blogspot.com
Lorenzo Carideo - http://lcvm200.blogspot.com/
Robert Cromartie - http://cromartiecorner.blogspot.com/
Casey Eisenreich - http://caseyisthespacecowboy.blogspot.com/
Kate Hyejung Eun - http://jamongpi2g.blogspot.com/
Kathryn Farino - http://hakunamatata-kfarino.blogspot.com/
Nikki Feola - http://nikkifeola.blogspot.com/
Benjamin Goodman - http://bg-vm200.blogspot.com/
Ross Hansen - http://aworthlessopinion.blogspot.com/
Daniel Hillel-Tuch - http://hilleltuch.blogspot.com/
Kevin Huang - http://kevinhu4ng.blogspot.com/
Michael Kassier - http://mnkvm200.blogspot.com/
Lorena Mora - http://lmvma.blogspot.com/
Kristen Power - http://kpoword.blogspot.com/
Michael Rivera - http://DutchtownVMA.blogspot.com
Silas Robinson - http://appalitch.blogspot.com
Ethan Silverstein - http://ethansvm200.blogspot.com/
James Spetner - http://mediatheorymusings.blogspot.com
Ross Tipograph - http://rossjacobmediablog.blogspot.com/
Elliott Toquendo - http://elliotoquendo.blogspot.com
Steven Wortman - http://soldiersteve.blogspot.com/
Catherine Zaker - http://catzaker.blogspot.com

Paper Assignment 1

Assignment: Using Roland Barthes’ analysis of the Panzani ad in “Rhetoric of the Image,” write an essay on the structure of the semiotics of a film/TV poster of your own choosing. (You must include the poster with the paper - no B&W xeroxes). For your thesis, you must locate a classical myth and form an argument around how the myth is rewritten into a modern context. Then use your study of semiotics to support your thesis.

Your paper will be evaluated based on:

1. Your ability to construct an original and specific argument about the poster’s myth and the semiotic structure and to prove it with evidence from the poster.
2. Your ability to research and rewrite a classical myth based on the poster’s modern context.
3. Your knowledge of the Barthes’ essay, the general theory of semiotics and the ideas in the book and the course.

Requirements:

1. The paper must be 5-7 pages long. It will be typewritten and double-spaced.
2. All typos and misspellings must be corrected. I will not accept the paper if there are more than three uncorrected typos or misspellings. You will use the MLA citation to document Barthes and your source for your myth.
3. The paper will be turned in-class on the due date. Each day late will cause the paper’s grade to be lowered one letter.

http://writing.syr.edu:16080/~danentwi/Barthes_Rhetoric%20of%20the%20Image.pdf

Blog Prompt for Week 3

Two Quotes from The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction:

“...for the first time – and this is the effect of the film – man has to operate with his whole living person, yet forgoing its aura. For aura is tied to his presence; there can be no replica of it. The aura which, on the stage, emanates from Macbeth, cannot be separated for the spectators from that of the actor. However, the singularity of the shot in the studio is that the camera is substituted for the public. Consequently, the aura that envelops the actor vanishes, and with it the aura of the figure he portrays.”

“Magician and surgeon compare to painter and cameraman. The painter maintains in his work a natural distance from reality, the cameraman penetrates deeply into its web. There is a tremendous difference between the pictures they obtain. That of the painter is a total one, that of the cameraman consists of multiple fragments which are assembled under a new law. Thus, for contemporary man the representation of reality by the film is incomparably more significant than that of the painter, since it offers, precisely because of the thoroughgoing permeation of reality with mechanical equipment, an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment. And that is what one is entitled to ask from a work of art.”


How do these quotes apply to The Blair Witch Project? Is the film an attempt at recapturing the aura (either of the actor of the landscape), or an even more assertive attempt at cutting into reality?

Blog Prompt for Week 2

This entry is due by:
Monday October 5th for the Monday/Wednesday class,
Thursday October 8th for the Friday Class.

Compare and contrast how Tokyo Story and a classical Hollywood continuity film create two different forms of realism.