SOCIOLOGY AND FILM SYLLABUSDRAFT MARCH 28, 2013

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Department of Sociology
Instructor Name:
Elizabeth Talbert,
M.P.P, Doctoral Student in Sociology

Course Title: SOCIOLOGY AND FILM

MTTh
Summer Session Term 2
4:00-6:30PM

3 Credits

Course Number: AS.230.237.21

Distribution: H S

Contact Information:
Email (best way): etalber2@jhu.edu
Office Location: Department of Sociology, 5th Floor Merganthaler Hall,
Room 533
Office Hours: By appointment only
COURSE DESCRIPTION

Do films merely mirror society, or do they in fact shape societal

experience? This class will investigate these questions through a filmic
analysis of sociological issues. We will consider both narrative and
documentary films and use them to engage in sociological questions of
class, race, and gender. We will discuss what the historical and current
trends in film making and film subject say about society, and how
these trends may in turn influence society.
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1
2
3
4
5

Identify and discuss major areas of debate in sociology, including race, gender, class, and globalization.
Identify and analyze social issues explored in popular and independent films, and critically analyze the
images we usually merely consume.
Critically analyze the impact that film production has on society, what goals it has, and who is serves.
Discuss how films affect the popular framing of sociological and policy issues, as well as how they influence
societal and cultural norms.
Develop the ability to write critically about film, and bring film in to the academic understanding of other
topics.

REQUIRED MATERIALS
BOOK
OTHER READINGS
COURSE WEBSITE

EVALUATION AND GRADING

Grades will be based on the following assessments:
ASSESSMENT TYPE
Thought Papers (3)
Final Presentations

Cinematic Sociology: Social Life in Film (Second

Edition), 2012, Jean-Anne Sutherland and Kathryn M.
Feltey (eds). The text will be available at JHU bookstore.
All other course readings will be available on the course
Blackboard website (denoted with a * in the syllabus)
You should be connected the courses Blackboard site if
you are formally registered for the course. If you are not
connected, please let me know as soon as possible.

PERCENT OF FINAL GRADE

30%
20%

SOCIOLOGY AND FILM SYLLABUSDRAFT MARCH 28, 2013

Final Exam
Attendance and Participation

30%
20%

ATTENDANCE POLICY
It is essential that you come to every meeting of this course and participate actively. Active participation means
speaking substantively during every class meeting, both in large group and small group settings, and asking
questions of the instructor and our your peers. The material in this course can be provocative and emotional
your participation in this course should be thoughtful, considered, and above all, respectful of other people and
other opinions.
Students who miss class for an excused reasonmedical or family emergencymust alert the professor as soon
as possible, and are responsible for making up any missed work in a timely manner.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Thought Papers--3
You will write three thought papers for this class: they are due on Mondays July 15, July 22, and July 29. To
successfully complete the thought papers, you need to screen (outside of class) a film with some relationship to the
weeks topic.
Thought papers are due on Mondays at 9AM, uploaded to the appropriate thread in the blackboard site.
The discussion papers should include:

1-2 pages thoughtfully summarizing at least two of the readings for the previous week. These summaries
should demonstrate that you comprehend the most important points of the articles/chapters.

About 1 page of analysis and reaction. You can choose to critique the ideas, expand on the ideas with a
connection to current events or some kind of personal connection, or examine the ideas in light of class
lectures or readings.

About 1 page examining the weeks topics through an analysis of a film you see OUTSIDE of class (a list
will be provided for ideas each Thursdaytry to actually GO to the movies at least once!) This last section
of the paper should demonstrate that you are comfortable writing about film, and also able to apply the ideas
from the week to thinking about a film we didnt watch together in class.
Final Presentation
Students will work in four groups to prepare a presentation addressing one of the courses special topics
Globalization, Education, Health, Environment, and/or Social Activismand present during the
last week of class. Students will sign up for a topic on the first week of class
Each presentation should be approximately one hour long (which includes plenty of time for
screening clips!) and include:

A sociological overview of the topic

A brief history of where it has appeared in film

Clips from at least one feature film and one documentary that deal with the topic

A time for leading class discussion about the topic and how it fits into the sociological
issues of diversity and stratification we have engaged with in class up to that point
Presenters will be graded individually on their substantive contribution to the group and their delivery; groups will be
graded as a whole on organization and substantive contribution to the course material.
Take-Home Final Exam
On the last day of class, we will watch a film together. You will then respond to and engage with that film through
several questions on a take-home final exam (between 4-6 pages, double-spaced), due Saturday, August 3, at 9AM.
Exams will be graded on your ability to critically analyze the sociological aspects of the film, your organization of a
film essay, and your topical understand of the sociological ideas we have studied.

JOHNS HOPKINS POLICIES AND SUPPORT SERVICES

This course is governed by the policies set forth in The Johns Hopkins University Undergraduate Student Handbook,
which contains information on a wide variety of topics, such as support services, and policies relating to student rights
and responsibilities. This course is governed by the policies set forth in this document.
Some JHU student support services you may find useful include:

SOCIOLOGY AND FILM SYLLABUSDRAFT MARCH 28, 2013

SUPPORT SERVICE

LOCATION

PHONE NUMBER / WEBSITE

Library E-Reserves

http://www.library.jhu.edu/services/forms/reserves.
html

reserves@jhu.edu

The AV Center is located on A-Level next to the

central elevators

http://old.library.jhu.edu/collections/a
v/

3505 N. Charles Street, Suite 101

410-516-4548
http://www.jhu.edu/intersession

JHU Libraries AV Collection

Summer & Intersession
Programs

CLASSROOM ACCOMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

If you are a student with a documented disability who requires an academic adjustment, auxiliary aid or other similar
accommodations, please contact The Office of Student Disability Services at studentdisabilityservices@jhu.edu,
call 410-516-4720 or visit 385 Garland Hall.

STATEMENT OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Johns Hopkins University is a community committed to sharing values of diversity and inclusion in order to achieve
and sustain excellence. We believe excellence is best promoted by being a diverse group of students, faculty and staff
who are committed to creating a climate of mutual respect that is supportive of one anothers success. Through its
curricula and clinical experiences, we purposefully support the Universitys goal of diversity, and in particular, work
toward an ultimate outcome of best serving the needs of students. Faculty and candidates are expected to demonstrate
an understanding of diversity as it relates to planning, instruction, management, and assessment.
A WORD ON ETHICS
The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and
truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet
and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying,
facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition.

Report any violations you witness to the instructor.

SCHEDULE
Week 1: Introduction to Sociological Analysis and Film History
Monday, July 1
o Lecture: What is sociology? (And the Sociological Toolbox)
o Screening: Twelve Angry Men (1957)
Tuesday, July 2
o Lecture: Fiction and Documentary Films

SOCIOLOGY AND FILM SYLLABUSDRAFT MARCH 28, 2013

o Readings to do:
Excerpt from Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing about Film*
Harper, Seeing Sociology*
Dowd, Waiting for Louis Prima: On the Possibility of a Sociology
of Film*
o Screening: The Order of Myths (2007) or Born Into Brothels (2004)
Week 2: Film and Class/Status
Monday, July 8
o THOUGHT PAPER 1 DUE
o Readings to do:
Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 1 and 2 (pp. 1-56)
o Screening: Strike (1925)
Tuesday, July 9
o Readings to do:
Excerpts from Marx, The Communist Manifesto*
Weber, Status Groups and Classes in Social Stratification*
o Screening: Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
Thursday, July 11
o Readings to do:
Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 3 (all) pp. 57-85; Chapter 6, Sect.
6.1, pp. 177-193; Chapter 10, Sect. 10.1 & 10.2, pp. 367-391
Giddens, Elites and Power in Social Stratification*
o Screening: Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
Week 3: Film and Race/Ethnicity
Monday, July 15
o THOUGHT PAPER 1 DUE
o Screening: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Tuesday, July 16
o Readings to do:
Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 4 (all); Chapter 10, Outtake, pp. 392393
Bonilla-Silva & Dietrich, The Sweet Enchantment of Color-Blind
Racism in Obamerica*
o Screening: Maid in America (2005) or Good Hair (2009)
Thursday, July 18
o Readings to do:
Fisher Fiskin, Interrogating Whiteness, Complicating
Blackness: Remapping American Culture*
Stuart Hall, Race: The Floating Signifier*
o Screening: Do the Right Thing (1988)
Week 4: Film and Women/Gender
Monday, July 22
o THOUGHT PAPER 2 DUE

SOCIOLOGY AND FILM SYLLABUSDRAFT MARCH 28, 2013

o Screening: The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978) or Some Like
it Hot (1959)
Tuesday, July 23
o Readings to do:
Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 5 (all), pp. 131-176
West & Zimmerman, Doing Gender*
o Screening: Paris is Burning (1991); excerpts from Very Young Girls
(2007)
Thursday, July 25
o Readings to do:
Sutherland & Feltey, Chapter 6, sections 6.2 and Outtake, pp. 194209
Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema*
Catherine MacKinnon, Gender: The Future*
o Screening: A League of their Own
Week 5: Special TopicsGlobalization, Education, Health, Environment, and/or Social
Activism
Monday, July 29
o THOUGHT PAPER 3 DUE
o Presentations
Tuesday, July 30
o Presentations
Thursday, August 1
o FINAL EXAM SCREENING
o Take-home final exam assigned (due by Saturday, August 3, 9AM)