Professor Paul Watkins
Class Hours: 5:30-8:30 pm on Wednesdays
“I would not think of quarrelling with your interpretation nor offering any other, as I have found it always the best policy to allow the film to speak for itself.”
Stanley Kubrick
ENGL 396 looks at the relationship between literature and film by examining an enduring question that precedes them both: what does it mean to be human? Moreover, what defines the monster or the other in relation to the human? How do we remain human in an inhuman world? We will read books and critical essays alongside films and investigate the major cultural influence and cultural production of literary adaptation. Through reading, watching, talking, and writing—while applying literary and film theory—we will examine the mysterious way that a story (or various stories and ideas) can become something completely new when adapted for the screen. The course will include film screenings, a review of a choice adaptation, a short film project, and a research essay. I look forward to an exciting semester with you!
Content Warning: Some of the content and discussion in this course will necessarily engage with representations of violence and other mature themes. Please read up on each film.
Required Texts:
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- George Orwell, 1984
Free Introductory Film Texts:
- Yale Film Analysis Guide: http://filmanalysis.yctl.org
- Film Reference Guide: https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com
- Walter Murch, “Womb Tone/ Dense Clarity:” https://transom.org/2005/walter-murch/
See VIULearn for evalutation and detailed breakdowns of assignments.
Schedule:
Please note that this schedule is subject to change as the term progresses.
Jan 7, Week 1: Intro to Adaptation and Film Studies
- Lecture: Intro to the course; See Principles of Film Form (video essay)
- Screening: Chris Marker, La Jetée (1962 | 28 min) [Kanopy]
Jan 14, Week 2
- Reading and Discussion: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
- Secondary Reading: Rédei, “The Human Being as a Creator of (in)Human Life: The Example of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus”
- Discussion of Adaptation Review Paper
Jan 21, Week 3
- Screening (in 355.203): Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein (2025 | 150 min) [Netflix]
Jan 28, Week 4
- Reading: Pheasant-Kelly, “Reflections of Science and Medicine in Two Frankenstein Adaptations…” and selected reviews of del Toro’s version (VIULearn)
- Screening: Frankenstein: The Anatomy Lesson (45 min)
- Discussion and Start of Film Projects (7:30-8:20 pm)
- 20 Best Adaptations ranked
- Differences between Del Toro’s version and the novel
Feb 4, Week 5:
- Reading: Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- Secondary Reading: Greenblatt, “‘More Human Than Human’: ‘Flattening of Affect,’ Synthetic Humans, and the Social Construction of Maleness”
- Film Review Due on VIULearn by 11:59 pm
- “Blade Runner’s Source material says more about modern politics than the movie does” (Noah Berlatsky)
Feb 11, Week 6:
- Screening (in 355.203): Ridley Scott, Blade Runner (1982 | 114 min) [Criterion on Demand]
- Reading: Wheale, “Recognising a ‘human-Thing’: cyborgs, robots and replicants in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner”; Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto”
- Life After Empathy: On Philip K. Dick and Blade Runner 2049
- Scientists vote Blade Runner best sci-fi film of all time
- Anna Smith, Is Blade Runner 2049 Sexist?…
A short analysis of Blade Runner by Steven Benedict:
Feb 16, Week 7: No Class, Study Week
Feb 25, Week 8
- Reading: George Orwell, 1984
- Secondary Reading: John Rodden, “The Orwellian ‘Amerika’ of Donald J. Trump?”
- Orwell and Atwood books given away to encourage readers to ‘fight back!’
- Fairly negative NYT Review of 1984 (film) from 1985
- 1984 Apple Computer Commercial
March 4, Week 9
- Screening (and comparative analysis): Michael Radford, 1984 (1984 | 110 min) [Audio Cine]
March 11, Week 10
- Screening (in 355.203): Terry Gilliam, Brazil (1985 | 142 min) [Audio Cine]
- Reading: Rogers, “1984 to Brazil” and Wheeler, “Reality is What You Can Get Away With”
- Roger Ebert’s poor review of Brazil.
March 18, Week 11
- Reading: Ted Chiang, “Story of Your Life”
- Screening: Denis Villeneuve, Arrival (2016 | 116 mins) [Criterion on Demand]
- Secondary Reading: “Girl Power: Back to The Future of Feminist Science Fiction with Into The Forest and Arrival”
- Film Script Due
March 25, Week 12
- Reading: “Pariah and Black Independent Cinema Today: A Roundtable Discussion”
- Screening: Dee Rees, Pariah (2011 | 86 min) [Criterion on Demand]
April 1, Week 13
- Reading: White, “Keeping Haida alive through film and drama;” Interview: Edge of the Knife tells a pre-colonialism (course blog)
- Screening: Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown, SGAAWAAY K’UUNA, Edge of the Knife(2018| 100 min) [CBC Gem]
- Short Film Project and Reflection Due
April 8, Week 14: Student Film Screenings
- Screening (in 355.203): Student Films
- Research Essay due on VIULearn on Thursday, April 9 by 11:59 pm
PAUL db WATKINS 