Write 1- 2 pages (typed and double spaced) on: 1) what you learned from the reading in Black about why gangster movies upset critics and citizen groups; and 2) Whether you think censorship of the kind we see in the production history of Scarface is consistent with democratic principles.  Print what you have written and bring it to class.  We will continue watching Scarface in class.   

Write a 2-3 page (typed and double spaced) account of two or more changes made in the movie at the behest of the Hay's Office.  Make sure your review Black, pp. 125-132, before writing your account of the changes.  This paper requires that you describe in detail the scenes you are discussing using the film as well as Black's account of the script and production history of Scarface.  Later, you will analyze and evaluate these changes as you incorporate a revised version of your account into a longer position paper.  Today, you will exchange papers in class and fill out a paper editing sheet  so make sure you bring two print copies of your paper to class (one for me and one for your editor).  After you filled out the editing sheets in class, you will discuss the strengths and weaknesses you found in each others papers. 

For your papers, you can write on one or more of the following:  the text prologue, Mrs. Camonte's attitude toward Tony, the handling of the incest plot, the presence of corrupt officials (the DA, lawyers, judges, etc), the meeting in the newspaper editor's office, or the condemnation of gangsters by the Chief.  The clips and images below may prove helpful in refreshing your memory on some of the relevant scenes.  It's very important that you do a detailed analysis of these or other scenes to support your ideas. 

1. See the added text at: 
   http://mason.gmu.edu/~kthomps4/stills/scarface/scar-text.htm
2. If you are going to include an account of the incest plot, see the clips at: 
   http://classweb.gmu.edu/kthomps4/video/scarface/sister1.mov
   and http://classweb.gmu.edu/kthomps4/video/scarface/sister2.mov

To watch clips at home you will need QuickTime installed on your computer.  You can download a free QuickTime reader at:  http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/.  After you download the QuickTime installer (note where you save it), click on the file to install the program.  If you forget the user id and password to access images and clips, email me. 

Sept 12th--Last day to DROP with no tuition penalty; last day to ADD classes

Write a 3-4 page paper (typed and double spaced) on whether you think Scarface should have been altered in response to pressure from the Hays' Office and local censorship groups.  Consider whether the portrayal of Tony Camonte humanizes gangsters irrespective of condemnations like those we find in the added text, the Police Chief's statements, and the Newspaper Publisher's speech.  In your paper, analyze at least two scenes in detail and conclude by taking a position on whether you think censorship of the kind we see in the production history of Scarface is consistent with democratic principles.  I suggest you read the first page on Scarface at filmsite.org site (at least up to the plot summary) to refresh your memory before writing your essay. 

You will exchange papers in class and fill out a paper editing sheet  so make sure you bring two print copies of your paper to class (one for me and one for your editor) but also send it to yourself and put the message in your Mason Topics folder.  

NOTE:  Here, as in some of the assignments to come on Scarface, you can use parts of your previous essays.  But I have asked a new question--should the film have been altered in response to censorship groups-- and so you have to develop a new thesis (i.e. Scarface should or should not have been altered because . . . ).  This assignment is asking you to take a position, in other words, not just describe or compare specific scenes, as in the previous assignment.  Consequently, you can incorporate things you have written before only if you use them to develop and support your new thesis and provide transitions that make clear how your comparisons or other points support the position you are now taking. 

Read Gregory Black, Hollywood Censored, pp. 3-46 (restricting entertainment and the Hays office) and pp. 151-154 (Payne study).  Take detailed notes on the reading and email yourself a copy for your Mason Topics folder.  You will be required to use and cite historical information from Black in your next papers and will hand in these notes when you turn in your paper on Oct 3rd.  Quiz on Black and preparatory work on the reading. 

Read Gregory Black, Hollywood Censored, pp. 302-308 (Lord-Quigley proposal).  Take detailed notes on the reading and email yourself a copy for your Mason Topics folder.  You will be required to use and cite historical information from Black in your next papers and will hand in these notes when you turn in your paper on Oct 3rd.  Also read Hacker on MLA (pp. 113-123) or APA (pp. 157-165) documentation, depending on your prospective major.  Also see Hacker's online documentation guide at:   http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/resdoc/ 

During class, you will re-read and write collaboratively on the Lord-Quigley proposal.  I will divide the class into four or five groups.  Each group will read one section of the Lord-Quigley code and summarize its larger and subsidiary points.  One member of each group will then email me your summary and response to the proposal including any disagreements you had on the value of the code.  This exercise requires you to place Lord and Quigley's individual points in larger structure or set of assumptions you distill from the details of the code.  You can use bullets or an outline for the subsidiary points.  

• Group I, assumptions about film and entertainment, pp. 302-4
• Group II, general principles, p. 305
• Group III, particular applications (through crimes against the law),  p. 306-7
• Group IV, particular applications (sex to repellent subjects), pp. 307-8

Continuing review of MLA, APA, and Chicago  documentation styles, particularly how to use the drop-down menus on Hacker's online site.  In-class showing of selections from the 1999 PBS Culture Shock documentary Hollywood Censored:  Movies, Morality, and the Hollywood Production Code.  In-class writing on David Denby's distinction between representational complexity and teaching unambiguous moral lessons. 

Sept 29th--Last day to DROP classes

You will exchange papers in class and fill out a paper editing sheet  so make sure you bring a print copy of your paper to class as well as a blank editing sheet .  I will also collect your portfolios including your paper of Sept 19th and associated editing sheets and your notes on the reading in Black (3-46, 151-154, and 302-308). 

In class showing of selections from the documentary Breadline:  The Great Depression at Home (22-46 min). 

Read Black, pp. 137-44, on Gabriel Over the White House.  In-class writing and discussion on whether the suspension of democratic procedures by the President in the film was justified (to be continued next Tue).  Also see the discussion questions at http://mason.gmu.edu/~kthomps4/101-MT9-f06/gabriel-questions1.htm

To prepare before class, read the following: 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024044/
http://hnn.us/articles/8146.html
http://hnn.us/articles/903.html
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Gabriel-Over-the-White-House
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_2_36/ai_n6240714

Oct 20th--Mid-term progress report

Oct 27th--Incomplete work from spring/summer 2005 due

If there is time, we will Study the Parent's Television Council site at: 
http://www.parentstv.org/ and look up the organization in the Associations Unlimited database. 

OPTIONAL:  Read "Bomb Speech"  in Sex Laws and Cyberspace (on reserve in the JC Library) and study the material on the website associated with the book, which can be found at:  http://www.spectacle.org/freespch/.  Finally, look at section 1 of Incitement to Violence on the World Wide Web: Can Web Publishers Seek First Amendment Refuge? by Lonn Weissblum, at http://www.mttlr.org/volsix/Weissblum_art.html

We will watch and discuss Roots of War (1945-1953) from  Vietnam:  A Television History.     

Discussion of the ending of the 1958 film (DVD chapter 15 & 16).  See the group discussion questions at http://mason.gmu.edu/~kthomps4/101-MT9-f06/quiet-american-disc.htm

DEC 9 LAST DAY OF CLASSES;
EXAM PERIOD DEC 12-20

See your research projects online at
http://mason.gmu.edu/~kthomps4/101-MT9-f06/research.htm

Presentation of research project on one of the topics we have covered in the last part of the semester:  1) Edward Lansdale and Vietnam; 2) the 1st Amendment and Children's TV; or 3) Algeria, nationalism and violence. Send me a Word or HTML document with your annotated bibliography by Monday Dec 11th at 12 noon.  Your bibliography should begin with a research question and include a detailed account of the reliability of the sources you found and their usefulness in answering your research question.  Also include an account of how you found your sources (library database, LOC subject heading, search engine, etc.) and how you would use them in a research paper.  Include at least three books (specific chapters or sections), three web pages and three articles from refereed journals.  Follow Diana Hacker's model for MLA citations (unless you have been trained in another format in a course in your major).  Put your annotations under each citation entry or after a traditional works cited page.