Major director course: Quentin Tarentino, Sam Fuller, and Robert Aldrich: Exploring the "Shlock and Awe" of cinematic primitivism
This course will focus on Sam Fuller, Robert Aldrich, and Quentin Tarentino, three master directors who made their reputations in Hollywood with genre-centered cinema that defied good taste and aesthetic refinement. Each, in different ways, embraced themes and qualities that led to both praise and derision for their films' "primitivism." While primitivism is well studied in the domain of art history, it has remained amorphously defined in film studies. This class will address primitivism in film, not just in relation to "folk traditions," but also in its association with aesthetic crudeness and a shocking, sensational, or "lurid" tone. We will explore also how these directors represent it through moral bluntness, violence, and socially regressive or "outdated" attitudes aligned with stereotypes of American masculinity. With this in mind, we will explore the aesthetic, historical-cultural, and theoretical implications that arise from how these films address genre and gender; spectatorship and screen violence; film style and affect; stereotyping and race. Anticipated units include: The Sane, Insane, and Anti-Social; Unlikely Heroines in a "Man's World"; Trading Atrocities, and Hollywood's Underside. Films studied will include many of the following-as directed by Fuller: Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss, Run of the Arrow, White Dog, House of Bamboo; directed by Tarentino: Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill v1, Inglorious Bastards, The Hateful Eight, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Django Unchained; directed by Aldrich: Attack!, Ulzana's Raid , Kiss Me Deadly, The Dirty Dozen, The Longest Yard (1974), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? REQUIRED SCREENING: Tuesdays @ 4pm
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM
