Short Talk and Film Schedule for Fall 2008: Advanced Composition (Humanities)

Week 1 Mon, Jan 24th

• The class watches O'Connor, Carr, and Gray's film adaptation, A Month in the Country

Week 3 Mon, Feb 7th

• Short talk 1: The story of the medieval painter and how it is reflected in the content of the painting in A Month in the Country, book and film: _______________________________________
• Short Talk 2: The characters, Tom Birkin and Charles (James in the film) Moon, Kathy Ellerbeck, the Reverend and Alice Keach in A Month in the Country, book and film: Logan Fitzgerald (to be given March 21st)
• Short Talk 3: How religion functions to form modern communities, reinforce class distinctions and exclude people in A Month in the Country, book and film: discuss Ellerbecks, their visit to buy an organ, the Sykes versus Moon and the Keaches and Hebrons: Jessica Rickman

Week 5: Mon, Feb 21st

• Short talk 4: Turning a Newstory into a Novel in Bel Canto: Lisa Boley
• Short Talk 5: How does Patchett make us identify with the "terrorists" as strongly as we do with the hostages in Bel Canto: Justin Holbrook
• Short Talk 6: How does music function to bring people together in Bel Canto?: Eleanna Velasco

Week 6: Mon, Feb 28th

• The class watches all of Mira Nair''s film adaptation, The Namesake.

Week 7: Mon, Mar 7th

• Short talk 6a: How does Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake treat arranged versus romantic marriages (take into consideration class and gender as well as ethnicity)?: Cinthia Fernandez
• Short talk 7: In Lahiri's The Namesake, compare the problems of assimilation or living in the US in the cases of the two central characters of Namesake: Ashimi and Gogol (who for example, wants to be called Nikhil): Adama Ba
• Short Talk 8: In Lahiri's The Namesake, the function of the different places the characters live and holiday in: apartment v private house in Boston, the family homes in India, Gogol v Maxine's apartments in New York City, Ashoke's apartment in Cleveland, Maxine's parents' lake house in New Hampshire. Here you can use the visualizations of the film: David Dotson
• Short Talk 9: Compare Mira Nair's film, The Namesake, with Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, The Namesake: how does the increased emphasis on Ashima instead of Gogol and the emphasis on India change the themes of the story and our feelings for the characters?: Zachary Deubler

Week 9: Mon, Mar 28th

• First hour and one half: midterm
• Short Talk 10: In The Animal Family Each character (the Hunter, Mermaid, Bear, Lynx, and Boy) has a number of learning lessons; describe two things each of the characters learns and link them together: Thomas Fontana
• Short Talk 11: In The Animal Family, how does each character overcome grief and loss (the loss not need be tragic, the story has comic losses and gains)?: Shawm McElhinney

Week 10 Mon, Apr 4th

• Short talk 12: In The Animal Family what are some of the functions of the sea, meadow, house, forest?: Michael Williams
• Short talk 13: The dreams in The animal Family: Crissy Tolson
• The class watches Northanger Abbey.

Week 11: Mon, Apr 11th

• Short Talk 14: In Austen's Northanger Abbey, the education of Catherine Morland first in Bath and then at Northanger Abbey: Asya Rojas
• Short Talk 15: Austen's Northanger Abbey also takes the gothic seriously too: General, Mrs Tilney, Frederick, Henry and Eleanor are versions of gothic: how do they and the Thorpes show Catherine serious dangers in life?: Reem Shawish
• We watch the second episode of Poldark (1975-76) in class.

Week 12: Mon, Apr 18th

• Short talk 16: From Northanger Abbey and Ross Poldark, compare the characters of Henry Tilney and Ross Poldark: why are they both appealing characters to a wide range of people today?: Dan Schafferman
• Short Talk 17: In Ross Poldark: On two of the heroines: describe the behavior of Ross Poldark to Demelza Crane: how is his behavior a direct rebellion against the mores of his time and how does it show what a rough/raw (unfair) deal women get? Describe the behavior of Verity's family to her? Are they justified?: Rehan Ahmad
• Short Talk 18: Discuss how in Ross Poldark the need for money, class antagonisms and resentments clash with family values in among the Poldarks and Warleggans and how that mirrors things that can happen within families and powerful people in an area too: David Reed
• We watch the third episode of the first season of Poldark.

Week 13: Mon, Apr 25th

• Short talk 19: Discuss how shooting Poldark on location (Cornwall) added immensely to the enjoyment and meaning of the experiences the characters have? Why do you think people enjoy historical fiction and films?: David Gerjets
• Short talk 20: In Small Island, compare the barriers, norms and prejudices both Hortense and Queenie face: how is gender shown to operate across races and class?: Tim Furey
• Short talk 21: Compare the experiences of Jim Carter in Ross Poldark with Gilbert Joseph in the UK and Bernard Cumberbatch when he is in India in Small Island: how are class and race shown to be excruciating barriers in both Ross Poldark and Small Island?: Zach Foster
• We watch Part 2 of the 2009 mini-series Small Island (about 84 minutes)

Week 14: Mon, May 2th

• Short talk 22: Discuss how the film Small Island as well as the book brings home to the viewer how disorientating it is to move to another country you think you learned all about in school but actually did not: Chris O'Grady
• Short talk 23: Compare the treatment of older character in our last three books and films (Northanger Abbey, Poldark, Small Island): have older people lost power and place in popular depiction of them?: Jessica Rickman
• 2-3 minute presentations by all class members of progress of research papers