UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
WINTER 2025
SCANDINAVIAN AUTEURS
SCAND 470 A / COMP LIT 474 A
SLN: 20170/ 11903
TEARS IN ICE:
SCANDINAVIAN ART MELODRAMA (and Hollywood)
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Professor Amanda Doxtater
doxtater@uw.edu
Raitt Hall 305 N
Office Hour: F 10:00-11:00 or gladly by appointment
Meets: T, TH 11:30-1:20
Location: SAV 166
DESCRIPTION:
When people use the word “melodrama” it’s often in the disparaging sense of “Stop being so melodramatic!” The term conjures up notions of exaggerated emotions, lowbrow acting, and a general lack of sophistication. It's often implicitly or explicitly disparaged as embodying a femininity that is considered "unrealistic" or unthinking. Melodrama’s deep roots in theater and popular culture mean that it is often cast in opposition to “high art” traditions, whether tragedy, modernism, or aestheticism.
At first glance, the tradition of Scandinavian cinema, which is often considered synonymous with dark, slow, estranging art cinema, would seem to embody the opposite of melodrama’s happy resolutions, easy comprehensibility, and heightened expressivity. In fact, the situation is much more complex. Nordic countries can claim rich (if underestimated) domestic traditions of film melodrama. And Scandinavian art cinema also makes use of melodrama’s heightened emotional registers, its suffering protagonists, its pressure on the domestic sphere, and its critique of the status quo. In this course we’ll reconsider our preconceptions about what makes a film compelling.
Tears in Ice offers a survey of key scholarship on film melodrama to discuss canonical works of Scandinavian art cinema. We’ll also include key American films that are important to understanding this film melodrama scholarship. The course will consider ways that scholars have attempted to define melodrama (as genre, style, sensibility, and mode), and discuss melodrama’s potential for societal critique and its relationship to ideology, particularly in relation to gender, class, and race.
Screenings will range from the silent era to contemporary cinema.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- To develop skills to read critical texts in the field of melodrama theory and gain a solid understanding of the central issues at stake. These include questions about emotion (affect), gender, form, and social critique
- To practice close readings of film sequences and develop skills to write critically about film
- To develop a familiarity with some canonical works of Scandinavian cinema
- To develop creative, critical thinking skills, and curiosity about art cinema and melodrama as thriving sub-fields in cinema studies
PREREQUISITES:
None (all readings and films will be in English or subtitled) Previous experience with film or Scandinavian Studies will be helpful, but there are no prerequisites for this course.
The Yale Film Guide is also a great resource if this happens to be your first film course.
(filmanalysis.yale.edu)
FULFILLS: Arts and Humanities (A&H) requirement
TEXT TO PURCHASE:
Melodrama: Genre, Style, Sensibility [MGSS] by John Mercer and Martin Shingler
London: Wallflower, 2005.
https://www.amazon.com/Melodrama-Genre-Style-Sensibility-Short/dp/1904764029
(Should be available shortly at the U Bookstore as well.)
Most texts for the course will be available as PDFs on the course CANVAS site.
***OBS! All materials in this course should be accessible to you. Please let me know if any aspect of this course is not, and I’ll do my best to make sure you have materials in the form need in order to succeed.*** [OBS =Attention. In Swedish, observera!]
FILMS TO SCREEN:
Required films for the course will be available to you to stream on-line under each weekly MODULE or they will temporarily be made available as m4v files on a shared google drive.
The UW has resources for borrowing devices. Contact: UW Student Technology Loan Program
ASSESSMENT:
15% Participation and Discussion Posts
Please bring at least one question to class every day. I don’t expect you to understand everything you read. I do expect you to put effort in to try to understand things, take notes on the assigned texts (including film texts), and come prepared to discuss the material. I want to hear what you’re thinking!
15% Short Analysis Assignments (2)
Over the course of the quarter there will be two short written assignments (300 words or so) one of which will ask you to analyze a film, the other will ask you to analyze a piece of scholarship. These will provide practice for the final essay.
25% Collective, In-Class “Quizzes” (6, but you may drop one). These cannot be made up if you miss them. Some reading quizzes will consist of a few questions designed to gauge whether you have read each assigned text thoroughly and watched each film closely. Other quizzes will be collective in-class activities designed to facilitate discussion of the material. Quizzes cannot be made up if missed.
15% Final Paper Proposal with Bibliography (1-2 pages) (Week 8)
5% Presentation on Final Project (Week 10)
25% Final Research Paper (8-10 pages)
GRADE SCALE (Departmental/Pandemic Version)
97-100%=4.0; 93-96%=3.9 ; 91-93%=3.8 ; 90%=3.7 ; 89%=3.6 ; 88%=3.5 ; 87%=3.4 ; 86%=3.3 ; 85%=3.2 ; 84%=3.1 ; 83%=3.0 ; 82%=2.9 ; 81%=2.9 ; 81%=2.8 ; 80%=2.7 ; 79%=2.6 ; 78%=2.5 ; 77%=2.4; 76%=2.3; 75%=2.2; 74%=2.1; 73%=2.0; 72%=1.9; 71%=1.8; 70%=1.7... (0-60%=0.0)
CLASSROOM AND GRADING POLICIES:
- Please practice professionalism and respect for yourself and those around you. The classroom is a community in which we learn from one another, so showing up and caring for each other matter. Please strive to be present, kind, focused, and open-minded.
- Care for one another. Please reach out to me if you’re having extended difficulty completing requirements for the course.
- In-person course lectures and discussions will not be recorded.
- I am unable to accept late assignments (except in cases of emergency or serious illness, to be considered on a case by case basis). Please contact me before the due date if you have a legitimate reason for lateness or need an extension.
- You may use a laptop in class, but if I see that your technology is distracting I will talk to you about it. If you have some obligation outside of class that will require using your phone, please step outside the classroom. You are more than welcome not to use technology in the classroom as well. In some cases, it may detract from your own learning. See, for example, “Better Learning through Handwriting” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110119095458.htm) or “A Learning Secret: Don’t take notes with a laptop” (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/)
- There will also times in which I will ask you to turn off all technology.
- You are more than welcome to email me with questions. I will generally respond to emails within 48 hours. I also encourage you to reach out to your classmates with questions too.
USING AI IN THIS COURSE:
In this course, students are permitted to use AI-based tools (such as ChatGPT) on some assignments. The instructions for each assignment will include information about whether and how you may use AI-based tools to complete the assignment. All sources, including AI tools, must be properly cited.
Use of AI in ways that are inconsistent with the parameters above will be considered academic misconduct and subject to investigation.
Please note that AI results can be biased and inaccurate. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you use from AI is accurate. Additionally, pay attention to the privacy of your data.
Many AI tools will incorporate and use any content you share, so be careful not to unintentionally share copyrighted materials, original work, or personal information.
Learning how to thoughtfully and strategically use AI-based tools may help you develop your skills, refine your work, and prepare you for your future career. If you have any questions about citation or about what constitutes academic integrity in this course or at the University of Washington, please feel free to contact me to discuss your concerns.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
The University takes academic integrity very seriously. Behaving with integrity is part of our responsibility to our shared learning community. If you’re uncertain about if something is academic misconduct, ask me. I am willing to discuss questions you might have. See also https://www.washington.edu/cssc/facultystaff/academic-misconduct/
Please do not cheat. Cheating and plagiarism include, but are not limited to
- Copying the work of others or allowing others to do your work;
- Directly quoting the words of others without using quotation marks, indented format, and in-
text citations to identify them; or
- Using sources (published or unpublished) without identifying them; or
- Paraphrasing materials or borrowing the ideas of others without identifying the sources.
Plagiarizing, or copying and/or using the words or ideas of others without proper acknowledgement undermines your learning, devalues the degree that you are seeking, and will result in failure of the assignment. Acknowledge and/or cite every single source that you consider when producing assignments. Over-citing is better than under-citing. If you need help understanding and avoiding plagiarism, talk to me.
ACCESS AND ACCOMMODATIONS:
Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.
If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION:
“Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).”
ADDITIONAL WEB RESOURCES:
Many web sources (with the exception of academic journals published on-line) can be superficial and/or academically suspect. Generally speaking, books and articles are peer-reviewed by experts in the field, and as such are better sources. Wikipedia is useful for gleaning basic facts, but remember you can view a Wiki before it was properly edited and elicit incorrect information. Use the web with discretion.
OBS! Nordic National Film Websites (see below) constitute a distinct exception and I encourage you to explore them. Please keep in mind that any resource you glean from these sites definitely still needs to be cited.
Swedish Film Institute: www.sfi.se
Filmarkivet: www.filmarkivet.se/sv/English/
(Part of an incredible project to digitalize Swedish films, commercials etc.)
Other links to explore:
BUFF, The International Children and Young People´s Film Festival in Malmö.
Swedish Media Council http://www.statensmedierad.se/ovrigt/inenglish.579.html
Film Censorship in EU (Sweden) http://www.filmcensorship.eu/Sweden.html
Uppsala International Short Film Festival
University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre
Danish Film Institute: www.dfi.dk/English.aspx
Finnish Film Foundation: www.ses.fi/en/introduction.asp
Norwegian Film Institute: www.nfi.no/english/
Icelandic Film Centre: www.icelandicfilmcentre.is
STIKNORD Tumbler: http://stiknord.tumblr.com
International Sámi Film Institute: http://www.isfi.no/eng/