CMS 320 C: Cinema and Nation

SCAND 360 / CMS 320A                                      

5 Credits                                                                                                         
Room: Condon 125                                                                                  
Meeting Time: T., Th., 2:30-4:20                                                         
Office Hours: Th. 10:30-12:00            
Raitt 305Z                                                   
Contact: Canvas Mail / akn@uw.edu / (206)6694-9100                      

Course Description

360/CLCM 320 surveys the cinema Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Sweden (Scandinavia). The course ranges from early narrative film during the 1900s to the present. The course has two aims. First, it seeks to acquaint you with the most important periods, film styles, and films, but also some of the main figures, including Carl Th. Dreyer, Ingmar Bergman, Edith Carlmar, Ingrid Bergman, Susanne Bier, and others. Second, it seeks to deepen your knowledge of film history and to teach you to analyze film.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

There are four specific goals for the course.

1. Form an overview of Nordic film history, organized around figures, films, and institutions, and ideas.
2. Acquire a basic vocabulary of film analysis to allow you to complete a sequence analysis of a film we view in class.
3. Organize your familiarity with the films we watch into historical and comparative categories. In other words, you should know which countries the films come from, who made them, what period they belong to, and what defines that period, so you can distinguish the films among themselves, and with others outside Scandinavian cinema.
4. Synthesize your knowledge and contextual understanding to write thesis-based sequence analyses about the films viewed in class.

So what? What is the benefit of knowing about Scandinavian cinema? The course will help you understand and make sense of Scandinavian national cinemas and cultures, and help you compare them with other cinemas and cultures. You’ll get a lot of content. That’s obvious. It will also make you a better viewer of film and television by helping you see things you hadn’t seen before, giving you the language to describe and analyze what you’re seeing, and to compare what you’re seeing with other examples. Those are great skills to have. Still, why should you care?

The greatest value in the course is that it tries to teach you to be curious about what you watch: to notice details, to notice choices, to ask why they’ve been made, and to make evidence-based arguments about what you see and hear. Doing so enriches your life. It also gives you concrete skills you can carry into the workplace. I hope the course will add a little bit to making you the kind of person who can ask perceptive questions, understand things carry different meanings for different people, and who can communicate clearly about your questions and the meanings you perceive. 

TEXTS

Sikov, Ed, Film Studies: An Introduction, 2^nd Edition. New York: Columbia University Press. (Available at University Bookstore).

All other course readings and viewings are available on the Canvas Page.

GRADES

Here is the scheme I’ll use for calculating your final grade:

• Participation 10%
• Quizzes 30 %
• Study Questions 20 %
• Final Exam 40%

ASSIGNMENTS

FILM VIEWING: All films are available in streaming. You are responsible for watching films as part of the course homework. Please complete viewing before film is listed in class. The viewing material will be part of the quizzes.

READING: It is essential that you complete the readings, so that you are ready for discussion of the films and can understand the frame of reference for work in class. You should complete readings listed in the syllabus by the day on which they appear in the syllabus. I have kept the reading light, to allow us to watch more film. The reading material will be part of the quizzes.

LECTURE & DISCUSSION SESSSION: The lecture-discussions provide context, analysis, and explain concepts by way of example. They will be interactive, that is, there will be driven by questions and discussion. They will also aim to practice main concepts and analytical skills need for the final exam. The emphasis is on learning by doing by discussing images, passages from the readings, and sequences in the films.  

PARTICIPATION: Participation is based on discussion and participation in in-class discussions. You will give yourself a grade at the end of the course, which will be the basis for your grade. It helps to set some goals for yourself in the course, write them down, then use those goals to measure your performance during the class.  

QUIZZES: There will be three twenty-minute on-line quizzes given on the films, readings, lectures, and discussions with 15 multiple-choice questions per quiz. The quiz will open after our Thurs. class meeting, and you will need to complete each quiz by the following Friday at 5PM. The quizzes are open book. The quizzes’ closing time is marked in the course schedule. It is your responsibility to take the quiz by the deadline for completion. If you do not complete the quiz, you will be given a failing grade of 9 for the quiz- grade in question. If you forget to complete the quiz after opening it, you will get a grade of 9, or whatever points you have received in what you completed.

STUDY QUESTIONS: You must respond to three study questions listed in the syllabus. Please answer each question with an approximately two-page answer, which you will upload to Canvas. Study-question responses are due by 5:00PM on the Sunday indicated in the syllabus. I do not accept emailed study questions. I grade study questions on a pass/no-credit basis. When no response is submitted, or your answer is poor or careless (<2.6), I award no-credit. To earn a 4.0 for the study questions, you must receive a pass for three study questions; three passes merits a 3.0, one a 2.0 and zero a 0.0.

 FINAL EXAM: The final exam is schedule by the UW for Tues., June 9^th 4:30-6:20PM. It will be held in our regular room in Condon Hall (125). The final exam will consist of a sequence analysis from one of the films screened in class.  (40 pts), 20 multiple-choice questions (20 pts), and 10 short-answer questions (20 pts) (4-6 sentences). 80 points. You will need an “Exam Booklet” (Blue Book) to complete the exam. There will be an in-class study session on the last day of class and I will provide you a review sheet 10 days in advance of the final.

EXTRA CREDIT

You may earn up to a .3 addition to your final paper grade by completing up to two extra-credit activities from the following list:

• Watch a Scandinavian film not on the syllabus and submit a two-page response, including a description of the film and a critical response to it. (.1)
• Attend one of the Scandinavian films at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) May 7-17 and write a two-page response, including a description of the film and a critical response to it. (.2)

COURSE POLICIES

INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE: Please pay careful attention to how others request they be addressed. I will rely on the pronouns and names included in your student information by the UW. However, if you need to correct me, please do so in the way you feel most comfortable and supported. I welcome your feedback and the opportunity to learn more about students’ concerns. Please respect your classmates by aiming to use inclusive language as possible.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: We recognize that the University of Washington stands on the lands and waters of the Coast Salish Peoples - the Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Suquamish, and Tulalip, who continue to be stewards of their land and waterways and the past and future of these areas.  

ACCESS AND ACCOMODATIONS:  Your experience in this class is important to me. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs 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), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, me, and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

RELIGIOUS ACCOMODATION: 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/).”

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 whether something is academic misconduct, ask me. I am willing to discuss questions you might have.

Acts of academic misconduct may include but are not limited to:

• Cheating (working collaboratively on quizzes/exams and discussion submissions, sharing answers and previewing quizzes/exams)
• Plagiarism (representing the work of others as your own without giving appropriate credit to the original author(s))
• Unauthorized collaboration (working with each other on assignments)
• Unacknowledged use of a Large Language Model tool (Chat GPT, Gemini, Copilot, etc.)

Concerns about these or other behaviors prohibited by the Student Conduct Code will be referred for investigation and adjudication by (include information for specific campus office). Students found to have engaged in academic misconduct may receive a zero on the assignment (or other possible outcome).