Film and History: Oliver Stone, Hollywood and the World
History 404
May 18  – June  9,  2009
5:30 to 8:20 pm
Albertsons Building
Dale Graden

This course focuses on the films of the director Oliver Stone. Emphasis is placed on how the film maker seeks to depict historical themes and interpretations.

Please attend the class meetings. We will view films each week (15 meetings: 5-4-4-2), and discuss the films in class.

There are three (3) short essays of three to four (3-4 typewritten, double-space and stapled pages) required in the course. You choose the film(s) and the historical theme(s) you wish to analyze. Be sure that you incorporate ideas into your essay from the assigned readings. The three essays are due on Tuesday 26 May, Monday 1 June and Monday 8 June. Each essay is worth one-third of the grade for the course.
 

Week One: The 1960s

Monday May 18: Midnight Express

19: JFK

20: The Doors

21: The People vs. Larry Flynt

22: Platoon
 

Week Two: Vietnam and US Foreign Policy

Monday May 25: no class, Memorial Day

26: Born on the Fourth of July
Critique number one due

27: Heaven and Earth

28: Salvador

29: Talk Radio
 

Week Three: Culture

Monday June 1: Any Given Sunday
Critique number two due

2: Wall Street

3: South Central

4: Joy Luck Club
 

Week Four: The war on terror

Monday June 8: World Trade Center
Critique number three due

9: W
 

Books: available at UI bookstore

Albert French, Patches of Fire: A Story of War and Redemption

Susan Sherman, America’s Child: A Woman’s Journey Through the Radical Sixties

Robert Brent Toplin, Oliver Stone’s USA: Film, History, and Controversy