Representations of Disability & Diversity in U.S. Film
Path 1 Calendar

ornamental line

"If you only gave the people what they wanted,
then they'd still be eating sugar because it's
sweet. But it's empty calories" (90).
Lars von Trier, interview w/ Lars Schwander (1983)



for pre-class "points for reflection,"
click on the color bar above each day's readings

Date

Readings: Path I

Assignments
DUE

M, 7-31

Binary Thinking
video overview of course and course website
Dr. M's intro. to Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Erving Goffman's Stigma (1963), selections (DSR 133-44)
J. Charles Haydon's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), on Kanopy or YouTube
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
Link to Points For Reflection: Frame, Shot, Scene, & Sequence

T, 8-1

Physiognomic Function
 Dr. M's mini-lecture on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
Link to Points For Reflection: Malleable Memories
W, 8-2

The Invention of Monsters
 Dr. M's intro. to Freaks (1932)
Marsha Saxton's "Disability Rights and Selective Abortion" (1998), DSR 73-86
Tod Browning's Freaks (1932), on YouTube or Amazon

  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
Link to Points For Reflection: Mis-en-scène
R, 8-3

Perfectible Products?
 Dr. M's mini-lecture on Freaks (1932)
A Rhetoric of Film, chp. 1
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
Sat, 8-5

Individual Student Video Introduction: upload to YouTube a 2-3 minute introduction of yourself (something recorded on a phone will be fine) in which you: 1) share a few things about yourself that you'd like me to know, and 2) identify two of your favorite films and briefly discuss why you like them. Be specific.
  • DUE anytime during Week One, but no later than midnight on Sat., Sept. 5

M, 8-7

Crazy Twisted Things
Dr. M's intro. to Gaslight (1944)
Bradley Lewis's "A Mad Fight: Psychiatry and Disability Activism" (2006), DSR 102-18
George Cukor's Gaslight (1944), rent on YouTube or Amazon [don't confuse this with the earlier Gaslight film from 1940!]
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
Link to Points For Reflection: The Right Environment
T, 8-8 Fighting Crazy
Dr. M's mini-lecture on Gaslight (1944)
A Rhetoric of Film, chp. 2
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
W, 8-9

One Shame
Dr. M's intro. to Johnny Belinda (1948)
H-Dirksen L. Bauman's and Joseph J. Murray's "Deaf Studies in the 21st Century: 'Deaf-Gain' and the Future of Human Diversity" (2001), DSR 242-55
Jean Negulesco's Johnny Belinda (1948), rent on YouTube or Amazon [warning: this film implies--though it does not show--sexual assault: minutes 37-39]
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
R, 8-10

Deaf Gain
 Dr. M's mini-lecture on Johnny Belinda
A Rhetoric of Film, chp. 3
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
M, 8-14
 Who is Who? Addiction, Disease, & Disability
Dr. M's intro. to The Lost Weekend (1945)
Susan Wendell's "Unhealthy Disabled: Treating Chronic Illnesses as Disabilities" (2001), DSR 160-172
Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945), rent on YouTube or Amazon [warning: this film considers suicidal ideation]
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
T, 8-15
 Zero, Zero, Zero
 Dr. M's mini-lecture on The Lost Weekend
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
W, 8-16

Seen
Dr. M's intro. to A Patch of Blue (1965)
Douglas C. Baynton's "Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History" (2001), DSR 17-34
Guy Green's A Patch of Blue (1965), rent on YouTube or Amazon [warning: this film implies--though it does not show--sexual assault]
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
R, 8-17

Synergy & Intersectionality
Dr. M's mini-lecture on A Patch of Blue (1965)
A Rhetoric of Film, chp. 4
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses

Sat, 8-19

DUE: STUDENT ORAL REFLECTION
Students' video recording oral reflection on first Path 2 film. DUE: midnight; send to Dr. M via email.

  
M, 8-21

Just Like Television
Dr. M's intro. to Being There (1979)
David Mitchell's and Sharon Snyder's Narrative Prosthesis (2001), excerpts, DSR 204-18
Hal Ashby's Being There (1979), watch on YouTube or Amazon
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
T, 8-22

Narrative Prosthesis
Dr. M's mini-lecture on Being There (1979)

  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
W, 8-23

Your Precious Silent Castle
Dr. M's intro. to Children of a Lesser God (1986)
Tom Shakespeare's "The Social Model of Disability" (2002), DSR 195-203
Randa Haines's Children of a Lesser God (1986), watch on YouTube or Amazon

  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
R, 8-24

Heard
Dr. M's mini-lecture on Children of a Lesser God (1986)
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses

F, 8-25

DUE: STUDENT PATH 2 OUTLINE (due at noon)
(send Word file via email to Dr. M & Path 2 peers)

  
Sat, 8-26
DUE: PEER FEEDBACK ON PATH 2 GROUP'S OUTLINES (due at noon)
(send Word file via email to Dr. M & Path 2 peers)
  

M, 8-28

Mediocre Times
Dr. M's intro. to Unbreakable (2000)
Carrie Sandahl's "Why Disability Identity Matters: From Dramaturgy to Casting in John Belluso's Pyretown (2008), DSR 455-69
M. Knight Shymalan's Unbreakable (2000), watch on YouTube or Amazon
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
T, 8-29

Broken /
Dr. M's Dr. M's mini-lecture on Unbreakable (2000)
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
W, 8-30 No Language For It
Dr. M's intro. to Women Talking (2022)
Sarah Polley's "The Woman Who Stayed Silent" from Run Towards the Danger (2022), PDF
Sarah Polley's Women Talking (2023), watch on Amazon
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Impassioned Plea
R, 8-31

Disbelieving Ourselves
Dr. M's mini-lecture on Women Talking (2022) [warning: this film discusses rape repeatedly, though it does not show it]
  • DUE by 9 p.m.: Screenshot Analyses
Sat, 9-2
TERM PAPER due at midnight
(send Word file via email)
  
Sun, 9-3 Mastering the Art of Losing / OPTIONAL for GRADE REPLACEMENT
Dr. M's intro to Still Alice (2014)
Eva Feder Kittay's "Centering Justice on Dependency and Recovering Freedom (2015), DSR 305-12
Richard Glatzer's and Wash Westmoreland's Still Alice (2014), watch on Amazon
  • optional assignment to replace low Impassioned Plea grade (due midnight)
Sun, 9-3

Dependency Care / OPTIONAL for GRADE REPLACEMENT
Dr. M's mini-lecture on Still Alice
  • optional assignment to replace low Screenshot Analysis grade (due by noon)

 

A fire beside a building on an island that appears to float in the fog. In the background are several cliffs and clouds
The Blind Man's Meal (1903)
Pablo Picasso

 


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu