Catalog Description

Prerequisite: Eligibility for ENGL 1A
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: Intended to increase students' knowledge of and appreciation for the genres of the novel and the film while developing an understanding of the challenges of adapting one art form into another. Serves as an introduction to the history and terminology of these art forms and provides the basic knowledge necessary to analyze them. Covers the choices made by the screenwriters and directors as they sought to overcome the problems posed by transforming the novel into a movie. (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Categorize a novel according to genre, comparing it to historical types.
  • CSLO #2: Analyze how basic elements of film are exhibited, employing correct film terminology.
  • CSLO #3: Classify, analyze, and evaluate the adaptation approach used in each novel-and-film combination.
  • CSLO #4: Interpret novels and films in oral presentations, critical essays, and analytical tests.

Effective Term

Fall 2020

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

1. Analyze how basic elements of film are exhibited, employing correct film terminology
2. Categorize a novel according to genre, comparing it to historical types
3. Critically analyze and classify the adaptation approach used in each novel-and-film combination
4. Interpret novels and films in oral presentations, critical essays, and analytical texts

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Literature & Language
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - C1 Arts
    • CSUGE - C2 Humanities
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
      • IGETC - 3B Humanities

    Articulation Information

    • CSU Transferable
    • UC Transferable

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Classroom Discussions
      • Example: For each novel/film pairing, the instructor will facilitate discussion of the original text, its challenges for adaptation, and the choices made by the filmmakers in translating the text into cinematic discourse.
    • Essay Examinations
      • Example: Students will carefully read a novel, determining what elements would be easy or difficult to adapt to the screen. Then they will view its film adaptation, analyzing what was transposed directly into the film, what was deleted, what was added, and what was modified. At midterm they will write an MLA-style analytical essay in response to a selection of prompts specifically incorporating these elements. The paper will be evaluated for its analysis of both the novel and the film, its correct use of appropriate terminology, the proper use of MLA style, and careful editing of the content, grammar, and mechanics.
    • Objective Examinations
      • Example: As part of the in-class midterm exam, students will be expected to define various terms associated with novels and films and to identify selected key passages from the novels they've read.
    • Projects
      • Example: In a group of five to seven, students will create a video in which they adapt a short story for the screen.
    • Skill Demonstrations
      • Example: In the Novel Notes and Film Notes that students will complete for each adaptation pairing, they will be expected to demonstrate their ability to discuss both artistic genres using appropriate vocabulary and to analyze the novels and films by identifying and describing their specific components.

    Repeatable

    No

    Methods of Instruction

    • Lecture/Discussion
    • Distance Learning

    Lecture:

    1. In the introductory lecture on Atonement, the instructor will discuss the evolution of the novel as a genre, drawing on material previously covered in Jane Austen's comedy of manners and outlining the various subgenres of literature represented by the novel, from myth and fairy tale through postmodernism. The instructor will facilitate a discussion in which students will be asked to consider how the novel's postmodern intertextuality might be effectively adapted to the screen.
    2. After the students have read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, the instructor will assemble the students into groups of five to seven to brainstorm the problems presented by the unreliable narrator and to write down their ideas. Then the instructor will assemble the class as a whole, facilitating a discussion of how this narrative point of view presents challenges for a film adaptation and asking the students to suggest various approaches that could be taken in the screen adaptation. After viewing the film, the instructor will facilitate a discussion evaluating what the director Milos Forman lost and gained in his revision of the point of view.

    Typical Out of Class Assignments

    Reading Assignments

    1. While reading an assigned novel, take careful notes on plot, setting, characters, point of view, style, symbolism, and themes. 2. While reading an assigned novel, take careful notes on what elements would be hard to transfer to the screen (an unreliable first-person narrator, a long philosophical discussion, stream-of-consciousness narration, etc.). Then view the film adaptation and analyze how these elements were transferred to the screen, changed, or deleted entirely.

    Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

    1. Write a paragraph or two in which you explain how Amy Heckerling's "Clueless" works as an analogy for Jane Austen's "Emma." 2. Group Project: Select a short story to adapt into a short, 10-15 minute film. Collaborate on writing a proposal, treatment, and screenplay, along with an analysis of the group's choices regarding casting, location, editing, soundtrack, and decisions about how to translate the text into cinematic discourse.

    Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

    Midterm exam and essay; final group adaptation project.

    Required Materials

    • Adaptation: Studying Film & Literature
      • Author: Desmond & Hawkes
      • Publisher: McGraw Hill
      • Publication Date: 2006
      • Text Edition:
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • Emma
      • Author: Jane Austen
      • Publisher: Oxford Up
      • Publication Date: 1816; 2008
      • Text Edition:
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
      • Author: Ken Kesey
      • Publisher: Penguin
      • Publication Date: 1962; 2002
      • Text Edition:
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • Atonement
      • Author: Ian McEwan
      • Publisher: Random House
      • Publication Date: 2001
      • Text Edition:
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • Beloved
      • Author: Toni Morrison
      • Publisher: Knopf Doubleday
      • Publication Date: 1987; 2004
      • Text Edition:
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:

    Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.