Ecology of Western

Subject guarantor:

Jakub Patočka

Name of lecturer(s):

Jakub Patočka

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Students will learn to see the genre of Western - usually considered a low cinematography - as something entirely different too. As a framework that suits perfectly to projecting powerful metaphores of the existence of the modern civilization within its frontiers.

Mode of study:

Guided and non-guided discussions, analyses of selected films from the three essentials eras of the genre: classical, revisionist, contemporary.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

None

Recommended optional programme components:

Selected world cinematic films related to subject.

Course contents:

Commented movie projections, seminar discussions.

Recommended or required reading:

TBS

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

Watching movies, writing short reviews or comments on the selected aspects of the selected movies.

The plan:

I. Classical western

1. High Noon, 3/X/13

2. 3:10 to Yuma, 10/X/13

3. Bend on the River, 17/X/13

4. Searchers, 24/X/13

II. Revisionist western

1. Broken Arrow, 31/X/13

2. McCabe and Mrs. Miller, 7/XI/13

3. Unforgiven, 14/XI/13

4. Great Silence, 21/XI/13

III. Contemporary western

1. Broken Trail 28/XI/13

2. Meek?s Cut Off 5/XII/13

3. True Grit (Coen Brothers) 12/XII/13

4. Django Unchained 17/XII/13

Assessment methods and criteria:

Active participation and students´ effort are the main criteria of final evaluation.

1. Writing at least 9 comments/reviews.

2. Attendance.

Course web page:

Note:

Recommanded movies:

(An alternative dozen):

Classical:

?Stagecoach

?The Shane

?The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

?The Magnficent Seven

Revisonist:

?Little Big Man

?The Outlaw Josey Wales

?Once Upon A Time in The West

?Wild Bunch

Contemoprary:

?Tombstone

?Open Range

?The Missing

?Dead Man

Recommanded Reading:

Eric Hobsbawm: The Myth of the cowboy

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/20/myth-of-the-cowboy

Martin M. Winkler: Classical Mythology and the Western Film, Comparative Literature Studies Vol. 22, No. 4 (Winter, 1985), pp. 516-540:

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40246701

The Philosophy of the Western

Edited by Jennifer L. McMahon, B. Steve Csaki

Series: The Philosophy of Popular Culture

Publication Date: November 2010, Pages: 352

Published by: University Press of Kentucky

eISBN: 978-0-8131-7385-6

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jcn17

Hollywood's West The American Frontier in Film, Television, and History

Edited by Peter C. Rollins, John E. O?Connor

Publication Date: November 2005, Pages: 392

Published by: University Press of Kentucky

eISBN: 978-0-8131-7180-7

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jcdxn

Hollywood's Indian The Portrayal of the Native American in Film

Edited by Peter C. Rollins, John E. O?Connor

Publication Date: September 2010, Pages: 264

Edition: ENL - Enlarged, 2

Published by: University Press of Kentucky

eISBN: 978-0-8131-3165-8

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jcnf1

Western, Go Home! Sergio Leone and the ?Death of the Western? in American Film Criticism

William McClain

From: Journal of Film and Video

Volume 62, Numbers 1-2, Spring/Summer 2010

pp. 52-66 | 10.1353/jfv.0.0058

Rewriting High Noon: Transformations in American Popular Political Culture During the Cold War by Matthew Costello, Saint Xavier University

http://studythepast.com/his597_modernfilm_summer10/readings/high%20noon.pdf

Paul A. Cantor: Order Out of the Mud

http://books.google.cz/books?id=WOAO-DfsQFQC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=paul+cantor+deadwood+order+out+of+mud&source=bl&ots=iqMAmbdIcP&sig=_2KvjZPuKmvY3ntMXRhELfe4X4g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=d6LXT5vaFcTr6gHKrsmtAw&sqi=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=paul%20cantor%20deadwood%20order%20out%20of%20mud&f=false

Donald Worster: Under Western Skies: Nature and History in the American West. Oxford University Press, 1992.

Schedule for winter semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (optional subject)