Violence in Media, Sociology 4380

Professor Claire Raymond, University of Virginia

scp2u@virginia.edu

Office hours, 209 Fayerweather, 12.30 until 2 pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays

Course description, objectives, and requirements

Violence in Media is an upper level Sociology seminar in which we study different productions of the visual representation of violence in America. The course includes viewing films, looking at photographs, and readings from social theory and philosophy. We raise questions around the ethics of creating and consuming representations of violence, both representations that show fictional violence, such as popular movies, and representations that show violence that has actually occurred, such as war photography. The course objectives include developing a critical vocabulary for the social acts of creating and consuming representations of violence. As the course title suggests, we will be viewing images of violence: some of these images may be disturbing, and you should enroll for the class with a plan, whether that be contacting a therapist, or talking with a friend or someone you trust from your religious community, as to what you will do if the images we view disturb you. Participating in seminar discussion and drafting and editing a substantial research paper are also important aspects of the class. Class participation including attendance counts for fifteen percent of your grade; two quizzes given during the semester count for fifteen percent, per quiz, of your term grade; a five page paper prospectus, due at the mid-term, counts for five percent of your grade; a credible draft of your term paper, due before Thanksgiving recess, counts for ten percent of your grade; the remaining forty percent of your grade is determined by a twenty-page research paper due on the last day of class. You may choose the topic of your research, but it must fit within the subject matter of the course. I strongly encourage you to meet with me before writing your prospectus so that we can discuss your paper topic, and thereby have certainty that it is suitable for this class.

I ask that you *not* use electronic equipment, such as computers, i-phones, i-pads, during class. Plan to take notes in a notebook with pen or pencil. Electronic devices, including computers, disrupt the flow of discussion in a seminar. If you are a student with special needs diagnosed by LNEC and LNEC determines that you must have a computer in class, bring that to my attention.

Texts (author, title)

Guerin, The Image and the Witness

Horeck, Public Rape

Halberstam, In A Queer Time and Place

Spelman, Fruits of Sorrow

Sontag, On Photography

Linfield, The Cruel Radiance

Saltzman, Trauma and Visuality in Modernity

Aleiss, Making the White Man's Indian

Batchen, Picturing Atrocity

Readings are culled from the books listed above, as well as from articles posted on our class Collab site.

All the books are available at UVa’s bookstore. All photographs studied during the semester will be viewed and discussed in class. All films studied during the semester must be viewed before class. Students are responsible for watching assigned films before the class for which they are assigned. You watch a film the way you read a book, paying attention and taking notes; come to class ready to discuss the film. You will find the films in Robertson Media Center or, as applicable, on Netflix

list of films:

Apocalypse Now; Ararat; Contagion; Boys Don’t Cry; The Brandon Teena Story; The Accused; Madame Butterfly; The Silence of the Lambs; Fargo; Barton Fink; Blood Simple; The Birds; Macbeth (by Roman Polanski); The Searchers; Silent Tongue; Thunderheart: Black Cloud; Restrepo; War Photographer

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Course Schedule *please note, the course is divided into two week sections by topic. As we move through each section, I will announce in class the pages to be read for the following week, tailoring them to reflect our progress through the section. You are responsible for these announcements made in class: they are part of the course record. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to get the assignments from a fellow classmate, or to meet with me in office hours.

August 27th – September 5th

Section 1: Theories of Seeing

Please read Sontag, On Photography, chapters 1-5

Please read Linfield, The Cruel Radiance, chapters 1-2

Please read Guerin, The Witness and the Image, introduction

View photographs by Nan Goldin, Donna Ferrato, Ashley Gilbertson, Christopher Anderson

for September 2nd please read On Photography chapters 1-2; and read The Cruel Radiance, first chapter

for September 4th please read On Photography chapter 3; and read The Witness and the Image, Introduction

for September 9th, please view Apocalypse Now (Coppola), and Contagion (Soderbergh). If need be, we can carry discussion of these films through til September 11th but I'd like to begin discussion of them September 9th.

images: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/arts/design/images-of-the-vietnam-war-that-defined-an-era.html?_r=0

September 11th- 18th

Section 2: Gender and Violence in Representation

for September 11th, please read, Horeck, Public Rape, pages 1-13; pages 91-117

for September 16th please read, From collab, Michigan Feminist Studies reading

for September 16th, please read, Halberstam, In A Queer Time and Place, pages 22-97

for September 16th and 18th, please View the following films, Boys Don’t Cry; The Brandon Teena Story;

for September 23rd please view the Silence of the Lambs, and please read, Saltzman, Trauma and Visuality in Modernity, pages 132-158

September 25th- October 2nd

Section 3: Fact or Fiction

Readings, for September 25th, please read Batchen, Picturing Atrocity, pages 51-63, pages 147-167

for September 30th, please read Saltzman, Trauma and Visuality in Modernity, pages 222- 249

For October 2nd, please read Geurin, The Witness and the Image, Introduction and pages 52-98

View photographs by Robert Capa, Lee Miller

View the film Fargo by Monday September 30th

(October 7th, no class)

October 9th –October 16th

Section 4: Archaic and Modern Violence

Readings, for October 9th, Saltzman, pages 189-222; read Spelman, pages 1-34

For October 16th, read Spelman pages 133-173

View the film, The Birds (Hitchcock) by October 16th

Five page prospectus due October 16th in class. A prospectus is a short paper in which you introduce the topic for your long research paper and describe why you have chosen this topic and how you intend to research it. You may here introduce an hypothesis to be explored in your work. A prospectus should be written in complete sentences and well structured paragraphs. It must be typed, not hand-written. As with all written work in this class, please use Times New Roman font, 12 point, standard margins. Please turn it in class. Do NOT send this to me via email.

On October 16th the Research Librarian Barbara Selby will visit our class to teach/review research techniques, for the term papers. On this one day, and one day only, of October 16th, you should bring computers to class.

October 21st – October 30th

Section 5: Native Identity and Violence

Readings, for October 21st,  Aleiss, Making the White Man’s Indian, pages 1-19; pages 119-163

first in class quiz, October 23rd

for October 28th, from Batchen, Picturing Atrocity, pages 25-39 and pages 227-241

by October 30th, please view the films: The Searchers, and Silent Tongue

View photographs by Rebecca Belmore

November 4th – November 13th

Section 6: What is a Witness?

Please read by November 4th, Linfield, pages 3-65;

by November 6th, read Linfield, pages 205-233

for November 11th, view the films, Restrepo; and War Photographer

By November 13th, please read Guerin, pages 238-253

View photographs by James Nachtwey

http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

http://reelfoto.blogspot.com/2012/04/james-nachtwey-shadows-of-war.html

November 18th – November 25th

Section 7: History of Violence

Please read for November 18th, Guerin, The Image and the Witness, pages 207-223; for Monday's class please view the first thirty images from the site http://withoutsanctuary.org/

for November 20th, read from Collab site "Without Sanctuary" and also read from Collab site "American Lynching" and view further images from Without Sanctuary site.

View images from http://withoutsanctuary.org/

Please note, you are expected to view these images on your own *before class.* These images can be really distressing to view. If need be, contact CAPS at 434-243-5150      

*The first draft of your term paper is due in class November twenty-fifth (11/25). Although this paper is a draft, it must be a credible draft, and written in complete sentences and well-structured paragraphs, Times New Roman font, 12 point, standard margins. Do not email me this paper. During class on November 25th we will have a round-table discussion of our papers--please bring to your classmates questions you have about completing your paper, or just present your ideas from your paper.

Closing thoughts: Video Games & Second Quiz

For December 2nd, please read from Collab site, Anderson and Gentile, Violent Video Games, the Effects on Youth

The second quiz will be administered in the following way: at 4 o'clock Tuesday December 3rd I will post on Collab the 2nd quiz. I ask that you type your answers and bring the typed, printed quiz to class December 4th. You may not under any circumstance email me this quiz. Turning it in means showing up for class December 4th, quiz in hand.

*The completed term paper, a well polished paper, is due on Monday the ninth of December (12/9). Please use 12 point font, Times New Roman, with standard margins. If the paper is less than twenty pages, I cannot give you a grade for it, because this class officially fulfills the second writing requirement. This means twenty pages of writing: images and works cited do not count towards page length. I do not accept emailed papers. You need to bring the paper to my office which is Fayerweather 209. I will leave a box in front of the office labeled with my name and our class title.

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of note

Plagiarism means copying the words or ideas of another writer or text without citing those words and/or ideas. You must cite all your research: it’s a research paper, after all. Plagiarizing ensures a failing grade, at the least

If you have been diagnosed by LNEC and need special consideration in this class, please notify me. I fully support a fair and equitable classroom for all students.

Violence in Media

Sociology 4380

Violence in Media is an upper level Sociology seminar in which we study different productions of visual representation of violence, focusing on American culture. The course includes viewing films, looking at photographs, and readings from social theory and philosophy. We raise questions of the ethics of creating and consuming representations of violence, both representations that show fictional violence, such as popular movies, and representations that show violence that has actually occurred, such as war photography. The course develops a critical vocabulary for the social acts of creating and consuming representations of violence.