POL128, Sec. 021,031 061, Politics and Film, Test 1 Study Sheets, Fall 2012
Instructor: Laurinda Hartt-Fournier (Ryerson University)

Test 1 will take place on FRIDAY OCTOBER 5th in our regular FRIDAY classroom and at our regular Friday class time, but beginning no later than 15 minutes (rather than 10) after the hour and going until 5 minutes before the usual end of class. The test itself should take 30-40 minutes.

§ The test will consist of mostly multiple choice questions worth 2 points each, although there will be one short answer question (2 or three sentences) worth 4 points) and the final multiple choice question will be worth 4 points and will follow a slightly different format from the other MC questions (demonstrated in the sample test that will be posted shortly on Blackboard under Documents (or Course Documents).

Grade Weight: This test is 20% of your final grade in this course.

§ If something is not listed below (under Films OR Concepts/People/Related Readings) that means it is NOT on the TEST.

Films to Focus On (in order of importance):
Ø Breakaway --study your own notes from the lectures/discussion and read the related online handout readings mentioned here and listed below, and understand how they apply to this Canadian film (a co-production with Bollywood), especially the “Notes on Althusser’s Theory of Interpellation (on Blackboard), particularly the concepts of the Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) of family and media and the Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs)of police and how they are represented in the films, and understand how the “Introduction” in Gittings text, (pages1-6) apply to the film (how it reflects the complexity of establishing a national view of Canada when Canada is such a culturally diverse nation); the concepts of stereotypes and archetypes were introduced and defined in relation to this film, as well as the concepts of “Other“, metaphor and symbol, text and subtext; how does the film qualify as a canonic Canadian national film text (or not, in relation to what Gittings defines the canon to be.
Ø Monsters, Inc. --this Hollywood animated film can be “read” as an extended metaphor or “allegory” of what, in your opinion (there is more than one allegorical reading possible here); the film also offers a highly detailed and specific representational discourse exemplifying the nature and function of the interpellation process as defined by Louis Althusser, so you are responsible for understanding in what way this is the case and understanding the interpellation process its self as defined by Althusser in the course document currently posted on Blackboard under Course Documents; the film also introduces the concept of “icons“ as a representation; what traits of the Classical Hollywood Narrative Film Style does is support and which does it challenge?
Ø One Week (a Canadian “road movie” that reflects many of the concepts listed below, especially the interpellation process, representational discourse and the concept of icons (of Canada) from the Canadian perspective (rather than from the external, often American stereotypical perspective of Canadian icons; how does the film compare to the other two films, especially in terms of traits of the Classical Hollywood Narrative Film Style ,as well as form and genre.
Ø Excerpt from The Insider (ONLY IF SHOWN)--focus on how it represents at least three of the Chomsky-Herman Five Filters of news and any evidence of Althusser’s interpellation theory (if evident in the clip shown).

Concepts, People, Related Course readings:
Ø Louis Althusser’s theory of interpellation including the roles of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) and Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs); be able to name the apparatuses in each category and know the overall difference between what an ISA and an RSA does) See Blackboard Document: “Notes on Althusser’s Theory of Interpellation, Gramsci’s Theory of Hegemony, Stuart Hall’s Theory of Encoding and Decoding, and Traits of the Classical Hollywood Narrative Film Style” and be aware of how the interpellation process and the ISAs and RSAs are evident in Breakaway, and Monsters, Inc. and One Week .
Ø representational discourse (how film uses images, editing, sound, story and character to offer a discussion of key social issues and concerns and to deliver the films meaning beyond just story and plot);
Ø text and subtext of a film
Ø denotative meaning (obvious, literal meaning) and connotative meaning (deeper, less obvious, implicit meaning) in the interpretation or “reading” of a film
Ø the four film forms (what they are, as discussed in lecture, and how they blend together and combine), as well as how they differ from film genres (and how THEY can blend together) as discussed in lecture.
Ø What are the genres and forms of each of the films we have seen thus far (see list above)?
Ø Other, Otherness (and how it is a by-product of the interpellation process)
Ø Marxist concepts of “false consciousness” (and how it also relates to the interpellation process) and “political economy”
Ø Stereotypes as both a negative reductive view of Otherness/difference and how stereotypes can also be used as a tool to challenge that negative and reductive view and tendency in mass media especially in film (in Breakaway and Monsters, Inc .;
Ø archetypes vs. stereotypes (how they differ)
Ø allegory
Ø canon (as discussed in our Gittings text’s “Introduction” pages 1-6, and as it relates to Canadian national cinema
Ø “road movie” genre (discussed in Gittings, p149 and also in lecture relating to One Week)
Ø Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman’s “Propaganda Model” (as an institutional analysis of mainstream news media in US, including the filtering of news by the Five Filters--See document entitled The Five Filters of News, posted on Blackboard under Documents) and how they are exemplified in The Insider excerpt IF it is shown in class.
Ø Traits of the Classical Hollywood Narrative film style -- Read the relevant section of the Blackboard course document, “Notes on Althusser’s Theory of Interpellation, Gramsci’s Theory of Hegemony, Stuart Hall’s Theory of Encoding and Decoding, and Traits of the Classical Hollywood Narrative Film Style” and reflect on how the traits are exemplified (and challenged) in Monsters, Inc., Breakaway and One Week and as contrasted with Bollywood cinema traits (some of which are also apparent in Breakaway).