Revised Requirements for History 262
Now that we have had a few weeks to do a trial run on the course requirements I have decided to refine and simplify the requirements in this way:
For each film, starting with Group 3, you will be required to submit to me by e-mail or US mail an essay of about 3-5 pages which will include the background information you found on the film, the historic events, or the character or characters in the film, along with your critique of how successful the film was in portraying those events. If the film is fictional in nature, then discuss the setting or events that relate to the film. For example, “Grand Canyon” is set in Los Angeles in the 1990s, and as one student has already pointed out, the crime rate in LA was rising dramatically at that time. The connection was that one theme in the film was about the ways in which random violence can disrupt people’s lives.
Two of these essays must be done in a testing center, and although I have decided not to allow the use of notes, you can produce exactly in the assessment what you submit to me in writing. The proctored assessment is a formality which is required by the College. If the choice were mine, you could do everything online on your own.
In addition to what you submit in your paper, you should go to the discussion forum and share some of your findings and conclusions with your colleagues. If you want to use some of the same material issues in your essay submitted to me, that's fine. If you want to revise or simplify or address other issues, that's good too. In fact, as you read the comments from other students, especially those who reviewed the same film, I assume that you will be moved to say or think of other issues besides those that you addressed yourself. This does not mean that you necessarily did anything wrong; it just means that some things may not have occurred to you at the same time they occurred to others.
As has been said repeatedly, the discussion is the core of what we're doing in this course. I would like you to think of this as an online seminar, that is to say a discussion, more or less formal, about what we conclude together about the relationship between American history and film. Going back to where we started, I would emphasize that the reason this course was offered in the first place is that it is apparent that what most Americans know about history comes from film, including television, movies, and so on. Thus it is important that we have a dialogue about the implications of this rather obvious fact. In other words, from what they see on the screen, do Americans really and truly understand our history? That's the big question we are trying to answer here.
Summary:
Updated September 21, 2004