ARE YOU FOR REAL? TRUTHINESS IN  ART, JOURNALISM AND FILM IN THE MODERN  WORLD
HSS 403, Fall, 2021
Office: 413 Cullimore Hall
Hours (Virtual): M, 4-5, & by app't
Mail: Humanities Dep't, NJIT, Newark, NJ 07102
Professor Burt Kimmelman
Phone: 973.596.3376, 3266
Fax: 973.642.4689
E-Mail: Kimmelman@njit.edu
Website: njit.edu/~kimmelma
Course Digital Venue: Canvas

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course operates in the Hybrid modality.*

The course examines modern journalism art and film that—intentionally or unintentionally, explicitly or implicitly—have called reality into question. Cultural problematizing of reality or factuality and/or truth emerges with the invention of photography, followed by other paradigm-shifting developments in modern technology and the science; such developments inevitably affected, even if only indirectly, activities in journalism and the arts. This course will study some of these activities. As the course progresses, it will become evident how both journalism and the arts shape not only a society's opinions and beliefs, but also its policies and laws (thus, in this context, it might be argued that the real is a product of a society's artistic and intellectual activities).

The course will consider movements and concepts such as, in the visual arts, Impressionism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Conceptual Art and Hyperrealism; in literature stream of consciousness, creative non-fiction, non-linear poetry, and in prose the “factualization” of literary/fictional narratives; in film propaganda documentary, documentary-styled drama, mockumenatry, biopic, and adaptation of literary work; in the media (journalism, certain social media etc.) Literary Journalism including Gonzo Journalism, and New Journalism. Analyses of examples of these developments, and writings about these developments, will be undertaken as a way, ultimately, to ask whether or not there is a central need for truth in daily human affairs and specifically in social and artistic activity in our present time, and whether or not our arts and journalism are serving our society adequately.

* Definition of hybrid (sometimes referred to as blended learning): “Delivery of instruction in which some traditional face-to-face contact hours are replaced with required synchronous or asynchronous online instruction (frequently through the learning management system).” The amount of online activity is set by the instructor and varies by course. Refer to the course homepage in Canvas for the course meeting schedule; however, no Hybrid course should be more than 50% online.

Prerequisites: HUM 102, with a grade of C or higher, and 6 credits at the 300-level History and  Humanities GER with a grade of C or higher.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course it is expected that you will have had the experience of thinking deeply into a narrowly focused subject area, in a nuanced way, and that you will have been able to communicate effectively about it both orally and in writing; furthermore you will have written an in-depth, narrowly focused, polemical, researched essay that will be fully documented, an essay of substantial length. As well, you will have been able, successfully, to write argumentative, substantive and informed essays in response to thematic questions posed to you in the form of a take-home examination. These abilities and generally the skills you will develop in this course are necessary for success in the present world, for any professional, and indeed they are salutary for any citizen. In this regard, this course comports with NJIT's mission as set out in its most recent mission statement. 

COURSE TEXTS

Books:

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences, 1965. New York: Vintage, 1994. ISBN: 0679745580.

Essays and encyclopedia entries of various kinds. (Available at course homepage in Canvas.)

Kovach, Bill, and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect.  New York: Three Rivers Press, 2014. ISBN:9780804136785

Munsterberg, Hugo. The Photoplay. New York / London: D. Appleton, 1916. (Do not purchase: available at course homepage in Canvas.)

N.B.: There are various other readings and images in support of weekly topics, which need not be purchased and are available at course homepage in Canvas as "resources."


Films:

Brooks, Richard. Dir. In Cold Blood. 1967.

Gervasi, Sacha. Dir. Anvil! The Story of Anvil. 2008.

Hersonski, Yael. Dir. A Film Unfinished. 2010.

Miller, Bennet. Dir. Capote. 2005.

Reiner, Rob. Dir. This Is Spinal Tap. 1984.

Riefenstahl, Leni. Dir. Triumph of the Will. 1935.

N.B.: These films are available at Amazon, Kanopy, NetFlix and other sources. The films in their entirety will not be shown during class meetings.

Other Useful Texts:

Help for Doing Literary Analysis:  http://web.njit.edu/~kimmelma/LitAnalysisHelp.html

Writing and Documentation Guides (explanations, examples, etc.)

Abbreviations for Marking Papers


See also:

Guidelines for a  Successful Oral Presentation (see also
SUGGESTED PROTOCOL FOR TEAM ORAL REPORTS toward the bottom of page):

http://go.owu.edu/~dapeople/ggpresnt.html

http://www.auburn.edu/~burnsma/oralpres.html

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~riceowl/oral_presentations.htm

http://web.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/skills/oral.htm

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Oral/Visual Reports, one a group report on a weekly assignment, the other an individual report on the term paper project.

 

 Two Weekly Canvas postings (one original of 100 to 150 words, another 50 to 100-word response to someone else’s post).

 

 A two-staged research project culminating in a researched and fully-cited term paper (see writing and documentation guidelines above, listed with the course readings):

 

Stage One: a Term Paper Announcement (see below^) consisting of a Working Title, a one-sentence Thesis Statement (one sentence only, though the sentence can be long and multi-claused and may use one semicolon), a detailed, step-by-step Description of your future paper’s Writing Strategy (i.e. how you will prove your thesis, not a summary of what will be in your paper), and a Bibliography (in MLA format--see the link to documentation guides above) of at least three secondary sources, one of which must be a hard-copy source (for the purposes of this assignment assigned readings, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and textbooks will not be considered as counting toward the requisite minimum number of secondary sources, although they can be used in your term paper project); 

 

Stage Two: a 1500 to 3000-word, fully-documented, original and critical, discursive, polemical (please look up this word if you don't really know what it means) and otherwise argumentative essay that must include at least some detailed analysis of the artifacts being discussed (see below^^), along with a bibliography of all sources (the bibliography will not be considered part of word count). The term paper topic is open (though the topic must have something to do with the subject of this course) but must be approved ahead of time by the instructor.

 

The Term Paper is credited when preceded by the Term Paper Announcement.

 

 Final examination, comprehensive, essay in format, open-book.

 

Failure to submit the final exam will result in the papers that are part of the term paper project being disqualified.

 

N.B.: Papers must be word processed using a 12’ font, double-spaced with one inch margins, spell-checked, and to the best of one's ability grammar-checked. Papers must be submitted as Word files; under no circumstances should a paper be submitted as a pdf.

    Weekly Canvas posts should be single-spaced but otherwise must also be spell-checked and to the best of one's ability grammar-checked, and must be in standard English and adhere to standard formal writing protocols.

     As regards all writing submitted in  this course, please keep the following in mind. If on occasion use is made of the ideas or words of someone else in one's writing, then the source(s) of those ideas and/or words must be cited; that is, when appropriate, papers must be fully documented  in MLA format (you must cite sources--using footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical documentation, which include specific page numbers keyed to particular passages in your text, and complete bibliographical information). WRITTEN TEXTS NOT MEETING ALL OF THESE REQUIREMENTS WILL NOT BE READ AND WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. 

    Students are expected to abide by the NJIT Honor Code. (Here is NJIT's University Policy on Academic Integrity: https://www5.njit.edu/policies/sites/policies/files/academic-integrity-code.pdf.) 

    Papers must be submitted to the instructor via Canvas, as Word attachments, using a proper identifying subject line.

 

N.B.: Failure to participate in class discussions (especially online) at a minimally acceptable level will result in disqualification of end-of-term assignments such as the term paper and final exam; such disqualification must inevitably spell failure in the course. In order to pass this course a student must be consistently active in weekly class work starting from the beginning of the course term. Furthermore, only three unexcused absences will be allowed; more than these will mean automatic course failure.

 

^Term Paper Announcement: 
Consists of 1) a descriptive paper title, and a subtitle to show focus and specificity, 2) a one-sentence thesis statement that includes the point of your argument, the breadth of that argument, and the argument’s significant concepts and details, 3) a detailed, step-by-step description of the writing or argumentative strategy to be employed in your paper, 4) a bibliography  of all sources both primary and secondary in MLA format and alphabetized. For the purposes of this assignment, use must be made of at least three secondary research sources (one of them hard copy) excluding assigned readings, textbooks, encyclopedias and dictionaries.  

A description and samples of the Term Paper Announcement are available at the course homepage in Canvas.


^^Term Paper: 
Consists of: 1) a descriptive paper title, and a subtitle to show focus and specificity, 2) a full-length essay, 3) a bibliography in MLA format and alphabetized. For the purposes of this assignment, use must be made of at least three secondary research sources (one of them hard copy) excluding assigned readings, textbooks, encyclopedias and dictionaries. 
    N.B.: While one research paper source must be hard copy--and there is no substitute for physically going to a library to do research--a downloaded article from one of the NJIT Library's databases can be considered as a hard copy source (it is best to check with the instructor about the suitability of such an article)

Samples of the Term Paper are available at the course homepage in Canvas.

 

 
COURSE SCHEDULE* (for Due Dates see details of assignments at the course homepage in Canvas: scroll  down)

Week 1: Course Introduction; introduce yourself to the class in the Week 1 forum in Canvas; one-to-one meeting with instructor via WebEx. History of journalism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_journalism (we’ll use Wikipedia here for brevity). Pick your first, second, and third choice of date when you, with a teammate or two, can make a presentation to the class on the week's assigned materials (so, you should peruse, now, all the assignments in our course). You'll  need to stipulate your choices by the time of the first class meeting (there is a discussion forum set up for this purpose at our homepage in Canvas).

Week 2: Online articles on history of journalism, and on the Enlightenment.

Week 3: The Elements of Journalism (pp. 1-19, 22-26, 29-33, 37-41, 47-61, 65-68, 72-74, 83-87).

Week 4: The Elements of Journalism (pp. 92-136, 169-239).

Week 5: "The Double Image" and selected artworks; The Photoplay (chapters 1, 5 and 9); Battleship Potemkin.

Week 6: Comparison of The Triumph of the Will and A Film Unfinished; articles on these films in Canvas.

Week 7: Introduction to The Art of Fact; articles by Hersey (“From Hiroshima”), Breslin (“It’s an Honor”), Baldwin (“Nobody Knows My Name: A Letter from the South”), and Didion (“Los Angeles Notebook”).

Week 8: Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. In Cold Blood (the book) starting with "Acknowledgements" and going up to p. 74. Capote (the film). Reporting on the Kansas murders that are the subject of In Cold Blood.

Week 9: In Cold Blood (the book), up to p. 248. Reporting on the murders that are the subject of the book.

Week 10: In Cold Blood (the book), up to p. 343; and reporting on the murders that are the subject of the book. In Cold Blood (the film).

Week 11: Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Term Paper Announcement due.

Week 12: Conceptual Art. 

Week 13: Conceptual and Hyperrealist Art.

Week 14: Comparison of Anvil! with This Is Spinal Tap; articles on these films.

Week 15: Oral/visual reports on term papers.

 Week 16: Term Paper and Final Exam, and all other assignments due (specific due dates in Canvas).

* All work must be prepared prior to class meeting.

 

 COURSE GRADE


Final Examination:                                                 
Term Paper:                                                           
Term Paper Announcement:                                    
Class Participation online (initial, originating posts - graded weekly): 
Class Participation online (responses to classmates' posts):  
Follow-up Questions or Comments
Portfolio of Eight Best Posts online:   
Group Report
Individual Report   
Extra credit project                      
 
30%
25%
10%
10% (5% if late)
5% (3% if late)
5%
5%
5%
5%
10% (extra credit)
 
Numerical conversions from letter grades: A+ = 4.4 A = 4 A- = 3.7, etc.


ABBREVIATIONS  FOR MARKING PAPERS


Key: Abbreviation - Meaning

A  -    
Agr  -  
Awk -  
CS  -  
Dic  -  
Exp   - 
FS  -   
RO  -  
SF  -  
Sp  -  
SS   - 
Syn  -  
Tr   - 
Un   - 
Uncl   - 
Us  -  
V  -  
Va    -
VF  -  
VT  -  
WF -  
WW -  
Article
Agreement
Awkward
Comma Splice
Diction
Explain
Fused Sentences
Run On Sentence
Sentence Fragment
Spelling
Sentence Structure
Syntax or Word Order
Transition
Unclear
Unclear
Usage
Verb
Vague
Verb Form
Verb Tense
Word Form
Wrong Word
   
   

SUGGESTED PROTOCOL FOR TEAM ORAL REPORTS

Introduction

Spokesperson for group (preferably Speaker #1 or #4) puts up first viewgraph (topic of report) and defines:

A. Topic of the group report
B. Introduces self and other members of the team (both first and last names)--Viewgraph #2
C. Explains briefly how the topic has been broken down and what aspect of the topic each speaker will address.
D. Introduces Speaker #1.

Speaker #1:

A. Thanks spokesperson
B. Restates his/her particular topic (with viewgraph)
C. Addresses topic (with viewgraphs)
D. Introduces Speaker #2

Speaker #2:

A. Thanks Speaker #1
B. Restates his/her particular topic (with viewgraph)
C. Addresses topic (with viewgraphs)
D. Introduces Speaker #3

Speaker #3:

A. Thanks Speaker #2
B. Restates his/her particular topic (with viewgraph)
C. Addresses topic (with viewgraphs)
D. Introduces Speaker #4

Speaker #4:

A. Thanks Speaker #3
B. Restates his/her particular topic (with viewgraph)
C. Addresses topic (with viewgraphs)
D. Asks for Questions (or reintroduces Spokesperson)

Question and Answer Period:

A. Spokesperson asks if there are questions
B. Recognizes questioner and directs question to appropriate member of team
C. Allows any other member of team to comment
D. After last question, thanks audience.