FAVz087 Hollywood Blockbusters and the Disney

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2020
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Taught online.
Teacher(s)
Peter Kramer (lecturer), Mgr. Šárka Jelínek Gmiterková, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Tereza Bochinová (assistant)
Mgr. Kateřina Šrámková (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Šárka Jelínek Gmiterková, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Patrycja Astrid Twardowska
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Fri 4. 12. 12:00–13:50 VP, Fri 11. 12. 12:00–13:50 VP, Fri 18. 12. 12:00–13:50 VP, Fri 22. 1. 12:00–13:50 VP
Prerequisites
There are none.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 35 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 4/35, only registered: 0/35, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/35
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 18 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
For over six decades the Walt Disney Company has been the most successful, and the most influential, of all the major Hollywood studios. Disney is by no means only a film company; in fact since the 1950s one might better characterise it as a theme park and/or television company which is also involved in film production and distribution. And yet the company’s classic movies have long been deeply embedded in the lives of many children (and adults) around the world, and with its recent takeovers of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox, Disney is ruling global box office charts.
In this course, we will use various box office charts (for the United States and for the whole world) to identify the films that have made the most money in movie theatres since the 1910s. Many of these films, especially from the 1930s onwards, have resonated widely across American and world culture, among many other things by winning awards, achieving high ratings on television, selling lots of videos, DVDs, Blu-rays and all kinds of other merchandise, also of course through remakes, spin-offs, prequels and sequels. While we will try to get a sense of how the theatrical release of movies fits into an ever changing media landscape, we will focus on the following questions: What do theatrical blockbuster hits have in common, and how do these commonalities change over time? We will closely examine a range of individual hit movies that exemplify broader patterns, with a particular focus on films released by Disney.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able:
- to understand the evolution of the Disney company
- analyse major films produced by the company from various perspectives
- to understand the category of blockbuster film and its specifics
Syllabus
  • 1. The Jazz Singer (1927, 89/96 min)
  • - Style, form and themes (esp. familial bonds, ethnicity/race and historical change) of The Jazz Singer
  • Small group exercise: examination of the global box office charts for 2019 and 2020 (https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/)
  • 2. Bambi (1942, 70 min)
  • - Style, form and themes (esp. familial bonds, apocalyptic catastrophe and human/animal relations) of Bambi
  • Small group exercise: examination of the annual financial report of the Walt Disney Company for 2019
  • 3. The Graduate (1967, 106 min)
  • - Style, form and themes (esp. familial bonds, sex, ethnicity and male subjectivity) of The Graduate
  • Small group exercise: examination of professional and amateur reviews of The Graduate (from IMDb, Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes)
  • 4. Star Wars (1977, 120 min, original version, not Special Edition, if possible)
  • - Style, form and themes (esp. familial bonds, apocalyptic catastrophe and the hero’s journey) of Star Wars
  • Small group exercise: examination of (especially the very earliest) personal experiences with the Star Wars franchise
  • 5. Titanic (1997, 194 min)
  • - Style, form and themes (esp. gender, catastrophe and historical change) of Titanic
  • Small group exercise: examination of the original theatrical posters and trailers for Titanic
  • 6. Avatar (2009, 162 min)
  • - Style, form and themes of Avatar, with special emphasis on a range of critical/political issues and the film’s incomplete hero’s journey
  • Small group exercise: internet search for reports on political appropriations of Avatar and on James Cameron’s political engagement in 2009/10 and beyond
Literature
    required literature
  • “'The Walt Disney Company, Family Entertainment, and Hollywood’s Global Hits”, The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Films, ed. Noel Brown, Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming
  • Peter Krämer, “Women First: Titanic (1997), Action-Adventure Films and Hollywood’s Female Audience”, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, vol. 18, no. 4 (October 1998), pp. 599-618
  • Peter Krämer, “A History of Hollywood Blockbusters”, unpublished manuscript
  • KRÄMER, Peter. The new Hollywood : from Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars. 1st pub. London: Wallflower, 2005, 129 s. ISBN 1904764584. info
  • WASKO, Janet. Understanding Disney :the manufacture of fantasy. 1st pub. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001, ix, 261 s. ISBN 0-7456-1484-1. info
  • Contemporary Hollywood cinema. Edited by Stephen Neale - Murray Smith. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 1998, xxii, 338. ISBN 0415170095. info
    recommended literature
  • Hall, Sheldon, and Steve Neale, Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2010
  • Russell, James, and Jim Whalley, Hollywood and the Baby Boom, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018
Teaching methods
This online course is divided into six sessions. Each session has several elements: a piece of reading, a small group exercise, a film, a set of questions about the film, and a two hour discussion we will conduct via textchat.
You will form working groups (comprising 3-5 people). Each small group exercise requires the group to produce a short text which they will post online where the other groups and I can read it. You can thus learn from each other, and I can give some general feedback on your work.
You will also get questions on each week’s film to take notes on (this can be done individually or in a group) in preparation for the textchat discussion.
The text chat sessions will take place in December. The exact schedule is yet to be specified.
Assessment methods
Students will be evaluated upon their preparation for each text chat session - whether they have done their reading, watched the films assigned for each lecture and went over the provided questions and worked on their group assignment. The short group texts should be posted online for others to read in time, on the scheduled date.
There are no preliminary or final tests for this course.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
Teacher's information
Peter Krämer is a Senior Research Fellow in Cinema & TV in the Leicester Media School at De Montfort University (Leicester, UK). He also is a Senior Fellow in the School of Art, Media and American Studies at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK) as well as a regular guest lecturer at Masaryk University (Brno, Czech Republic) and at the University of Television and Film Munich (Germany). He is the author or editor of eleven academic books, including the BFI Film Classic on 2001: A Space Odyssey (2nd edition, 2020) and ‘Grease is the Word’: Exploring a Cultural Phenomenon (jointly edited with Oliver Gruner, Anthem, 2020).
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