Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
Course Overview
This subject aims to provide an overview of Indian popular culture over the last two decades, through a variety of material such as film, advertising, and pulp fiction. This term we shall focus on the evolution of Hindi cinema from the old formula of melodrama to some of the new paradigms in Bollywood and its influence on other forms of popular culture. We discuss the role of the changing socio-political milieu and changing audience and analyze some of the new genre films and reconstructed “masala” melodramatic films. Films shown include Dil Chahta Hai, Parineeta, Rang De Basanti, Corporate, Krrish and Omkara and fiction includes works by Shobha De and Khushwant Singh.
This class is for students at all levels. Whereas those who have had no prior experience of Indian popular culture will get an exposure to a new world-view, those who have already been exposed to it will find and articulate new ways of approaching and interpreting the culture. Class is taught in English, all texts in English, all visual material shown, would be subtitled in English.
This is a “communication-intensive” subject; we will pay special attention to honing the students’ oral and written communication skills, through a strong emphasis on class discussion, oral presentations and guided written work. Students will be required to write three 7-8 page papers: they will write each paper, which will be evaluated, corrected and commented upon carefully, and they will have a week to prepare a revised version before submitting it to the instructor. The class will also be regrouped into units that will take turns at leading discussions.
Course Requirements
- You are expected to attend all classes, as class discussion is crucial. Any unexcused absence will automatically lower your grade.
- The class will be divided into small groups. Each group will be responsible for “teaching” one class: that is to say, they will (with the help of the instructor, if needed) choose topics to present to the class and lead the discussions. The group will meet to discuss a teaching plan, and prepare “thought questions” on the assigned reading and visual material the course will cover. This will count as your “oral presentation” and will be graded by the instructor.
- You will be required to write three papers of 7-8 pages each. The days when they are due are marked clearly on the calendar. The essays will be corrected, discussed with you and handed back quickly and you will have a week from then to hand in your final version. Unless arranged with the instructor ahead of time, late submissions will be penalized with a lowered grade. In addition, you will write a couple of paragraphs every week in response to the film you have seen or the text you have read and you will email it to your instructor before coming to class. These will be your first reactions to the text, and the writing can be relatively informal. These “responses” will not be graded; these are aimed to assist you in organizing your thoughts for the class discussion to follow.
- You will be expected to come to class fully prepared to discuss that week’s material: that is, you will have read the day’s assigned text, and/or seen the assigned visual material before coming to class. Assignments are posted very clearly in the syllabus. Any change in the syllabus during the course of the semester will be duly announced in class. If you are absent that day, it is your responsibility to make sure you are aware of what you need to prepare.
- All readings and selections from cartoons, newspapers and magazines and other visual material will be photocopied and supplied by the instructor to the class. You will be expected to pay for all the photocopying expenses.
- The films for this course will be available at the LLARC. Short excerpts from other visual and audio material will be presented in class.
Please note: Essays submitted late without prior permission from the instructor will be penalized by one full letter grade. Acceptance of late papers will remain subject to instructor’s discretion. Always keep a printed copy of your essay.
If at any point, you should feel the need for further discussion to clarify any issue, the instructor will meet with you outside class.
Grading
The final grade will be determined using the following percentages:
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Attendance and Punctuality | 20% |
| Class Discussion and Oral Presentation | 40% |
| Papers | 40% |
Calendar
| WEEK # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | Spectacle, Masala, and Genre in the context of Bollywood | |
| Module 1 | ||
| 3 | Neo-modern Narratives | |
| 4 | Neo-modern Narratives (cont.) | |
| 5 | Neo-modern Narratives (cont.) | Paper 1 due |
| Module 2 | ||
| 6 | Reconstructing History | |
| 7 | Reconstructing History (cont.) | Revised version of paper 1 due |
| Module 3 | ||
| 8 | Appropriating Literary texts | |
| 9 | Shakespeare | Paper 2 due |
| 10 | Flaubert | |
| Module 4 | ||
| 11 | Engaging with Hollywood | Revised version of paper 2 due |
| 12 | Engaging with Hollywood (cont.) | |
| 13 | Engaging with Hollywood (cont.) | Paper 3 due |
| 14 | Conclusion: Next Decade? | Revised version of paper 3 due |
