Assignments

Weekly Film Notes

Students are required to prepare and submit notes on each film following each film screening. These notes are designed to ensure that students are watching films attentively with an active mind and to generate ideas for papers and class discussions.

Paper 1: Observing City Scenes

For the first paper, students should select, observe, and describe a single “scene” from the life of the city around them.

Paper 2: Close Reading

For the second paper, students should build on class discussions and conduct a close-reading of just two scenes or sequences to explore what they say about the experiences of living in cities. Although students have free choice to explore any two scenes you choose from the first six films in the course, students should ground their thinking and analysis in the arguments presented in Louis Wirth’s article on “Urbanism as a Way of Life” (1938).

Paper 3: Films and Themes

For the third paper, students should pick one theme and trace it through three different films and then add some new observations to extend beyond the films.

Final Paper

For the final paper, students should select either one film and explore 2–3 themes throughout it, or alternatively select one of them and discuss it in the context of 2–3 films. Importantly, although students may certainly draw on their knowledge of the films from the syllabus, they are expected to do “outside research,” identifying films about cities that have not yet been screened or discussed in class.

Assignment

For the 13 weeks of the class, we’ve seen films that I’ve selected, which often highlighted themes that I felt were particularly relevant to explore changing ideas about cities. We’ve also spent much of our time looking and some pretty old films, representing my idea that we, as scholars (and practitioners!) of urban studies and planning, need to build up our foundations from the historical record; the syllabus brings us up to the cusp of the 21st century, but doesn’t include anything from the last 15 years (when most of you have probably formed you own ideas about cities and the issues that define and confront them).

This focus was intentional, but also limiting: “What’s past is prologue,” as they say, but it is not the end of the story, and I expect that the next 100 years will have a lot of new things to say about both cities and films. Similarly, the films in the course have all been set in an American or European context; I expect that city films from other places might raise different issues—an important point for us to consider, given the rate of urbanization in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Luckily, the final paper will give us a chance to address these shortcomings; now it’s your turn to pick the films and decide what themes you want to explore. The assignment—and it is intentionally very open-ended—is to select either one film and explore 2–3 themes through it, or alternatively, to select one theme and discuss it in the context of 2–3 films. Importantly, although you may certainly draw on your knowledge of the films from the syllabus, you are expected to do “outside research,” identifying films about cities that we have not yet screened or discussed. (Note: Although I’m offering the chance to include more recent films, you can also decide to use old / classic films if you like—and if you are exploring a change in attitudes over time, you will definitely want to include some older films.)

Some Examples

Hopefully, it’s obvious what I mean when I say, “select…one film and explore 2–3 themes through it”—this is what we’ve been doing all semester. Do remember, however, that you don’t need to limit your discussion to just the one film: To strengthen your analysis, you may want to connect the issues and ideas you observe in one film with references to films from other times or periods; all I ask is that if you select this first option, the emphasis of your paper is to unbundle as much as you can from one film that we haven’t yet discussed. As for the second option—“select one theme and discuss it in the context of 2–3 films”—some examples might help:

Urban decay (or even “ruin porn”) in films such as 8 Mile (2002) and the new Brick Mansions (2014; itself a remake of the 2004 French film, Banlieue 13);
Car culture and the city, in films such as American Graffiti (1973), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), and Drive (2011);
Urban existence “After the Apocalypse,” in films such as 28 Days Later (2002) or I Am Legend (2007);
The city in children’s films, such as The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), the “Rhapsody in Blue” segment from Fantasia 2000 (2000), and Hugo (2011);
Life in informal settlements, viewed from films such as City of God (2002) or Slumdog Millionaire (2008);
A discussion of multiple films set in the same city, perhaps made in different eras (besides the obvious candidates of New York and Los Angeles, good options might be Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, Washington, or Boston; but you don’t need to limit yourself to American cities…);
A comparison of three films with the same story (a newcomer finds his / her way in the city; two people from “opposite sides of the tracks” fall in love; a poor person struggles to overcome unemployment; someone gets lost / trapped in the city / a neighborhood and can’t get out, etc.) from three different parts of the world, or from three different historical periods.

Don’t forget: Whenever possibly, please try to connect your ideas with the films and the readings we discussed in class. Every new thing you discover or learn is made all the more meaningful to the extent that you fit it into the fabric of what you already know, through comparison, contrast, refinement, and other techniques of synthetic knowledge generation.

Details

Length

The total length for the final paper should be 10–12 pages, although it can certainly be broken down into 2–3 shorter sections if that works better for you. Importantly, rather than focusing on the page count, focus on what you want to say, and use the pages you need to say it (and no more).

Other Things to Include

Be sure you give your paper a title.
Number your pages and include your name on each one.
You don’t need to include images, but you can if you want; both words and pictures can be useful when observing and describing films (and cities).
As you write your ideas, you may want to review the Corrigan book, A Short Guide to Writing about Film.

Deadline & Submission

This paper is due at the final class session.

Student Examples

The examples below appear courtesy of MIT students and are used with permission. Examples are published anonymously unless otherwise requested.

“Intersections and Strange Things Told”: San Fernando Valley as Depicted in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (PDF)

Not One But Thousands: Individuals Experience the City (PDF)

Searching for Beauty and Meaning in Hong Kong (PDF)

Assignment

Although this is a class about films, our first writing assignment is actually just about observation. Film is a wonderfully rich medium because it includes sound and vision in motion through space and time; but if you stop and think for a moment, you realize that actual real life features all of these elements as well. So before we analyze The City in Film, we’ll turn our critical eye to The City Around Us.

For this assignment, you are asked to select, observe, and describe a single “scene” from the life of the city around you. Some examples might include:

A crowd of people lining up at rush hour to get onto the Red Line at Central Square;
a couple walking along Memorial Drive in the snow;
a slow pan down a Back Bay alley, exploring garbage, graffiti, back doors, and utility cabinets;
the view of the skyline from a roof of MIT, where a group of young astronomers have gathered to observe the Leonids;
a homeless person watching as people pass by; or
the contrast between the window displays of two neighboring stores: One advertising vodka, the other back-to-school supplies.

These are, of course, just samples—please don’t write about these ones. Walk around a bit, think about a place or a time that really evokes something about living in the city to you, and write it up. Importantly, just describe it, as if this were an excerpt from a screenplay; don’t interpret it for us. (One of the key rules of good art is “Show, don’t tell.”)

Before writing up your “scene,” I recommend you re-read the “Looking at Cities” article by Allan Jacobs, as well as the sections from Corrigan listed in the syllabus (perhaps even skimming some of chapters 3 and 4). These former will help you think about how we observe places, the latter about how we observe scenes.

Details

Length

This is a short paper—please aim for a target of 2–3 pages (approximately 500–750 words). The goal is to present and analyze a few keen, focused observations, not a comprehensive analysis of everything about a city or a neighborhood. Decide what you want to say in advance, strive for tight writing, and revise as necessary to make every word count; remember the three keys to strong writing: trim, TRIM, TRIM.

Other Things to Include

Be sure you give your paper a title.
Number your pages and include your name on each one.
You don’t need to include photos or diagrams, but you can if you want; both words and pictures can be useful when observing and describing cities (and films).

Deadline & Submission

This paper is due at the beginning of Week 4.

Student Examples

The examples below appear courtesy of MIT students and are used with permission. Examples are published anonymously unless otherwise requested.

The City’s Heart (PDF)

Home (PDF)

Assignment

In class, in the readings, and through films, we’ve explored different aspects of urban life—the ways that people in cities interact with each other and with public space; the challenges, opportunities, and contradictions confronted by city-dwellers; and even the possibility that the physical, social, and economic systems and structures of the city might be acting (either subtly or bluntly; either accidentally or by design) to shape, mold, model, constrain, enable, stratify, homogenize, or otherwise “urbanize” residents.

Looking closely at the scenes and themes in the films so far, we’ve found evidence of these aspects of the city in Berlin, New York, Rome, Los Angeles, and Neubabelsberg. For this assignment, you are asked to build on our discussions and conduct a close-reading of just two scenes or sequences to explore what they say about the experience of living in cities. Although you have free choice to explore any two scenes you choose from the first six films we’ve seen, I am asking you to ground your thinking and analysis in the arguments presented in Louis Wirth’s article on “Urbanism as a Way of Life” (1938).

In this seminal work of urban sociology, Wirth attempts “to set forth a limited number of identifying characteristics of the city” (p. 8). The abstract provides a nice inventory of most of these features, which in the end represents a pretty impressive “limited number”:

Large numbers account for individual variability, the relative absence of intimate personal acquaintanceship, the segmentalization of human relations which are largely anonymous, superficial, and transitory, and associated characteristics. Density involves diversification and specialization, the coincidence of close physical contact and distant social relations, glaring contrasts, a complex pattern of segregation, the predominance of formal social control, and accentuated friction, among other phenomena. Heterogeneity tends to break down rigid social structures and to produce increased mobility, instability, and insecurity, and the affiliation of the individuals with a variety of intersecting and tangential social groups with a high rate of membership turnover. The pecuniary nexus tends to displace personal relations, and institutions tend to cater to mass rather than to individual requirements. The individual thus becomes effective only as he acts through organized groups.

As you begin to organize your thoughts for this paper, re-read the Wirth article, as well as the readings from Corrigan, which are there to help you analyze and write about films. Reflect on whether you recall evidence of any of Wirth’s “characteristics of urban life” in the movies we’ve seen, and select two scenes or sequences to compare and contrast. Note that these film segments may support Wirth’s arguments, but they could also contradict his views: He was a pretty smart cookie, but does not need to be the final word on urbanization. Even more exciting, your argument may somehow complicate or complexify the question beyond what Wirth covers in his short article. (Check it out—we can break free from the constraints of binary thinking…)

You may (read: will) find it helpful (read: necessary) to re-watch your chosen scenes a few times, stopping the film as necessary to make notes and capture all the relevant details.

Details

Length

This is a short paper—please aim for a target of 2–3 pages (approximately 500–750 words). The goal is to present, analyze, and support a few keen, focused observations, not a comprehensive analysis of everything about the scenes or the urban experience. Decide what you want to say in advance, strive for tight writing, muster your evidence and weave it in to support your argument, and revise as necessary to make every word count.

Other Things to Include

Be sure you give your paper a title.
Number your pages and include your name on each one.
You don’t need to include photos or diagrams, but you can if you want; both words and pictures can be useful when observing and describing cities (and films). For this particular assignment, you may find that including still images from the film can really help illustrate your points.

Deadline & Submission

This paper is due at the end of Week 7.

Student Examples

The examples below appear courtesy of MIT students and are used with permission. Examples are published anonymously unless otherwise requested.

“You’re All Thieves”: The Individual vs the City in Bicycle Thieves (PDF)

The City as a System of Production (PDF)

Assignment

One Theme, Three Films

Throughout the class, we’ve used film as a way to explore and discuss a number of different “themes” related to cities. Some films (and some students) have been concerned primarily with physical aspects of the urban environment: The iconic landmarks; the legibility of the landscape; the glitz and the grime; the role of transportation; the importance of neighborhoods and “local turf;” or the general look and feel of the buildings, the street, and the crowd. Others have emphasized social, cultural, or even personal aspects: The perception of safety in the city; the relative importance of close and distant social ties; issues raised by race, class, sex, gender, language, and ethnic diversity; or broad themes of freedom, control, opportunity, modernity, isolation, and social mobility. Sometimes the films we’ve seen may have echoed each other in regards to these themes, but other times they have presented contrasting or changing perspectives, or raised new wrinkles or additional complications. This has given us a lot to think about and a lot to sort out as we make sense of the city in film. For your third paper, you are asked to pick one theme and trace it through three different films—and then also add some new observations to extend beyond the films (see “Epilogue” below). You may (read: will) find it helpful (read: necessary) to re-watch your chosen scenes a few times, stopping the film as necessary to make notes and capture all the relevant details. It will also be important to look back over the syllabus and pull in the readings as they related to your chosen topic.

Epilogue

Once you’ve written a nice tight essay, you have one remaining task: Connecting the topics of the course to the world around us today. In a one-page “epilogue,” briefly describe an event or story in the news and connect it to your theme. Discuss how the ideas presented in the films help you to think more deeply about events, policies, people, and places in the city, and vice versa. (Please also include a copy of the news story you used as an addendum.)

Details

Length

This is a short paper, but slightly longer than the first two—please aim for a target of 4–5 pages, including the one-page “epilogue.” The goal is to present, analyze, and support a few keen, focused observations, not a comprehensive analysis of everything about the films you discuss. Decide what you want to say in advance, strive for tight writing, muster your evidence and weave it in to support your argument, and revise as necessary to make every word count.

Other Things to Include

Be sure you give your paper a title.
Number your pages and include your name on each one.
You don’t need to include photos or diagrams, but you can if you want; both words and pictures can be useful when observing and describing cities (and films). For this particular assignment, you may find that including still images from the film can really help illustrate your points.
When referring to specific scenes, please indicate (in parenthesis) the time in the film where I can find the part you are writing about—for example, “at the start of the next sequence (36m:20s), we see the city turn from working to eating—it’s lunchtime in the Great City.”

Deadline & Submission

This paper is due at the beginning of Week 11.

Student Examples

The examples below appear courtesy of MIT students and are used with permission. Examples are published anonymously unless otherwise requested.

“Meet Cute” and Impossible Love in the City (PDF)

Heaven and “El”: The Depiction of the City Apartment (PDF)

Culture Within the Modern City (PDF)

Overview

Students are expected to watch films attentively, with an active mind; although all of these films are certainly entertaining, we are viewing them as more than entertainment. To help facilitate this, and to generate ideas for papers and class discussion, students are required to prepare and submit notes on each film prior to the discussion session following each film. Since we will be watching films in the dark, you may want to purchase a small book-light for note-taking; laptops, tablets, and other computers cannot be used.

These notes will be graded pass / fail and are required for 12 of the 13 films in class. Taken together, these points will count for 24% of your final grade for the class. Please pay special attention to the deadlines described above: Late notes will be accepted, but will not be given credit. To help you prepare notes, this handout lists a number of questions you must answer, as well as some more general questions to just think about.

Questions

Questions to Answer in Your Notes

For each film, your notes must answer the following questions.

Who was the Director?
(a) What year was the film made?

(b) What year was it set in?
(a) What city was the film set in?

(b) Where do you think it was shot?
Jot down five adjectives or phrases to describe the sense of the city portrayed in the film. What kind of place is it? Be as descriptive and specific—and nuanced—as possible: There are a lot of rich, descriptive words out there waiting around patiently, just dying for their chance to get used. Think about how this city looks, sounds, feels—but also how it behaves: If the city were a character in this film, how would you describe its motivation or personality?
Briefly describe one remarkable scene—ideally one related to the subject of this course. Be sure to also explain why you choose it, and what you think it tells us about the ideas about cities presented or explored in the film?
Pose at least two questions you’d like to think more about or discuss in class.
Draw one parallel or contrast between this film and another film you’ve seen (either in this class or elsewhere), or—alternatively—some sort of real-world place or urban scene you experienced.

Questions to Think About and Maybe Answer in Your Notes

Beyond the items mentioned above, consider the following questions, and add your thoughts to you notes if you want.

Could the film have been set somewhere else? How might this have made it a different film?
Did the city and the places in this film seem “realistic” to you, or somehow fantastic, mythical, imaginative, or surreal? (Or something else? Or a mix?)
How do the characters get around the city? How do they move through the physical space of the urban environment, and what does that signal to you about city life?
How else do the characters interact with the typical elements of urban life—taxis, trains, beat-cops, payphones, lunch-counters, crowds, elevators, pot-holes, muggers, businessmen, plate-glass windows, benches, neon-signs, garbage, glitz, high-society dames, homeless people, and the like?
Are there any elements of the city that you found notable absent from the film?
Looking back at the adjectives you used the previous series of questions (item 4 on the preceding list), do you think the film suggests that these characteristics apply to cities in general, or just this city in particular?
Is there anything else about the film and the ways it depicts the city that you’d like to remember, or to call attention to for you classmates?

Filmericks

To help liven up the class a bit (as if all these great city films isn’t enough!), and also to help us all keep the films straight, I’m challenging you to come up with limericks for each film, which you can include in your weekly film notes. Writing a few of my own, I think I may have invented a new art form: the “filmerick.” Here’s what I came up with for a few of the films:

Metropolis

Joh Frederson’s city is smart,
The brains tell the brawn when to start.
But inspired by Hel,
The workers rebel:
The head and the hands need a heart.

Berlin: Symphony of a City

Made from hundreds of meters of stock,
And covering block upon block,
This film, like a rhyme,
Shows a town keeping time:
Berlin is one big cuckoo clock.

Modern Times

With all of its plot twists and swerves,
This film, like a clarion, serves
To gives that impression
That the Great Depression
Did a hell of a job on our nerves.

Bicycle Thieves

De Sica shoots Rome neo-real,
The poor have been dealt a raw deal.
A bike is required
Or Ricci gets fired:
All men must eventually steal.

Student Examples

Metropolis	Example 1 (PDF), Example 2 (PDF)
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City	Example (PDF)
The Crowd	Example 1 (PDF), Example 2 (PDF)
Modern Times	Example (PDF)
Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)	Example (PDF)
The Naked City	Example 1 (PDF), Example 2 (PDF)
West Side Story	Example 1 (PDF), Example 2 (PDF)
Play Time	Example 1 (PDF), Example 2 (PDF)
Midnight Cowboy	Example (PDF)
Blade Runner	No Examples
Do the Right Thing	Example 1 (PDF), Example 2 (PDF)
London	Example (PDF)
Night on Earth	No Examples

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Course Info

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The City in Film

Weekly Film Notes

Paper 1: Observing City Scenes

Paper 2: Close Reading

Paper 3: Films and Themes

Final Paper

Assignment

Some Examples

Details

Length

Other Things to Include

Deadline & Submission

Student Examples

Assignment

Details

Length

Other Things to Include

Deadline & Submission

Student Examples

Assignment

Details

Length

Other Things to Include

Deadline & Submission

Student Examples

Assignment

One Theme, Three Films

Epilogue

Details

Length

Other Things to Include

Deadline & Submission

Student Examples

Overview

Questions

Questions to Answer in Your Notes

Questions to Think About and Maybe Answer in Your Notes

Filmericks

Metropolis

Berlin: Symphony of a City

Modern Times

Bicycle Thieves

Student Examples

Course Info

Instructor

Departments

As Taught In

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