DUKE UNIVERSITY                                                                       COURSE SYNOPSIS – SPRING 2004

            DEPARTMENT Romance  Studies          PROGRAM/STUDY: FRENCH

            COURSE NUMBER:  FR 142S    COURSE TITLE: FRENCH FILMS/ AMERICAN MASKS     

            PROFESSOR           Jean-Jacques Thomas

            If this course is cross-listed with another department or program, please list the

DEPARTMENT AND COURSE NUMBER:   Film & Video program

CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION, if any:

Prerequisistes:          none

SYNOPSIS OF COURSE CONTENT:

What do True Lies,  Point of no Return, The Toy, The Birdcage,  Father’s Day, Down and Out in Beverly Hill, Breathless, Sommersby, etc. have in common? They all are American adaptations of earlier French films. Why do Hollywood have to rewrite European films to market a perfectly good story to adapt it to American taste? The purpose of this course is to analyze contemporary French films and their American adaptation in English for an American (International) audience. The purpose of the analysis is to study the differences in representations and in mentalities. Beyond intra­nationalistic references that would not be understood in another foreign culture, we will study how different cultures (French and American) select to represent their own attitudes, language and cultural dispositions in given situations. We will also study the general framework of the film representation and what distinguishes a "French" and an "American" film. The course will lead to a better understanding of specifically pre­determined cultural patterns. The course will include in-depth studies of the following films: La Totale / True Lies; Nikita / Point of no Return; The Man with a Red Shoe / Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire; A bout de souffle / Breathless; La Chèvre / Pure Luck; La Cage aux folles / The Birdcage and La Jetée /  12 Monkeys.

        READING ASSIGMENTS:

       Mandatory: 

                Carroll, Raymonde  Évidences Invisibles, Paris: Seuil, 1987.

                 Carroll, Raymonde, Cultural Misunderstandings, Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1990

       One of the following:

                Steele, Ross,  The French Way, Chicago: NTC Books, 1995.

                   Althen, Gary American Ways, Yarmouth: Intercultural Press, 1988.

                 Hall, Edward T. and Mildred R. Hall, Understanding Cultural Differences,

                        Yarmouth:    Intercultural Press, 1990.

                  Taylor, Sally Adamson, Culture Shock! France, Portland: Graphic Arts

Center Publishing Company, 1996.

        One of the following:

                  Mauchamp, Nelly, Les Français, mentalités et comportements, Paris: CLE international, 1996.

                    Stanger, Ted, Sacrés Français! Un Américain nous regarde,  Paris : Michalon, 2003. 

       EXAMINATIONS:

Special assignments

        TERM PAPERS:

Two research papers (7-10 pages) or multimedia presentations (10 minutes video) in French.

       GRADE TO BE BASED ON:

            Special research papers/ Exposé multimedia presentation (35 % each ); Final research paper/multimedia presentation (20%); active class participation (10%)

      ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/COMMENTS: Suggested course for students coming back from a study abroad stay in France or students interested in going abroad in a francophone country and interested in CCI issues.