Lets put things in context of the semester. We're about to come back from spring break. Major assignments are getting handed back (I am working on the pile of grading inbetween breaks to prep). I'm making lists of things to talk to students about regarding their essay writing. We've done a good chunk of work on the technical aspects of film and how they relate to the viewing experience.
Now, musicals. I've structured the course in the past to be roughly along the lines of Barsam and Monahan's textbook Looking at Movies, but this semester I've added some things in that I really want to talk about but don't ever get to. We're going to look at musicals and musical theater (this course is crosslisted as theater...), then academic and popular criticism, then some film history at the end.
We're going to look at a bit of Turandot first. We're going to talk about the connections between opera and musical theater - the difference between high art, low art, and even lower art (film). My copy of Turandot was filmed in the Forbidden City of Beijing, and is a fantastic look at the intersection of art, history, and performance.
Why musicals? Why do some people hate them so much? What can you do in a musical that doesn't make sense in a straight film? What's with Baz Lurhman? Does his cinematography help or hinder the telling of the story? Are jukebox musicals effective?
How does the music tell the story?
Alex
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