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Week Eight: Charlie Chaplin and the Hollywood Movie Star Films : The Champion (Charles Chaplin, 1915) The Cure (Charles Chaplin, 1917) City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931) Reading Due : 1.      “Classical Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction” (TSCR) 2.      Charles J. Maland, “A Star is Born: American Culture and the Dynamics of Charlie Chaplin’s Star Image, 1913-1916” (TSCR) 3.      Peter Kramer, “The Making of a Comic Star: Buster Keaton and The Saphead (1920)” (TSCR) For our first film  The Champion  (Charles Chaplin, 1915), the first thing I noticed was how odd it looked being in color. From a distance, it almost looks like the visuals are animated because of how unnatural it looks. Overall, all the films are very comical and simple to follow so I can see why they did so well. With regards to the star system, I am most familiar with the story of the famous movie star Rock Hudson, who was very d...

Films : I Was Born But… ( Yasujiro Ozu, 1932) The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903) Reading Due : 1.      Charles Musser, “Moving Towards Fictional Narratives: Story Films Become the Dominant Product, 1903-1904” (TSCR) 2.      “Film Form: Genre and Narrative” (EC) In the past weeks when I would attempt to watch the longer, more narrative-based silent films, I really struggled with being able to follow the story. This week with  I Was Born But…  ( Yasujiro Ozu, 1932), I found myself much more invested in the story and I found it easier to follow as well. I think what really did for me was how invested I got into the family dynamic of the film. Being Asian myself, I was able to relate to some of the arguments between the children and the father, the struggles of having to move to a new place, the innocence of childhood, etc. Even to non-Asian viewers, the relationship between the children and the father and the re...

Film :  Within Our Gates (Oscar Micheaux, 1920) The Birth of a Nation . (D.W. Griffith, 1915) Breaking Home Ties (Frank N. Seltzer, 1922) Reading Due : 1. “Feature Films and Cinema Programs: Introduction” (pages 187-196 in  The Silent Cinema Reader  ) 2. Linda Williams. “Race, Melodrama, and The Birth of a Nation” (pages 242-253 in  The Silent Cinema Reader  ) This week we were introduced to films created by a more diverse group of filmmakers. With the film for this week,  Within Our Gates , it was created by an independent African American studio but we see other inspirations to films such as from Asian and Yiddish influence. While this added to the diversity in the film industry, Hollywood still had a long way to go in terms of being inclusive. Coincidentally, while I was doing the readings for this week, I was also watching this new Netflix show called Hollywood. The events of the show take place post WW2 and incorporate some true e...

Films : Les Vampires Episodes 1 & 2 (Louis Feuillade, 1915) The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903,) The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (Enoch J. Rector, 1897) The Perils of Pauline (Louis J. Gasnier, 1914) Reading Due : 1. Shelley Stamp “An Awful Struggle Between Love and Ambition: Serial Heroines, Serial Stars and Their Female Fans” (pages 210-225 in  The Silent Cinema Reader) 2. Richard Abel “Pathe Goes to Town: French Films Create a Market for the Nickelodeon” (pages 103-118 in  The Silent Cinema Reader)  3. Ben Singer “Manhattan Nickelodeons: New Data on Audiences and Exhibition” (pages 119-134 in  The Silent Cinema Reader ) I found this week's readings and films very empowering as we transition into talking about how women are portrayed in film. Since the 1900s, women in film have definitely progressed out of stereotypical roles and are being cast roles outside of maids and being a wife to a man. In the Shelley Stamp reading, ...