Films:
Six films will be required viewing for this course. These represent nearly a century of images of the South in Popular Culture, and we will use them to investigate some persistent southern "types" and also some of the ways these types have evolved. Because these films are works of art in themselves, it seems fairer to me to present them in their entirety as single units, which means that they cannot be shown in the normal class time. Consequently, I'll be showing them on Monday Evenings as part of the Penny Arcade Series. If you cannot see them during the scheduled presentations, you will be responsible for viewing them on your own. Roger Williams University owns them all, and the can be viewed in the Library. The films are:
First, let me emphasize that we’re going to use all these books simultaneously, so buy them at the course’s outset. Two of them, Dixie Rising and The Mind of the South, we’ll read in their entirety, while a third, The Burden of Southern History, we’ll read selectively. These three are all books of interpretation. The fourth, Literature of the American South (including its audio companion) is an anthology of a wide variety of different kinds of sources: essays, short stories, poems, songs, and the like. We’ll use selections from it as confirming (and challenging) evidence for the assertions made in the other three. I expect we’ll read something between a third and half of it, and we may not all read the same things.
As we read the first three we’ll have to do two things: First, we will need to keep in mind that each of these books is complete unto itself, and deserves to be considered and evaluated as a major intellectual effort. This is especially true of Dixie Rising and The Mind of the South. The Burden of Southern History is a little different, in that it is a collection of essays written by perhaps the most distinguished student of Southern History in the last half of the twentieth century. These essays appeared across Vann Woodward’s professional career, and each is complete in itself. Together, they mark the evolving thought of a person who tried to understand the South his entire life. Second, we will need to juxtapose the ideas from each of these books, striving to create a synthesis of them as we create our own interpretations of the South in American Culture. In other words, we will need to make these three sources speak to each other so we can listen in on the conversation.
You’ll be required to write a paper analyzing changes in the images of certain “types” associated with the southern region: types such as the “chivalry” and the “redneck” or “cracker”. I’ll distribute further instructions about this project shortly before we see “Birth of a Nation,” but generally I’m looking for your understanding of the images of Southern Culture each film portrays. You will note that the films are presented in chronological order and we’ll be looking at how portrayals have changed across the years. We will want to see what is transient and what is enduring in images of Southern character. You will want to work on this project when the films are fresh in your mind, and not wait till the last minute to do it, thought he due date won’t be until the end of the semester. This paper will be due the date of the Final Examination. You will want to begin working on it much earlier, however, and work on it from time to time as the films are shown.
Generally speaking, the project will center on one of the “Major Problems” presented in the texts, or on some unique cultural product of the south (southern folklore, for example). Persons will be able to choose which topics they wish to investigate. Projects can take a number of different forms, and may be either the work of individuals or small groups. The last time I offered this course a significant number of the class decided to cook, and we had a most enjoyable meal together during the final exam period. Another of my students traveled south during Spring Break, working on a project to build houses for the homeless in Mississippi and wrote up his impressions of the town in which he worked. Whatever form the project takes it will encourage you to move beyond the materials in the texts using materials available through the Internet. Projects will be presented to the class.
