Syllabus

james r. elkins

 

The instructor for "Lawyers and Film" is James R. Elkins. My office is located at Rm. 110. My secretary, Karen Feather, is located in Rm. 117. The best way to reach me is by email.

There is a single required text for use in the course: Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting (New York: ReganBooks, 1997).

I highly recommend, as supplemental reading, any and all of the following: James Bonnet, Stealing the Fire From the Gods (1999); Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (2nd ed., 1998); Will Wright, Sixguns & Society: A Structural Study of the Western (1975); Tim Bywater & Thomas Sobchack, Introduction to Film Criticism: Major Critical Approaches to Narrative Film (1989).

The reading assignments from Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting (New York: ReganBooks, 1997), the course website, and the web more generally will be found on the course website: http://myweb.wvnet.edu/~jelkins/film04/

You should throughly familiarize yourself with the course website, read all posted assignments, and review the announcements page each week. After assignments are completed, the assignment will be moved from the assignments page to an assignments archives page (announcements will also be moved to an announcements archives page).

For an explanation of the films to be viewed in the course (with some possible minor variation), the rationale for their selection, strategies for reading and understanding the films you will watch during the course, see James R. Elkins, Reading/Teaching Lawyer Films, 28 Vt. L. Rev. 813 (2004)(the article is, in substantial part, presented on the course website). [Full text of the Elkins article][A condensed version of the Vermont Law Review essay and the website commentary was published in 35 (1) Les Cahiers de l’APLIUT 8 (2006)[on-line text]

During the course of the semester, if you have questions about the films we watch, tge class discussion of the films, the reading assignments, the methods/goals/purposes of the course and selected films (all of which are addressed in "Reading/Teaching Lawyer Films"), or your writing for the course, you are welcome and encouraged to raise them with the instructor. You can see me before class, after class, or email me, or schedule an appointment. I will generally be in my office before the screening of films, and on Friday, both before and after our class discussion.

Writing about lawyer films may not be nearly so easy as you might assume. Consequently, you should begin your course writing early so you can shape (and improve the writing) as we proceed.

Class attendance is required. I reserve the right to make an appropriate downward adjustment in the grade, or, following appropriate College of Law policies, to drop any student from the course who fails to attend class.

If you are unable to attend class because of the weather--a real possibility in a spring semester course--you should inform me that you will be unable to attend, make arrangements to view the film you miss, and schedule a time to talk with me about the film.

Your grade for the course will be determined on the basis of a "course writing" or portfolio of writings. While class participation and class discussion is important, encouraged, and a vital part of the course, I will not attempt to evaluate your in-class participation and assign it a value in determining your grade. If you have questions or concerns about how to proceed with the course writing--as I expect you will--then those questions should be raised early in the course.