ENGL /IRSH 3473 Course title: Irish Film II
Course description: In this course students will study native Irish culture and the culture of the Diaspora through the medium of film.
Instructor Information
Name: Dr. Stewart Donovan
Email: sdonovan@stu.ca
Contact: Students can contact me at any time either by email or through Microsoft Teams chat or video ( I do not use Moodle)
Office location: 305 Edmund Casey Hall Phone: 452-0426
Textbooks Selected readings on-line.
Course Requirements
Students have a choice of two essays 30% each or one essay 20% and a journal for 40%. Final exam at home open book essay 40%
Topics for your first paper include: “High Art meets the masses: adapting Irish literature to the screen”. Students may also choose four or more feature films post 1982 and discuss their treatment of Irish subjects. There are two deadlines for your papers: Your first paper is due on February 10, your second paper on the last day of class. If you choose to do a journal you may send me entries for comments at any time. The complete journal is due at the end of classes in April.
Journal
A more informal style of writing, your journal should record notes from class, conversations with fellow students, family, friends et. al. about Irish cinema and its cultural impact. The journal/notebook should also highlight research you have been doing: reading and viewing you will have done in the library or on the net. This is the independent learning section of the course. You should try to write/ compose at least two entries per week. The length of these entries depends on what you have to say and on your writing skills, but try to avoid point form. Set a goal of one to two pages per week. Remember that the journal is also a writing and communicating exercise. Your journal is due on the last day of class but you may consult me about your entries at any time. Note: students can book appointments online with the staff at our writing centre. Course Requirements: Topics for your second essay include: “The films of Jim Sheridan: from My Left Foot to The Boxer;” "Neil Jordan as Auteur”;” “The Troubles of Northern Ireland”. “Irish identity and Irish modernism: seeking subjects in the post-national state.” “Beyond Ethnicity: Ireland, Europe and the Urban World.” This essay is due on the last day of class.Lesson I
Neil Jordan, Ireland's most consequential artist. Mona Lisa in London. The Legacy of John Boorman in Wicklow.
Lesson II
Jim Sheridan’sThe Field with Richard Harris and Sean BeanReadings: John B Keane’s play “The Field” Representing the Irish Famine.
Lesson III
Jim Sheridan’s My Left Foot with Daniel Day Lewis
Readings:Down All the Days by Christy BrownReadings: Kevin Rockett, Luke Gibbon and John Hill, Cinema in Ireland.Lesson IV
Jim Sheridan’s In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day Lewis
Lesson V Black 47Lesson VI Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto
Readings: Patrick McCabe’s Breakfast on PlutoLesson VII The Wind that Shakes the Barley by Ken Loach
Lesson VIII Roddie Doyle on screen: The Commitments, The Van and The Snapper