April 16, 23; May 7, 14, 21, 28; June 4, 11, 18, 25; July 2, 9, 16.

Welcome to class!

-- for notes on previous classes, click on the calendar bar above. Our most recent class was April 23.

About the class in general
I am very glad to be able to teach the movies class at Sophia Community College. One aim of the class is to introduce movies that are not well-known; in addition we learn how to "read a film" and discuss the cultural and literary implications of the text and film.

I plan to spend a short time each class on the book, either fielding questions from the students or pointing out a particulary impressive section. Most of the classtime will be spent watching and discussing the movie. We'll watch about 10 minutes each week, and we will have classwide/small group discussion on almost every scene.

About The Maltese Falcon
OK, this is a pretty famous movie / book. Usually we use less well known movies / books. But The Maltese Falcon is a great film and a really great book that will repay close study. What I especially like about the movie is how the action progresses from one scene to the next, from one situation to a dialogue statement or facial expression. There is a lot of communication going on below the surface.

The book likewise rewards close reading, as one can more deeply understand what happens when one thinks carefully about "Why did he do that?", "Why did he say that?", "Why did he go there?", and so on. All of the unstated connections between what people do and say, and what they think and what they say, are great to explore in the book.

The Maltese Falcon is interesting for many other reasons too. It is the first classic film noir, which means that it has a rather unsympathetic "hero", lots of shady characters, and nothing is as it appears. As for the film itself, it has anti-traditional lighting and camera angles which support the instability and "darkness" of the film noir.

Text

The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett.

Amazon.com has a lot of reader reviews about the book; The edition that we will use in class is the one pictured to the left (The Maltese Falcon, Vintage Crime, ISBN 0679722645). You can buy it from Amazon.jp (currently ¥1,085), at a local bookstore or ask me to order it for you.

If you like this book, I recommend that you get the Library of America edition of Hammett's novels. All of his novels are collected in a gorgeous book. It is not too expensive, either (just over ¥3,000). In any case, it is available at Amazon.jp.

I have read the Maltese Falcon several times, and I appreciate it better each time. I think you will like it too.

Movies Class
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