M-F, 1:10 PM-2:25 PM, SY 0013
Required film screenings: M and W, 7:00 PM-10:00 PM , BH 228

Fulfills COLL A&H Requirement

Instructor: Seth Friedman
E-Mail: seafried@indiana.edu
Office: Mottier Hall 255
Phone: 855-0844

Since the early 1990s, there has been a spate of Hollywood films
such as The Sixth Sense (1999), The Usual Suspects (1995), and Fight
Club (1999), which are renowned for their surprise endings. All
these films possess a similar narrative structure; they each contain
a revelation that encourages spectators to reinterpret
retrospectively all that has come before. Although these films can
be identified as belonging to other pre-existing industrially
recognized genres, this class will take the approach that they are
more appropriately categorized as constituents of the “misdirection”
genre. This is because the narrative epiphany is the most
consistently referenced feature whenever people speak or write about
these films, regardless of the ways that the studios package them.
This course will examine what it is about these films that make
various communities approach them differently than they do other
Hollywood films. We will analyze the ways that the films are
formally constructed in a manner that distinguishes them from and
makes them similar to other Hollywood films. Specifically, we will
study how the narratives of these films are constructed to exploit
the familiarity that particular interpretive communities have with
the codes and conventions of Hollywood cinema.

Although an examination of form is integral to understanding the
specificities of the misdirection film, this course is not solely
devoted to the study of narrative construction and comprehension.
Instead, we will spend most of our time investigating the reasons
why this particular narrative mode has proliferated in the U.S. over
the past two decades. It is significant that U.S. audiences have
been drawn to films that demand greater interpretive work than what
is typically needed to decipher the standard Hollywood fare. To
address this apparent paradox, we will determine what connection the
misdirection narrative has to contemporary U.S. culture. We will
examine questions such as: Do films and other symbolic forms have a
direct relationship to the culture in which they are produced and
consumed? What can the popularity of these films tell us about the
acceptability of different methods of interpretation at particular
moments in time? How do communities form from interpretive
practices? What can these films tell us about contemporary racial
and gender politics in the U.S.? What connection do these films have
to the development of new home-viewing technologies and other recent
changes in the U.S. media industries?

Assessment will be based on: attendance and active participation,
short response papers, as well as a midterm and a final exam.

Readings will include works by: Rick Altman, David Bordwell, Susan
Faludi, Mark Fenster, Erving Goffman, O. Henry, Lisa Kernan, Geoff
King, Barbara Klinger, Jason Mittell, Dorit Naaman, James Naremore,
Ray Pratt, Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, Linda Williams, and
others.

Films will include: Arlington Road (1999), Fight Club, Jacob’s
Ladder (1990), Magnolia (1999), Memento (2000), Mulholland Drive
(2001), Primal Fear (1996), Psycho (1960), The Shining (1980), The
Sixth Sense, 12 Monkeys (1995), Unbreakable (2000), The Usual
Suspects, The Village (2004), and others.