The City in Film
Surveys important developments in urbanism from 1900 to the present, using film as a lens to explore and interpret aspects of the urban experience in the US and abroad. Topics include industrialization, demographics, diversity, the environment, and the relationship between the community and the individual. Films vary from year to year but always include a balance of classics from the history of film, an occasional experimental/avant-garde film, and a number of more recent, mainstream movies. Students taking undergraduate version complete writing assignments that focus on observation, analysis, and the essay, and give an oral presentation. Limited to 18.
Spring 2015
Using film as a lens to explore and interpret various aspects of the urban experience in both the U.S. and abroad, this course presents a survey of important developments in urbanism from 1900 to the present day, including changes in technology, bureaucracy, and industrialization; immigration and national identity; race, class, gender, and economic inequality; politics, conformity, and urban anomie; and planning, development, private property, displacement, sprawl, environmental degradation, and suburbanization.
Readings
- [TC] = Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film . 9th ed. Longman, 2014. ISBN: 9780321965240.
- † Davis, Kingsley. “The Urbanization of the Human Population.” In The City Reader . 4th ed. Edited by Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout. Routledge, 2007, pp. 17–26.
- Wells, H. G. “Mr. Wells Reviews a Current Film.” In Fritz Lang’s Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear . Edited by Michael Minden and Holger Bachmann. Camden House, 2000, pp. 94–100. ISBN: 9781571131225.
- Bunel, Luis. “Metropolis.” In Fritz Lang’s Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear . Edited by Michael Minden and Holger Bachmann. Camden House, 2000, pp. 106–8. ISBN: 9781571131225.
- [TC] Chapter 1.
- Read an in-depth critical review of a film you’ve seen, ideally one related to the some of topics we’ll be covering in this course. Good sources include The New York Times and The New Yorker, or something from Lopate (2006) (on reserve at the library).
- [TC] Chapter 2.
- † Wirth, Louis. “Urbanism as a Way of Life.” In The City Reader . 4th ed. Edited by Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout. Routledge, 2007, pp. 90–97.
- [TC] Chapter 3.
- Mellen, Joan. Modern Times . British Film Institute, 2006, pp. 22–68. ISBN: 9781844571222.
- [TC] Chapter 4.
- Gordon, Robert S. C. “Cities” and “Communities”. Chapters 5–6 in Bicycle Thieves . British Film Institute, 2008. ISBN: 9781844572380.
- [TC] Chapter 5.
- Weegee. Naked City . Essential Books, 1945.
- [TC] Chapter 6.
- † Lewis, Oscar. La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty—San Juan and New York . Vintage, 1966. [Excerpts]
- † Padilla, Ellen. “Race Relations: A Puerto Rican View.” Chapter 3 in The City in the Seventies . Edited by Robert K. Yin. F. E. Peacock Publishers, Incorporation, 1972.
- † Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities . Random House, 1961, pp. 50–54.
- † Milgram, Stanley. “The Experience of Living in Cities.” Chapter 36 in The City in the Seventies . Edited by Robert K. Yin. F. E. Peacock Publishers, Incorporation, 1972, pp. 250–59.
- † Jenkins, Henry. “Looking at the City in the Matrix Franchise.” Chapter 13 in Cities in Transition: The Moving Image and the Modern Metropolis . Edited by Andrew Webber and Emma Wilson. Wallflower Press, 2008.
- Bukatman, Scott. Blade Runner . British Film Institute, 1997, pp. 42–63.
- Davis, Mike. Beyond Blade Runner: Urban Control–the Ecology of Fear . Open Magazine Pamphlet Series, 1992.
- † Debord, Guy. “Theory of the D’erive.” In Situationist International Anthology . Edited by Ken Knabb. Bureau of Public Secrets, 2006, pp. 62–66. ISBN: 9780939682041.
Prerequisites & course information
Subject meets with 11.239 Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Spring) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 2-2-5 units. HASS-H; CI-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2015
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.