Middle Tennessee State University
Social Work Department
S.W. 4150 -03 God's Hollywood: Movies About Spirituality
Summer 2005, Session IV, July 11- August 13, MTWR 10:10am-12:30pm This is an Internet based course and it does not meet during these hours. The hours are left on the syllabus to give you a general idea of how many hours you should be watching movies and discussing the material for this course.
Professor: Dr. Charles Frost Office PH 309. During July and August Dr. Frost will be in the Philippines and not available in his office. . If you need to reach him but are unable to do so by e-mail, contact his secretary, Dian White, at 898-2868 or at dlwhite@mtsu.edu as he is in regular contact with her.
Office Hours: only via e-mail at cfrost@mtsu.edu
Course Description:
This course will examine films that depict various religions and spiritual issues. You will watch films, discuss the films, do experiential exercises that will help you understand and appreciate the messages of the films, and write papers discussing what you have learned from the films and how you can utilize this knowledge in your effort to better understand yourself and other people and how we all relate to one another spiritually.
This course is part of the film studies minor. It is important to observe that this is not a course focused on studying film-making techniques or evolutions in the film-making industry. This is a social work course designed to help refine your thinking and knowledge of how human beings behave and why they relate the way they do to one another in a variety of social settings. Films are used to help you develop this understanding.
Course Objectives:
This course is all about developing your critical thinking skills. The objectives of this course are to enhance your self-awareness regarding: (a) how films have influenced the way you think about spiritual issues, (b) how you can utilize these influences effectively in relating with others, and (c) how you can take a proactive role in changing the way society and Hollywood view spiritual issues.
Course Requirements and Assignments:
1. Attendance Policy: This is an Internet based course that requires that you regularly contact the instructor and other class members in order to discuss the course material. If you fail to respond to the questions posed via e-mail, that is the same as being absent from the class and you will have one point deducted from your grade for every time you fail to respond. You are to use your MTSU e-mail account, not your personal account, in keeping in touch with Dr. Frost.
2. Textbook and Readings: Your textbook is The New American Spirituality by Elizabeth Lesser. In addition you will read the handouts and websites attached to this syllabus. You will be required to explore the Internet related to the course topic and share your findings with your classmates. Additionally, you will read at least one of the books on which a movie was based such as The Last Temptation of Christ by Kazanzakis or Meetings with Remarkable Men by Gurdjieff.
3. Grading:
100-90points=A 89-80=B 79-70=C 69-60=D 59 or below = F
4. Assignments:
You will submit, via e-mail, six short papers discussing what you have learned from the films and how you can utilize this knowledge in your effort to better understand yourself and other people. You will have a major paper dealing with the same concerns but focusing on the book and movie that you have selected to concentrate upon. You will have an examination covering the readings attached to the syllabus. You will not be tested on the course textbook as this is an optional resource for your use.
Each of the small papers is worth up to 10 points, the large paper is worth up to 30 points, and the test is worth up to 10 points for a total of 100 points.
Class due dates: You have twelve class sessions and twelve movies to watch. So this is a rather tight schedule. Start reading the material on my website right away. As soon as you watch a film or two, sit down at the computer and type up a one page reaction paper and email that to me at cfrost@mtsu.edu. Remember you have only six short reaction papers, so you may want to talk about more than one film per paper. You must write about all twelve movies that you watch. I have deliberately not set any due dates and not told you what order to watch the movies in so that you have flexibility---however, it is very important that you begin the process at the start of this summer session and complete it by the end of the session.
Any students needing to make arrangements for special considerations in graded assignments due to disabilities, including learning disabilities, are encouraged to discuss these arrangements with the instructor.
Course Topics:
The course will help you begin to think critically about the movies that you watch. As Drs. Linda Elder and Richard Paul have stated: "Most people don't develop their thinking. One way to put this point is to say that most people do not know how to discipline their thinking. Most of their ideas about the world have come into their minds without their having thought about them. They unconsciously pick up what the people around them think. They unconsciously pick up what is on television or in the movies. They unconsciously absorb ideas from the family they were raised in. They are the products, through and through, of forces they did not choose. They reflect those forces without understanding them."
"To become a critical thinker is to reverse the process, by learning to practice skills that enable one to start to take charge of the ideas one has about the world. It is to think consciously and deliberately and skillfully about that world. It is to begin to remake one's own mind. It is to develop a mind that is analogous to the body of a person that is physically fit. It is like a puppet that discovers the strings, and figures out how to gain control of the way they are pulled."
The papers you write should reflect this beginning skill at critical thinking. Below you will find a student paper that will give you an example of how your papers should reflect the content of this course and your newly developing skills at critical thinking related to the movies you consume.
The movies that you will watch that will help you develop your critical thinking skills and apply them to the realms of religion and spirituality are:
Brother Sun, Sister Moon; Elmer Gantry, Defending Your Life, The Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Mission, The Apostle, Gandhi, All that Jazz, Hamlet, The Crucible, and The Sixth Sense. These movies are all on reserve at the MTSU Learning Resource Center. However, if you would prefer, you can also go to your local movie rental store and, therefore, you can even take the course from a distant location without having to come onto campus.
The above are the core required movies. However, other movies are on reserve at the Learning Resource Center and additional non-fiction videotapes are also on reserve that will assist you in your learning.
Listed below are the readings and websites for this course. Any underlined
and highlighted item, when clicked upon, will take you to the attached reading
or website. Every required movie that you watch has one or more readings.
It is recommended that you read the handout before you watch the movie.
Remember that you are expected to read ALL of the handouts, not just
the ones related to the movies you watch.
Spong
Cinema
Therapy
Sacrifices
St. Francis
St. Francis
#2
Brother Sun,
Sister Moon
Brother Sun,
Sister Moon: Lessons from the movie
Jesus Christ
Superstar
Jesus Christ
Superstar #2
Inherit the Wind (Scope's Trial)
Near Death
Experiences
American Film
Institute’s 100 Greatest Films
Movie-Made
America
Gandhi
#2
The Sixth
Sense
Meetings With
Remarkable Men
God's Role in
Death and Dying
Defending
Your Life #2
The Last Wave
#2
Ben-Hur
What If . . .
?
All That
Jazz #2
Carlos
Castaneda
God's
Hollywood
Bats, Birds, You,
and Me
God's Hollywood:
Video Index
God and the
Evolving Universe
Holy
Smoke
The Influence
of Foreign Films
Scorsese and
DeNiro
Overview:
Understanding Hollywood
John Keats
Gerard Manley
Hopkins
Thomas Henry
Huxley
Sayings To
Live By
Francis
Thompson
William
Blake
I Corinthians
13
Thomas
Hardy
Elmer Gantry
#3
Trust and Robert
Redford
Buddha
Mary
Daly
Lau-Tzu
Simone
Weil
Saint
Augustine
Altered
States
Advanced
Cinematherapy
The Philosophical
Challenge of Religious Diversity
The Integrative
Helper: Convergence of Eastern and Western Traditions
God's Hollywood
Final Exam
Habitat for
Humanity
The Soul’s
Code
The
Pianist
Protestant
Pulp
Fiction
Sophocles
Messages from
the Masters: Tapping into the Power of Love
The Destructive
Power of Religion
Beyond
Belief
Boss Danding
Death, Society,
and Human Experience
The Devils
Gulliver’s
Travels
The Last of
the Mohicans
Robinson
Crusoe
Simon Birch
The Decalogue
Bibliography:
Chesterton, G.K. Saint Francis of Assisi. Image Books: N.Y., 1924.
Delaney, John J. Dictionary of Saints. Image Books: N.Y., 1980.
Ebert, Roger. The Great Movies. Broadway Books: N.Y., 2002.
Faiver, Christopher, Ingersoll, R.Elliott, O'Brien, Eugene, & McNally, Christopher. Explorations in Counselling and Spirituality. Brooks/Cole: Pacific Grove, CA, 2001.
Filkin, David. Stephen Hawking's Universe. Basic Books: N.Y., 1997.
Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. Knopf: N.Y., 1923.
Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia (Fourth Edition). Harper Collins: N.Y., 2001.
Lao, D. C. (translator). Lao tzu. Penguin: N.Y., 1963.
Lesser, Elizabeth. The New American Spirituality. Random House: N.Y., 1999.
Merton, Thomas. The Silent Life. Noonday Press: N.Y., 1957.
Naparstek, Belleruth. Staying Well with Guided Imagery. Warner Books: N.Y., 1994.
Peck, M. Scott. The Road Less Traveled. Touchstone: N.Y., 1978.
Spong, John Shelby. Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Harper: S.F., 1998.
Sklar, Robert. Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies. Vintage Books: N.Y., 1994.
VanHook, Mary, Hyugen, Beryl & Aguilar, Marian. Spirituality with Religious Traditions in Social Work Practice. Brooks/Cole: Pacific Grove, CA, 2001.