Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Theatre 597

Teaching the capstone course in censorship again; here's the syllabus; some 70 students are enrolled. I warn them that we will all be shocked during the course of the quarter-- some of us once or twice, others of us continuously.

Theatre 597: Issues of the Contemporary World:
Censorship as an Instrument of Public/Private Policy


5 cr hrs. U/G. Autumn 2010 TR 1:30-3:18 p.m. Parks Hall 0111
Lecturer: Dr. Alan Woods
1104 Drake Performance and Event Center 292-8238 woods.1@osu.edu Office hours: M 12:00 p.m. -1:00:p.m., T 11:00 a.m.– 12:00 p.m.
and by appointment
Instructors: Matthew Vadnais discussion section meets in University Hall 0086
Vadnais.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Office hours: TBA
Ian Pugh discussion section meets in Baker Systems Engineering 0198
Pugh.104@buckeyemail.osu.ed
Office hours: TBA

Prerequisite: Senior Standing. GEC contemporary world course. Not available for graduate credit for graduate students in the Department of Theatre.

Course Description:
Exploration of the ways in which censorship has been employed by governmental groups in both western and Asian societies as an instrument of public policy, or in response to pressure groups within those societies.

Course Objectives
:
1. To discover how different contemporary societies perceive the role of government in controlling what information citizens can freely access

2. To study the interaction between cultures with differing (and often mutually exclusive) societal value systems

3. To explore the ways in which the cultures of contemporary societies have become interdependent, and some of the stresses that interdependence creates

4. To give students the opportunity to gain a richer comprehension of issues of censorship and governmental control in the contemporary world.

Background Statement:
As culture becomes global, one response has been an increasing nationalism, often expressed in efforts by governmental bodies to control or shape information. Those efforts frequently result in censorship (whether overt or covert), often justified on moral, cultural, political, or educational grounds. Worries about secular Western influences in fundamentalist Islamic countries which led to the banning of cable television in Iran, the concern about the imposition of American sexual freedom on Chinese youth which caused the Chinese government to ban a production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, a Wisconsin superintendent cancelling the musical Urinetown to protect student morals, or efforts to block pornographic websites (defined in radically diverse ways) in American libraries, schools and homes--all are recent manifestations of beliefs that governments must regulate expression. However justified, such efforts often are met with fierce resistance and at least some measure of public debate. The course will explore selected examples of censorship, or attempts to establish censorship, in a variety of western and eastern cultures, to examine the issues that such efforts expose.

Course Requirements:
Each student will write a personal manifesto regarding his/her own response to the larger issue of the role of government in regulating information; the draft manifesto is due October 7th, and the final version will be submitted December 2nd.
Small research teams of 5-6 students each will explore specific cases of censorship. The explorations will result in classroom presentations, a written report, and an annotated bibliography. Written reports may be submitted in whatever format best serves the material; however, the format must be approved by November 23rd. The final report is due by December 7th.
Research teams may explore any of the following cases of censorship or attempted censorship; other cases may be chosen with permission of the instructor:

SEX ON STAGE AND IN PRINT:
Apple Stores and Ninjawords, 2009
Gay Mormons
RELIGION ON STAGE AND IN ART:
Jerry Springer, The Opera, on stage and television, 2003-2007
Chocolate Jesus in New York, 2007
Pike Theatre, Dublin, Tennessee Williams, and the Roman Catholic Church, 1956
The War on Christmas, annually
Yale University Press and The Cartoons That Shook the World, 2009
POLITICS
Murray Hill for Congress, 2010
Wal-Mart: what to call the biggest shopping period of the year and who will be offended by doing so
Porgy and Bess and cultural diplomacy, Europe and the Soviet Union, 1952-56.
Texas representative asks Asian-Americans to change their names to “easier ones for Americans to pronounce”
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” controversy continues
KEEPING PUBLIC SPACES NEUTRAL
Colorado bans smoking in theatrical performances, 2009
Venus on the London Underground and elsewhere, 2008
Hebron painting banned in Temecula, 2009
Wonder Woman on tour
The “Ground Zero Mosque” 2010
Target Stores targeted
EDUCATIONAL CENSORSHIP
Rent in Corona del Mar, 2009
Political Tee Shirt ban upheld in Texas, 2009
Band Tee Shirts banned in Sedalia, Missouri, 2009
“Bastard Files” banned in Louisville, 2010
Classroom movie policy, Marysville, Ohio, 2010
Washington School bans “Emperor’s New Clothes” 2009
“Snow White” text altered to delete offensive references, Washington, 2010
No Pornography banned by Calvin College, 2010
KEEPING THE AIRWAVES NEUTRAL
Dr. Laura: censorable or merely clueless?
Andrew Breitbart/Keith Olbermann/Rachel Maddow/Stephanie Miller//Glenn Beck/Jon Stewart/Ann Coulter: pull the plug?
Google and China
“Adult services” on social networks sites

Each student will also evaluate other members of the research team, covering such elements as timeliness of contributions, ability to accomplish assignments, the usefulness of contributions, value of contribution to the overall project, willingness to participate in group project.
Each student will also evaluate six presentations by other research teams, research team presentation evaluations are due no later than one week following the presentation.
Production evaluations: each student will evaluate one of the following Department of Theatre productions, analyzing which aspects of the production might or have caused efforts to censor performances. One evaluation is required; additional evaluations may be submitted for additional credit (requires permission of recitation instructor in advance). Productions include: On The Shore of the Wide World by Simon Stephens, performed in the Roy Bowen Theater, Drake Center, November 4th through 16th; Aida by Elton John, Time Rice, Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, performed at the Southern Theatre November 18th through the 21st. Ticket information will be distributed in class.
Guidelines for all evaluations are available on Carmen.

Bibliography:
Alpert, Hollis. The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess: the Story of An American Classic. New York: Knopd, 1990.

Angelou, Maya. Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas. New York: Random House, 1976.

Barish, Jonas. The Anti-Theatrical Prejudice. Berkeley: U of California P, 1981.
Bolton, Richard, ed. Culture Wars: Documents from the Recent Controversies in the Arts. New York: New Press, 1992.

Hamilton, Marybeth. When I’m Bad, I’m Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
Heins, Marjorie. Not In Front of the Children : "Indecency," Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth. New York : Hill and Wang, 2001.

Hunter, James Davison. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. New York: Basic Books, 1991.

West, Mae. Three Plays by Mae West, ed. Lillian Schlissel. New York : Routledge, 1997.

Individual students will also write a peer evaluation of their colleagues on the research team, covering such elements as timeliness of contributions, ability to accomplish assignments, the usefulness of contributions, value of contribution to the overall project, willingness to participate in group project. Each student will also evaluate six presentations by other research teams.

Attendance Policy
:
Attendance is expected, and will be taken. Missing more than two class sessions will result in the loss of ten points. Each session missed after two will result in an additional ten point loss.

Additional Course Guidelines:
1. All written work must be submitted in processed form or via e-mail. Handwritten work will not be accepted.

2. Course material will be available online on Carmen, via the course webpage.

Texts:
General texts will be available online on Carmen, on the course webpage; hard copies will be available on reserve through the Ohio State University Libraries.
Research projects will require the use of primary source materials which may have limited availability, due to their nature. The types of research materials each topic entails, and their availability, will be made clear at the beginning of the term.

Grading Scale
:
Your grade will be based on a combination of the following:
Midterm examination: 30 points
research project oral report: 41 points
research project written report: 45 points
research project annotated bibliography: 10 points

peer evaluations: 10 points
play production evaluation: 10 points

personal manifesto: preliminary draft 10 points

personal manifesto: final version 15 points

Evaluations of research teams: 6 @ 4 points 24 points
Atttendance: 5 points
TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS: 200
Grading Points:
A 185 and above A- 180-184 B+ 174-179
B 166-173 B- 160-165 C+ 154-159
C 146-153 C- 140-145 D+ 130-139 D 120-129 E 119 and below
Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact the Office for Disability Services at 614-292-3307 in room 150 Pomerene Hall to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Fax: (614) 292-4190 TDD: (614) 292-0901 Email: ods@studentlife.osu.edu.

This syllabus is available in alternative formats upon request.
USG ESCORT SERVICE: 292-3322. http://www.ps.ohio-state.edu/sss/escort_info/
Class Schedule:
R 9/23: backgrounds: definitions of types of censorship, discussion of reasons for efforts to censor; governmental and public policy issues.
T 9/28: governmental and public policy issues; have read Hunter, introduction; Bolton, Chapter 1;.
R 9/30: the impact of public media; have read Heins, Conclusion.
T 10/5: history of censorship in the west, Classic through early Medieval periods; formation of research teams; assignment of research project topics; Barish, chapters 1-3
R 10/7: discussion; Barish, chapter 4. Personal manifesto preliminary draft due.
T 10/12: history of censorship in the west, Medieval through Renaissance periods
R 10/14: discussion
T 10/19: history of censorship in the west, post Renaissance
R 10/21: discussion
T 10/26: censorship in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; have read Hunter, Prologue
R 10/28: Midterm examination
T 11/2: history of censorship in the east; nationalism, cultural/class identity.
R 11/4: discussion
T 11/9: case study: Mae West. Have read West: Sex, The Drag.
R 11/11 Veterans’ Day celebrated; no class
T 11/16: case studies: the Lord Chamberlain in England, 1747-1968; Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union.
R 11/18: discussion
T 11/23: case study: the Motion Picture Code in the United States, 1934-1955, final report format approval by this date.
R 11/25: Thanksgiving Day. No class. Eat too much.
T 11/30 censorship in the present: what buttons are now being pushed? Play production evaluations due.
R 12/2:. Discussion; personal manifesto final version due
T 12/7: final reports submitted or mounted on webpage
R 12/9: 3:30 p.m. Final Examination scheduled; peer evaluations due

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