Spring 2010

GOV 370L • Politics of Hollywood

Course Description

Purposes of This Class 1. To help students become scholars about the politics of the screen entertainment industry. 2. To assist students become wiser consumers of the screen entertainment industry's products. 3. To enable students to be better citizens, in the sense of being competent to evaluate public policy questions involving the screen entertainment industry, in the light of the public interest.

Grading Policy

There are three tests in this course. Each of the three tests will, in general, comprise one-third of your grade. Each test will consist of two parts. In the first part, there will be twenty-five multiple choice questions, dealing with the concepts from the lectures and the reading. In the second part, you will be given a group of ten words or phrases (which will be listed on the syllabus). You will be asked to define each word or phrase, and then explain why it is important to the study of the politics of the screen entertainment industry, all in sixty or fewer words. At the end of the semester, the three numerical scores will be averaged, and final grades will, in general, be assigned on the basis of a numerical scale. For a few students, I may make some small adjustments in these averages to reflect the quality of contribution to class discussion.

Texts

Assigned Reading 1. Dan Franklin, Politics and Film, selected chapters 2. James Steyer, The Other Parent, selected chapters 3. A package of duplicated articles, to be assigned; available from House of Tutors at 24th and Pearl Streets; this package includes much of my book Risky Business 4. A few articles can be found on electronic reserve (I will hand out instructions for accessing this material in class).

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