Course Syllabus

Comparative Literature 438 (Comparative Studies in Film):

Sports Documentary and Cultural Fantasy

Professor Yago Colás

scolas@umich.edu, Office Hours WF 1:15-2:45 pm, 2012 Tisch Hall

The primary purpose of this course is to familiarize you with the range of topics and approaches to sport documentaries, present and past.  Additionally, I want the course to provide you with a technical vocabulary and concepts with which to understand how documentaries work, to reflect on your viewing experience more deeply and thereby hopefully to enjoy documentaries in a fuller way.  Finally, I want the course to challenge you to improve your reading, thinking, writing, speaking, and listening skills.

To accomplish these goals, I've structured the course as follows (you can click on each item below to read more about it):

Reading and watching required texts and films.

Attending class. (10 %)

Paying attention in, and participating in class discussion. (15 %)

Composing regular course journal entries and reading those of your classmates. (25 %)

Writing 5 film reviews over the course of the semester (20 %)

Writing 1 short analytical essay during the semester. (10 %)

Creating with a group of your classmates a documentary film of your own, and then providing an individual self-analysis of the project. (20 %)