"Do you see what I mean?"
Introductions
Review Syllabus, Schedule, Course Texts/Films

Reading: Blakesley and Brooke, "Introduction: Notes on Visual Rhetoric" (from Enculturation's special issue on Visual Rhetoric)
Introduction to WWWThreads, 680 Discussion Forum
How to Download and Read PDF Files from the Digital Coursepack
Review the "Notes on 680V Course Technologies" handout (PDF format)

Week 2

"Do You See What I Mean" (from Illuminating Rhetoric, Blakesley; digital packet)
Defining Rhetoric and Visual Rhetoric

Discuss Course Project (Step 1 due on Thursday, Jan. 24)
"What is Rhetoric?" (Covino and Jolliffe; Digital Packet)
"Visual Rhetoric" (Bernhardt; digital packet)

Bi-Weekly Response #1 Due

Week 3

Barry, Visual Intelligence ("Film Logic and Rhetoric"; 191-249)
Screening of Hitchcock's Vertigo (5-8 p.m. in Heavilon 320)

Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (Digital Packet)
Modleski, "Vertigo: Femininity by Design" from The Women Who Knew Too Much (Digital Packet)
For help with film terminology, download this Glossary of Film Terminology (digital packet)

Project Step 1 Due: A Contract Proposal in which you explain your subject, suggest some parameters for your research, and indicate why the subject interests you and how studying it will be beneficial. (Suggested length: 250 words.)

Barry, Visual Intelligence ("Perceiving Images"; 1-68)
Discussion of Vertigo
"Women's Writing/Women's Culture" ("The Wild Zone"), Showalter (printed handout)
Notes: Four Ways of Approaching Film Rhetoric (from Blakesley's The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film) (Digital Packet)

Barry, Visual Intelligence ("The Nature and Power of Images"; 69-103)
Discussion of Vertigo continued.

Bi-Weekly Response #2 Due

Week 5

Barry, Visual Intelligence (Part II, "Mediated Images"; 107-189)

Project Step 2 Due: A Clarification Project in which you explain what you already know about your subject, reflect upon your feelings and thoughts about the subject, and suggest how you might develop your understanding of the subject. (Suggested length: 500 words. 10% of course grade.)

Barry, Visual Intelligence (Part III, "Controversial Images"; 253-338)

Mitchell, Picture Theory (1-107)
Read about Jerome Bruner and Leo Postman's "Tales of the Unexpected"

Mitchell, Picture Theory (109-50)
Blakesley, Illuminating Rhetoric (Preface Part 1, and Introduction; digital packet)

Bi-Weekly Response #3 Due

Week 7

Mitchell, Picture Theory (151-207)
Blakesley, Illuminating Rhetoric (Chapter 1; digital packet)

Illuminating Rhetoric continued.

Week 8

Robbe-Grillet, The Voyeur (3-71)
Walker Percy, "The Loss of the Creature" (digital packet)

Annie Dillard, "Total Eclipse" (audio recording; in-class)
Robbe-Grillet, The Voyeur (75-140)

Project Step 3 Due: An Information Project. Find out what is already known about your subject and communicate that knowledge concisely in 2,000 words or less. The form of this portion of the project could be an annotated bibliography, a bibliographic or informative essay (i.e., a review of the literature), or some other format conducive to conveying information. Your purpose at this stage will be to inform, not to take a critical stance. This stage will culminate with a 5-10 minute oral presentation on your subject to the rest of the class.(Suggested length: 2,000 words. 15% of course grade.

Note that presentations for this step will take place on Tuesday, March 5.

No Bi-Weekly Response due this week!

Project Step 3 Presentations Due: A 5-10 minute oral presentation on your subject to the rest of the class.
Mitchell, Picture Theory (211-39)
Robbe-Grillet, The Voyeur (143-219)
Annie Dillard, "Total Eclipse" (digital packet)
Exploration Project Tips: 20 Questions for Exploration (RTF format) or "The Open Essay" (PDF format)

Mitchell, Picture Theory (329-62)
Presentations continued.

Bi-Weekly Response #4 Due

Spring Vacation

Spring Vacation

Film Viewing: The Usual Suspects (Part I)

Film Viewing: The Usual Suspects (Part II)

Week 12

Miller, On Reflection (pp. 1-98)
Project Step 4 Due: The Exploration Project will be the stage when you foster intellectual "turbulence" by investigating the many facets and problems of your subject, asking a number of questions and offering a number of answers for each question, without feeling the need to present these questions and answers in a tightly organized essay. I want to see 10 questions, with 1-2 paragraph answers each. (Suggested length: 2,000 words. 10% of course grade.)

Miller, On Reflection (pp. 99-209)

Miller, On Reflection continued.

Mark Taylor, "Strange Loops" (Digital Packet)
Bi-Weekly Response #6 Due

Week 15

James Elkins, "Just Looking" (Digital Packet)
Images of the Argus (PDF; 500 KB)

Film, Visions of Light

Visions of Light continued (with discussion).
Watch the Strange Loops movie (Quicktime; 1 MB)

Visual Rhetoric on the Web
Course Evaluations

Finals Week

Finals

April 29-May 3