Effective Date of this
Description/Syllabus: Fall 2016
Prepared by: Dr. Rhonda Wilcox
Honors House 104, 678 359-5296
Fall Office hours: M-R 11:00-12:15, TR
1:00-2:30
Course Description/Syllabus
Course Designation
(discipline abbreviation & number): COLQ 2994H
Course Title:
Colloquium in the Humanities
Class hours per
week: 3
Laboratory hours
per week: 0
Credit hours: 3
Division offering
course: Humanities
Course description
for college catalog:
A colloquium on selected topics in the humanities emphasizing the development
of critical thinking skills
Course Topic: Joss
Whedon’s Firefly: Genre and Culture
Prerequisite: Honors status or permission of the
instructor
Course objectives and description: Joss Whedon’s television
series Firefly was broadcast for only
three months in 2002, but it is still being studied by scholars and celebrated
by fans. We will study its episodes in terms of its genre-crossing (Western and
Science Fiction), which is embedded in culturally significant, well-drawn
characters whose actions reveal notable themes. We will consider: (1) genre
definition; (2) narrative, style, character, and other elements of traditional
literary analysis; (3) rhetorical analysis of visual and musical elements; and
(4) cultural studies analysis in terms of gender, ethnicity, and other
elements. We will study the series in part by analyzing the episodes themselves
and in part by reading some of the many essays published on the subject by
scholars. Will you agree with them or disagree? What makes this series so
memorable to so many? The overall purpose is to learn from each other (teacher
and students alike), to enjoy the art that we encounter this semester, and to
propel ourselves to further exploration after the course is ended.
Required
texts:
Whedon, Joss, et al. Firefly:
The Complete Series. Twentieth-Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD.
Wilcox, Rhonda V., and Tanya R.
Cochran, eds. Investigating Firefly and Serenity: Science Fiction on the Frontier. London: I. B. Tauris, 2008.
Print.
Grading:
Participation (including attendance, quizzes, and other
work): 20%
Midterm Exam: 20%
Short Essay (800 words or more, typed): 20%
Honors Project: 20%
Final Exam: 20%
Standards:
A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70-79; D=60-69; F=below 60; B+ =88; B =85; B- = 82; C+
=78, etc.
Short
Essay: You will have a private planning conference with me
at least a week ahead of the due date for this 800-word (or more) essay, which
will be based on your own opinion supported by copious primary source evidence
and some secondary source evidence.
Honors
Project:
Your honors project should be developed over the course of most of the term.
You are required to have at least one planning conference with me and are
welcome to have more; feel free to show up at my office. (Bring your friends!)
You may, if you wish, write a term paper on any of a variety of subjects: there
is a considerable body of written scholarship on our topics, and you could
discuss any work’s class or socioeconomic themes, gender presentations, visual
representation on screen (visual rhetoric), music, or many other topics. You
may also, if you wish, plan another type of project that demonstrates
thoughtful exploration of the subject. For example, you could yourself write a
piece of fiction that serves as a brief sequel to one of the episodes, if you
like. You could attempt a set of songs (words and music) appropriate for the
characters. You could create a videogame based on the characters’ experiences
(N. B. Remember copyright laws.) You could do an audience study, devising a set
of questions on matters important to you and surveying and videotaping
responses of various readers and/or viewers of a particular romantic comedy.
You could draw maps or illustrations, writing a commentary to explain your
choices. You could even create a very brief play or film or graphic novel
yourself. Whatever you choose, you will need to include some non-fiction prose
explaining your thinking process (more details on this later).
You have great freedom in shaping your project.
Start thinking now, and talk to me about your thoughts soon. Especially if you
feel a bit lost, talk to me soon. After we bounce ideas around, you should be
able to come up with an idea for something you would be happy to share with
others. Then you can slowly develop it throughout the semester.
Students will be required to produce essays, and possibly
other assignments, on a computer (available in the Instructional Complex and
the library; or students may use their own).
A student must pass the in-class final exam to get a C or
better in the course.
ADA and 504
If
you have a documented disability as described by the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, you may
be eligible to receive accommodations to assist in programmatic and/or physical
accessibility. The Counseling and Accessibility Services office located
in the Student Center, Room 212 can assist you in formulating a reasonable
accommodation plan and in providing support in developing appropriate
accommodations to ensure equal access to all GSC programs and facilities.
Course requirements will not be waived, but accommodations may assist you in
meeting the requirements. For documentation requirements and for
additional information, contact Counseling and Accessibility Services at
678-359-5585.
Title IX
Gordon
State College is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of
discrimination and sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic
violence, dating violence and stalking. If you (or someone you know) has
experienced or experiences any of these incidents, know that you are not alone.
All faculty members at Gordon State College are mandated reporters. Any
student reporting any type of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating
violence, domestic violence or stalking must be made aware that any report made
to a faculty member under the provisions of Title IX will be reported to the
Title IX Coordinator or a Title IX Deputy Coordinator. If you wish to
speak with someone confidentially, you must contact the Counseling and
Accessibility Services office, Room 212, Student Life Center. The
licensed counselors in the Counseling Office are able to provide confidential
support.
Gordon
State College does not discriminate against any student on the basis of
pregnancy, parenting or related conditions. Students seeking
accommodations on the basis of pregnancy, parenting or related conditions
should contact Counseling and Accessibility Services regarding the process of
documenting pregnancy related issues and being approved for accommodations,
including pregnancy related absences as defined under Title IX.
Student evaluation
of instruction (Your
chance to grade the teacher!)
Near the end of
this course, you will be asked to evaluate the instruction of the course by
filling out a standard form that is used college-wide. Your honest responses on
the form will assist the faculty of the college in providing the best possible
educational experiences for Gordon students. In other words, your evaluation of
my work can help me to improve, just as my evaluation of your work can help you
to improve.
Plagiarism,
Cheating:
The English
faculty of Gordon College views any form of cheating as a serious violation of
commonly accepted standards of honesty. All student work must be solely that of
the person submitting the work. Any giving or receiving of unauthorized help
from others or from notes or other materials during the course of taking a
quiz, test, or exam or in writing a paper will result in an F on the work; any
use of forbidden materials such as rough drafts during the course of in-class
writing will also result in an F for the assignment. Note that an F on the work
involved in cheating is the minimum punishment; if justified by aggravating
circumstances, the matter may be referred to the Academic Dean and/or the
Judicial Committee or (according to a rule approved by the full faculty in
Spring 2010) the Dean of Students.
Moreover, when source materials are
used in the writing of papers, the student must document such use of sources
both by clearly indicating material being used as quotation and by giving
proper recognition when ideas or information has been paraphrased or
summarized; the following principles enunciated in the section on avoiding
plagiarism in James D. Lester's Writing
Research
Papers: A Complete
Guide, 8th
edition, should be scrupulously observed:
1. Acknowledge borrowed material by
introducing the quotation or paraphrase with the name of the authority. This
practice serves to indicate where borrowed materials begin.
2. Enclose within quotation marks all
quoted materials.
3. Make certain that paraphrased
material has been rewritten into your own style and language. The simple
rearrangement of sentence patterns is unacceptable. [It is unacceptable to
simply rearrange sentence patterns.]
4. Provide specific in-text
documentation for each borrowed item. For example, MLA [Modern Language
Association] style requires name and page for all in-text references.
Requirements differ for other fields.
5. Provide a bibliographic entry on the
Works Cited page for every source cited in the paper.
6. Omit sources consulted but not cited
in [your paper]. This point is important. You do not want your instructor
leafing back through the paper trying to find your use of a source that, in
truth, was not cited. (140-41)
Note that the indention of the six rules above is another
method of indicating that material is quoted from someone else; when you have a
long section to quote, then instead
of using quotation marks, according to MLA rules, you indent. My indention of
the six rules indicates that they are the exact wording by James D. Lester on
pages 140-41 of his book.
Furthermore, you must avoid collusion. Here
is a definition from the head of the Humanities Department:
Collusion
is defined as receiving excessive help to the point that a work can no longer
be considered the product of a single author and therefore cannot be accurately
assessed an individual grade. If I suspect a submitted work to be the result of
collusion, I reserve the right to refuse credit for that work if the claimed
author is unable to demonstrate sole authorship. A good way to avoid this
problem is to get help from the Student Success Center rather than from family
or friends.
I may or may not decide to have you submit
some of your work to Turnitin.com. Terms and Conditions of Use may be found at
http://www.turnitin.com/static/usage.html.
LIBRARY HOURS: Mon-Thu 8:00 am--10pm; Fri 8:00 am--5 pm; Sun
2--10 pm; Saturday 10 am—2 pm
Library study
lounge near ending machines will be open till midnight Sunday-Thursday.
Participation and professionalism: Without class discussions and
lectures, you might as well just watch on your own. You will find that
experiencing a group’s reaction is something that cannot be recreated through
merely reading class notes. This is not just a lecture class. (The root of the
word “colloquium” refers to conversation.) You can contribute to the class:
thoughtful questions can be just as valuable as insightful comments (though
they should be the questions of a person who has viewed/read the material).
Missing classes will reduce your ability to contribute and will therefore lower
your class participation grade.
(Significant tardiness will do the same.) Furthermore, specific in-class
activities will be used to help establish your participation grade, and in most
cases these activities must be carried out during a particular class period.
People that miss more than three weeks of classes normally cannot keep up and
fail the course as a result. If you must miss a class, let me know beforehand
if you can (or leave a phone message or email message as soon as possible); ask
me or a classmate about assignments so you can prepare in case there is a pop
quiz when you return to class. My home landline phone number is (404) 373-5328.
If you cannot contact me or a classmate, then do the next assignment on the syllabus.
Cell phones, Blackberries, and other electronic
devices: So that we can make the best use of our limited time together, silence your cell phones and any other
electronic devices before class begins,. Exception: Emergency personnel may
leave theirs on and slip out of class to take phone calls in the hall when
necessary. If you have a job as an EMT
(or similar work), notify me during the first week of classes and be sure
to sit near the door. Also, if you have some other sort of emergency situation
for which you wish to stay in cell phone contact, speak to me about the problem
before the relevant class period in order to be granted an exception. All
students should remember that they will receive a class participation grade,
and cell phone interruptions disturb discussion. Furthermore, texting during
class implies that you don’t really think our class needs your full attention.
What kind of impression do you think that will make on the teacher?
Late
papers: Late
papers are penalized five points per calendar day. I am very strict about this
policy. On the other hand, I am very reasonable about giving extensions
(without grade penalty) for good cause IF you arrange the matter in a timely
fashion before the due date. If you do not get an extension beforehand, then
the penalty will stand unless you can produce evidence of flood, earthquake,
avalanche, or other natural disaster intervening in the writing process. (I.e.,
you must provide evidence of a serious problem.)
Feel free to visit me to talk about the
course (whether you have a problem or just an interest). You may also leave
messages on or under my door. You may call me at my office at 678-359-5296. My
email address is rhonda_w@gordonstate.edu.
If you find yourself involved in an English Emergency, you may also call me at
home (404-373-5328). I have kept my landline for my students’ convenience. In
general,
LET ME KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON! And –ASK
FOR HELP IF YOU NEED IT!
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Read or view the assignments before the
date on which they are listed. “Ch.” refers to Investigating Firefly…
Week 1 (8/10) Introduction
Week 2 (8/16) “Serenity,” Parts One and
Two; (8/18) Introduction to television studies: pp. 1-13 of Why Buffy Matters (on reserve in
library); Ch. 2, Susan Mandala: “Representing the Future: Chinese and
Codeswitching in Firefly”; Jes
Battis, “Captain Tightpants: Firefly and
the Science Fiction Canon,” Slayage 7.1
(available online)
Week 3 (8/23) “The Train Job”; (8/25)
Episode commentary on “Serenity”; Ch. 6, David Magill, “’I Aim to Misbehave’:
Masculinities in the ‘Verse”
Week 4 (8/30) “Bushwhacked”; (9/1)
Agnes B. Curry, “ ‘We Don’t Say “Indian”’: On the Paradoxical Construction of
the Reavers,” Slayage 7.1; Ch. 10, J.
Douglas Rabb and J. Michael Richardson, “Reavers and Redskins: Creating the
Frontier Savage”
Week 5 (9/6) “Shindig”; (9/8)
Commentary on “Shindig”; Ch. 4, Laura L. Beadling, “The Threat of the ‘Good
Wife’: Feminism, Postfeminism, and Third-Wave Feminism in Firefly”
Week 6 (9/13) “Safe”; Ch. 3, Alyson R.
Buckman, “ ‘Much Madness Is Divinest Sense’: Firefly’s ‘Big Damn Heroes’ and Little Witches”
Week 7 (9/20) “Our Mrs. Reynolds”; (9/22)
Ch. 1, Cynthea Masson, “ ‘But She Was Naked! And All Articulate!’: The Rhetoric
of Seduction in Firefly”; Short Essay due
Week 8 (9/27) “Jaynestown”; (9/29) Ch.
15, Christopher Neal, “Marching out of Step: Music and Otherness in the Firefly/Serenity Saga”; Rhonda V.
Wilcox, “ ‘Every Man Ever Got a Statue’: Public Statuary in Whedon…” (handout)
Monday 2/29: Last day to drop classes
without WF
Week 9 (10/4) “Out of Gas”; (10/6)
Commentary on “Out of Gas”; Ch. 9, Mary Alice Money, “Firefly’s ‘Out of Gas’: Genre Echoes and the Hero’s Journey”
Week 10 (10/11) Fall Break; (10/13) Midterm
Exam
Week 11 (10/18) “Ariel”; (10/20) Ch. 7,
Sharon Sutherland and Sarah Swan, “ ‘The Alliance Isn’t Some Evil Empire’:
Dystopia in Joss Whedon’s Firefly/Serenity
Week 12 (10/25) “War Stories”; (10/27)
Ch 8, Lorna Jowett, “Back to the Future: Retrofuturism, Cyberpunk, and Humanity
in Firefly and Serenity”
Week 13 (11/1) “Trash”; (11/3) Ch. 16,
Barbara Maio, “Between Past and Future: Hybrid Design Style in Firefly and Serenity”
Week 14 (11/8) “The Message”; (11/10)
Commentary on “The Message”; Elizabeth L. Rambo, “Metaphoric Unity and Ending:
Sending and Receiving Firefly’s Last
‘Message’” (on reserve in library)
Week 15 (11/15) “Heart of Gold”; Ch. 5,
Andrew Aberdein, “The Companions and Socrates: Is Inara a Hetaera?”; Dee
Amy-Chinn, “ ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore: Postfeminist Prostitution in Joss
Whedon’s Firefly’ (library)
Week 16 (11/22) “Objects in Space”; Ch.
12, Rhonda V. Wilcox, “ ‘I Do Not Hold to That’: Joss Whedon and Original Sin”;
Ch. 14, Neil Lerner, “Music, Race, and Paradoxes of Representation: Jubal Early’s
Musical Motif in ‘Objects in Space’”(11/24) Thanksgiving Holiday
Week 17 (11/29) Honors Project due; Serenity;
Thursday Dec. 1 will be a campus-wide study day.
Final Exam (20%, in-class):
Monday, Dec. 5, 1:30—3:30 pm
Throughout the semester, additional readings and writing may
be assigned.
Any variation in syllabus policy is at the instructor’s
discretion.