ENGLISH 176: LOS ANGELES: THE CITY, THE NOVEL, THE MOVIE

Fall 2022, MW 12-1:50

SLH 200
Professor Thomas Gustafson

Office: THH 402C, E-mail: Thomasg@usc.edu;

Office Hours: M, 2-4, Th 11-12 and by appt.
Phone: 310-722-8447

Teaching Assistants:

Jessica Somers (jsomers@usc.edu)

T 9:00-9:50, CPA 205
T 12:00-12:50, THH 214

Naseeha Hussain (naseehah@usc.edu)

Th 9:00-9:50, CPA 207
Th 1:00-1:50, THH 111

Helen Fu (fujingyu@usc.edu)
F 9:00-9:50, THH B9
F 10:00-10:50, THH 108

Course Description:

Los Angeles has been mocked as a city 500 miles wide and two inches deep. It is
famous for its movies and music, but critics claim that it lacks cultural depth. This course
seeks to prove otherwise. The region of Southern California has a remarkably rich
literary heritage extending deep into its past, and over the past three decades Los Angeles
has become a pre-eminent center of literary creativity in the United States, the home of a
new generation of writers whose works address questions and concerns of special
significance as we confront the problems of 21st century urban America arising from
divisions of social class, the injustices of racism and xenophobia, inequalities of
economic opportunity, predatory capitalism, failures of empathy and the too often
sensational and reductive media portrayal of these issues.

Los Angeles is a storyteller to the world through its music and films, and this course
will argue that the best stories told in these mediums—as well as in the arts of fiction and
poetry—offer us something much more than mere escape and entertainment: they can be
acts of engagement with our pressing social issues. Study of the literature of this region
can also help perform one of the crucial roles of education in a democracy and in this
urban region famous for its fragmentation and the powerful allure of the image: It can
teach us to listen more carefully to the rich mix of voices that compose the vox populi of
Los Angeles, and thus it can help create a deeper, broader sense of our common ground.

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 So often LA is represented in our movies and our music as a place of superficial, self-
absorbed people: on our freeways, we pass each other by, silently, wordlessly, insulated
in our cars, or we are stuck in the same jam, our mobility a dream, or we crash into each
other, carelessly or in rage. Our cars and the freeways, once the means for connecting us
more quickly to each other, are now our source of congestion, pollution, gridlock. The
literature of Los Angeles at its best gets us out of these jams and off our freeways, away
from the tourist sites, taking us below the shallow, into the deep end. It lets us know that
Los Angeles is more than the pathologies represented by its trademark crime fiction, and
it offers us a streetwise sense of our neighborhoods, a slow and careful means to study
our cultural geography. It gives us a special topography that includes not just the clichéd
high and lows—the Beverly Hills of 90210, the beach cities of Baywatch, the South LA
of “Menace II Society.” It is also a literature that can dig at us, making us more aware of
our own foundations, our own connections to our common ground and the mix of
migrations and dispossessions, exploitations and entrepreneurship, boosterism and
boondoggles that have transformed it from El Pueblo de la Nuestra Senora Reina de Los
Angeles to an L.A. crowned as the entertainment capital of the world and the capital of
the Pacific Rim.

Los Angeles is a place dominated by in our imaginations by the look, the eye, the gaze
of the camera, the representations of our visual culture. F. Scott Fitzgerald, when he
lived and worked in Hollywood in the 1930s, expressed fear and loathing that the novel
was being supplanted by the film as the pre-eminent medium of American art. But this
fear that Los Angeles would be the death of the creative word is just another false
apocalyptic scenario for this city that so embraces apocalypse. It has long been the home
of remarkably creative words, a place where Shakespeare, Austen and Bible stories and
the classics of Western culture have been continually resurrected and reconfigured to tell
parables for a new day and age, and where new classics (an oxymoron befitting Los
Angeles) have been created by its writers who have found a voice and inspiration here.
We will also see how and why writers in this city re-invoked biblical parables and lessons
from the classics (such as those taught by Socrates in The Republic) to pronounce about
the soul of LA or prophesy its fate or they have composed new sermons and dramatic
dialogues to save us from the cave of delusion so our gaze will not settle on shadows on
the wall but be redirected onto its streets and inside ourselves.

Los Angeles has its genesis in exodus: People looking for opportunity, a new start, a
new Eden, a garden world, a Promised land, moved here from elsewhere. The
consequence: Here at the end of the road is where we all met. Here is where we have
become a vast and varied—and often divisive--intersection of peoples: a new dangerous--
yet often beautiful--crossroads. We will focus on the past, present and future of such
collisions and mergers. And we will wonder: What does Los Angeles literature ask of us
now? Can we all get along? Can we learn how to merge rather than crash? Can we
overcome the perils of Babel? Can our humanities challenge our inhumanities? Can we
cure a willful amnesia about our past? Can the sharing of our LA stories connect us
together across borders of time and space? At the end of the course, you tell me.

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Course Objectives:

(1) To develop critical skills for studying literary texts (and the various forms of
Hollywood entertainment);

(2) To develop students' historical perspective on the events, issues, conflicts and
traditions that have shaped the image and history of L.A.

(3) To develop each student's voice in writing and their capacity to listen to and learn
from the rich mix of voices that composes Southern California.

(4) To appreciate various works of Los Angeles literature and culture as complex
responses to visions of this city as a locus of hope, freedom, justice, and of the good life;

(5) To gain a better sense of the importance of place and region in shaping who we are;

(6) To become more at home in this city and more curious about it by studying its
literature, culture, and history;

(7) To take joy and insight in recognizing the power of the word and the resources of the
literary imagination unaccompanied by picture or sound;

(8) To recognize that the real world is not just the world denominated by terms such as
GPA and GDP but the worlds of our imagination and emotions.

Texts:

Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 [available as copy on Blackboard]
Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned [available as PDF on
Blackboard]
Yxta Maya Murray, Locas [available for some on Google Docs, also copied on
Blackboard]

To be purchased by students as electronic copy or hard copy.

Budd Schulberg, What Makes Sammy Run?

Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust
Karen Yamashita, Tropic of Orange
Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man

YouTube Playlist:
[most viewings listed in the syllabus are on this playlist except for full length movies]
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Rt8y_yTqAckDyTS2lr5kkIBL1Gy-HKG

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Keynotes:

Italo Calvino, from Invisible Cities (1972): “Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and
fears….”

Jonathan Raban, from Soft City (1988): “The city as we imagine it, the soft city of illusion, myth,
aspiration, nightmare is as real, maybe more real, than the hard city one can locate on maps in
statistics, in monographs on urban sociology an demography and architecture….. The city…is
soft, amenable to a dazzling libidinous variety of lives, dreams, interpretations.”

We tell stories, and stories make us human. We use them to tell us what should be, what could
be, and the human truth of what now is. We collect them over centuries, tell them to our children,
and they define us as cultures. We change our stories, start new ones, rethink old ones and
experiment as we shift our sense of who we are and what we value. Take away our stories, and
there is not much left of us. Study in English is a way of knowing our stories, and at USC we
approach them critically and creatively. (Department of English, Website)

Course Schedule

I. PREVIEW: LOS ANGELES GENESIS--SALES PITCHES,

SCRIPTS, SERMONS, AND OTHER ACTS OF VERBAL CREATION
(In the Beginning is the Word)

M 8/22 Luis Rodriguez, “Love Poem to Los Angeles” (2016) (Blackboard) (and YouTube)

Viewing and Listening (YouTube):

:
Frank Sinatra, “LA is My Lady” (1984)
The Doors, “LA Woman” (1971)
Randy Newman, “I Love LA” (1983)
Ozomatli, “City of Angels” (2007)
Guns N’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle” (1987)
Tupac, “To Live and Die in LA” (1996)
Snoop Dogg, “El Lay” (2011)
Quetzal, “This is My Home” (2003)
Dumbfounded, “24 KTOWN (2013)
Malcolm X, dir. Spike Lee, excerpt (introduction)

II. APOCALYPSE AND REVELATIONS: THE FIRE THIS TIME (LA

1992)

W 8/24 FYC: Charles Lummis, excerpt from Letters from the Southwest (1885) (Blackboard)
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 FYC: Mary Austin, excerpt from Earth Horizons (1888) (Blackboard)

FYC: Dana W. Bartlett, excerpt from The Better City (1907) (Blackboard)
FYC: Paul Jordan, excerpt from “Ballyhooers in Heaven” (1925) (Blackboard)

Christopher Isherwood, excerpt from "Los Angeles" [aka ‘California is a

tragic country’] (1947) (Blackboard)

Mayor Villaraigosa, excerpts from “Inaugural Address” (2005) (Blackboard)

Anna Deavere Smith, excerpt from Talk to Me (Blackboard)

Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, pp. IX-XXVI and 1-196.
Read the Introduction and the Timeline and then pp. 1-49 from Part 1 on Blackboard
and pp. 83-113, 156-196 from Part 2 on Blackboard [with pp. 51-83 optional].

Viewing (YouTube):

“Networks and Settlements of Los Angeles”

“Population, Economy, and Conflicts of Los Angeles”

“Los Angeles: City of Destiny” (excerpt)

“L.A. Confidential” (1997) (excerpt)

“How the West Was Won” (1962) (excerpt)

Natalie Merchant, “San Andreas Fault” (1995)

“Malcolm X” (1992) (excerpt)

PBS Film Version of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

[ 0-23:00] [Not on YouTube]

M 8/29 Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight Los Angeles 1992, pp. 199-256

Elaine Kim, excerpt from “Home is Where the Han is: A Korean American
Perspective” (1994) (Blackboard)

Rev. Paul Yung, “Who is My Neighbor?” (1992) [focus attention on last paragraph
of this sermon] (Blackboard)

Viewing (YouTube):

Kurt Vonnegut, “The Shape of Stories”

“Glasses of Empathy”
Beyonce, “Listen”

PBS Film Version of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

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 [56:30-1:25] [Not on YouTube]

“2 Pac Talks on LA Riots” (1992)

“Dumbfounded Spits Verse on Racism and Koreatown Upbringing” (2016)

Cornel West, “Moments of Interruption”

30 Seconds to Mars, “City of Angels”

W 8/31 Joseph Wambaugh, excerpt from Hollywood Station (2006)

Richard Rodriguez, “Horizontal City” (1992) (Blackboard)

Senator Bill Bradley, “The Real Lesson of LA” (1992) (Blackboard)

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, excerpts on LA 1992 from “How Do We Change

America?” (2020) (Blackboard)

Mwatabu S, Okantah, “America’s poem, or, 81 seconds 56 blows” (Blackboard)

Joseph Wambaugh, Interview with the LA Times: “What the LAPD

Needs is Women to Combat the Testosterone Level” (July 1991) (Blackboard)

Optional (FYI): Voices in Harmony with Anna Deavere Smith: An Anthology

of Voices on Empathy (Blackboard)

Optional (FYI):

Viewing: Scenes from:

“Falling Down” (1992)

“Menace II Society” (1992)
“Rush Hour” (1996)

“American History X” (1998)

“Bulworth” (1998)
“Strange Days” (1996)

“Straight Outta Compton” (2015)

Trailer: “Let it Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992” (2017)

Viewing: FYC: For Your Curiosity (YouTube)

“Uprising: Hip Hop and the LA Riots” (2012)

“Clash of Colors: The 1992 Riots from the Korean American Perspective”
(2013) (view especially after 103.00 to end)

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 Listening: Sublime, “April 29. 1992 (Rodney King Riots) (1992) (YouTube)
Thurz, “Los Angeles,” from LA Riot (2011) (YouTube)

III. NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE: A SOCRATIC INQUIRY IN THE

REPUBLIC OF LOS ANGELES

M 9/5 Labor Day Holiday

W 9/7 Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (1997), pp. 13-94
(Crimson Shadow-Marvane Street)

Walter Mosley, “Workin’ on the Chain Gang” (2000)

Viewing: “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned” (1998) (YouTube)

M 9/12 Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, pp. 95-168

(Man Gone-History)

Profile of Alfred Ligon and Aquarian Bookstore (model for The Capricorn
Bookstore in “History” plus excerpts from two other novels by Mosley about
1960s LA (Blackboard)

Viewing: “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned” (cont.)

W 9/14 Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, pp. 168-209

(Firebug-Last Rites)

Walter Mosley, “The Realization of a Writer” (2006)

Optional (FYI): Mike Sonksen, “I Grew Up in Los Angeles” (2019)

Viewing: “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned” (cont.)

Queztal, “Justice Never Dies” (YouTube)

F 9/16 Interview Project Due by 10 pm. Submit through Turnitin.

Ps. For a beautiful example of an Interview Project completed in 2017,

check out the link below (but note: this project followed a different format
that used a prose introduction and not a self- interview)

http://jennytypes.com/postcards.pdf

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IV. BITING THE APPLE: SNAKES IN THE GARDEN, OR THE
FIRES LAST TIME

M 9/19 Sonora McKeller, "Watts--Little Rome" (1966) (Blackboard)

Walter Mosley, “What We Forget about Watts” (2005) (Blackboard)

Robin D. G. Kelley, “Watts: Remember What They Built, Not What They
Burned” (2015) (Blackboard)

Joseph Wambaugh, excerpt from The New Centurions (1970) (Blackboard)

Al Waxman, “The Zoot Suit Riot” (1943) (Blackboard)

John Weaver, "War on the Zoot-Suiters" (1943) (Blackboard)

P.S. Dorney, "Lynching the Chinese" (1871) (Blackboard)

Cecilia Rasmussen, “Early Developer’s Monument” [on Robert P.
Widney] (Blackboard)

Scott Zesch, “Prologue” from The Chinatown War: Chinese Los

Angeles and the Massacre of 1871 (2012) (Blackboard)

Cecelia Rasmussen, “Forgotten Hero from a Night of Disgrace” [on

Emil Harris] (Blackboard)

Cecilia Rasmussen, "Shaman and Freedom Fighters Led Indian Mission

Revolt" (Blackboard)

Viewing: Scenes from:

“O.J.: Made in America,” Part 1

“Zoot Suit” (2002) (excerpt from documentary)
“Zoot Suit” (1981) (excerpt from film version of play by L. Valdez)
“American Me” (1992) (excerpt)
“Chinese Lynching of 1871 Los Angeles”
“New Centurions” (excerpts from film version)

Playlist: Mothers of Invention, “Trouble Every Day”

Dorothy Morrison, “Black California”
Watts Prophets, “Listen” and other selected clips

V. FAULT-LINES: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN LOS ANGELES

ANGELES

W 9/21 Dana Johnson, “The Story of Biddy Mason,” from In the Not Quiet Dark

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 (2016) (Blackboard)

Chester Himes, “Lunching at the Ritzmore” (1942)

Frances Dinkelspiel, excerpt from Towers of Gold (2008)

(on Isaias Hellman) (Blackboard)

Viewing: YouTube clips on Biddy Mason

PBS. “The West” (on LA Aqueduct)

“Chinatown” (1974)

M 9/26 Upton Sinclair, “The Ride” and “The University” from Oil! (1927) (Blackboard)

Chester Himes, If He Hollers, Let Him Go, Chapter 2 (1945) (Blackboard)

Kevin Starr, excerpt from Material Dreams: Southern California

in the 1920s (on history of USC in 1920s) (1990) (Blackboard)

J. Alexander Somerville, excerpt from Man of Color: An Autobiography of

J. Alexander Somerville (1949) (Blackboard)

Joseph P. Widney [2nd President of USC], excerpt from The Three Americans
(1935) (Blackboard)

Excerpt from Memories of Chicano History: The Life and Narrative

of Bert Corona (1994) (Blackboard)

Steven B. Sample [former President of USC], excerpt from “The University of

Southern California at 125: Inventing the Future Since 1880” (2005) (Blackboard)

Kevin Starr, Introduction to Cecilia Rasmussen’s LA Unconventional: The

Men and Women who Did L.A. Their Way (1998) (Blackboard)

Robert Towne, “Preface and Postscript to ‘Chinatown’” (1994) (Blackboard)

Viewing (cont.): “Chinatown” (1974)

Prof. Deverell (USC): Lecture on Henry Huntington, excerpts (YouTube)

VI. METAMORPHOSIS: LOS ANGLES AS CRUCIBLE

W 9/28 Lynell George, excerpt from “Native to the Place” (2001) (Blackboard) +
D. J. Waldie, “L.A. Literature” (2004)
*[Required Paragraph Response to Boldfaced text should include a

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 comparative comment on both the essays by Lynell George and D.J. Waldie.
The second paragraph response should come from one of the essays below]

Perspectives on Los Angeles: A Chronology of Verbal Images of the

City and Region (Blackboard)

--Carey McWilliams, excerpt from Southern California: Island on the

Land (1946) (Blackboard)
--Ray Bradbury, excerpt from "Los Angeles is the Best Place in America"
(1972) (Blackboard)
--Jimmy Santiago Baca, excerpt from “LA, Ese,” (1992) (Blackboard)
--Wanda Coleman, "L.A.: Love Cry" (1996) (Blackboard)
-- Mike Davis, "Why L.A. is a Synonym for Disaster" (1990) (Blackboard)
--John Rechy, Sure, L.A. is Cliché—Let Us Count the Ways” (2001)
(Blackboard)
--Joan Didion, “L.A. Notebook” and “Holy Water” (Blackboard)

Optional (FYI): “How’d We Get Here” (A Timeline of LA History) (Blackboard)

Viewing: Excerpt from “LA Plays Itself” (2014)

YouTube: “Untold LA History”

Phil Ochs,”The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los Angeles”

F 9/30 Research Project Due by 10 pm (Submit through Turnitin)

VII. HOLLYWOOD BABYLON: BURN HOLLYWOOD, BURN

M 10/3 Budd Schulberg, What Makes Sammy Run? (Chapters 1-4) (1941)

Michael Tolkin, excerpt from Chapter 4 of The Player (1988) (Blackboard)

Viewing: Excerpts from “Sullivan’s Travels” (1941) and “Purple Rose of

Cairo” (1985)

W 10/5 Budd Schulberg, What Makes Sammy Run? (Chapters 5-9) (1941)

Budd Schulberg, excerpt from Introduction to From the Ashes: Voices of Watts (1967)
(Blackboard)

Viewing: “Purple Rose of Cairo” (1985)

M 10/10 Budd Schulberg, What Makes Sammy Run? (chapters 10-12)

Budd Schulberg, Afterword to What Makes Sammy Run?

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 Budd Schulberg, excerpt from “The Writer in Hollywood” (1959) (Blackboard)

Viewing: “Sullivan’s Travels”

W 10/12 Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust (1939), chapters 1-9

John Fante, chapter 6 from Ask the Dust (1939) (Blackboard)

Viewing: “Sullivan’s Travels” (1941)

M 10/17 Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust, chapters 10-19

Morris Dickstein, “Moved by Art,” essay from LA Times (2009) (Blackboard)

Excerpts from Kevin Starr on Hollywood, Ethel Person on cultural power of

fantasies (Blackboard)

Viewing: “The Day of the Locust” (excerpt) (1975)

“A Star is Born” (excerpt) (1937)

W 10/19 Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust, chapters 20-27

“Best LA Novel Ever: Day of the Locust vs. What Makes Sammy Run”
From LA Weekly (2013) (Blackboard)

Eve Babitz, “And West (Ne Weinstein) is East Too” (1972) (Blackboard)

Viewing: “The Day of the Locust” (excerpt) (1975)

Trailer, “Nightcrawler” (2014)
“Escape from LA” (excerpt) (1996)

M 10/24 Octavia Butler, “Speech Sounds” (1983) in Bloodchild and Other Stories
(2002) (Blackboard)

Midterm quiz: 1 point short ‘quiz,’ with question based on film viewings
during this class period. Submit quiz questions through Turnitin by 1:50 pm.

Viewing:

“They Live” (1988) (excerpt)

“LA Plays Itself” (2003) (excerpt)
“Singin’ in the Rain” (1952) (excerpts)

Listening:

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 Red Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Californication”
Bad Religion, “LA is Burning”
Public Enemy, “Burn Hollywood Burn”
Lady Gaga, “Shallow” from A Star is Born

VII. THE RISE OF SUBURBAN LOS ANGELES, THE FALL FROM THE
GARDEN, BACK TO A BROWNER LA

W10/26 Sinclair Lewis, “Gold, Inc.” (1937) (Blackboard)

James Cain, Mildred Pierce (1941), Chapter 1 (Blackboard)

Douglas Coupland, “Brentwood” (Blackboard)

Optional (FYI) Norman Mailer, excerpt from “Superman Comes to the

Supermarket” (1960) (Blackboard)

Viewing: Excerpt from Mildred Pierce

M 10/31 Yxta Maya Murray, Locas (1997) (Part 1, pp. 1-126)

Google Doc Link to Locas:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X40iU9AfUgMPSwa_LM3_a62cshNCxVo6/view

FYC: For Your Curiosity Only: Wikipedia entry on Echo Park (Blackboard)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_Park,_Los_Angeles

Viewing: “Quinceanera” (2006)

W 11/2 Yxta Maya Murray, Locas (Part 2, pp. 129-222)

Father Greg Boyle, Introduction and chapters “Compassion” and

“Success” from Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
(Blackboard)

Viewing: “Quinceanera” (2006)

M 11/7 Yxta Maya Murray, Locas (Part 3, pp. 223-244)

Celeste Fremon, “Homegirls,” a review of Locas,with response by

Yxta Maya Murray (Blackboard)

Viewing: Father Greg Boyle Keynote Address (YouTube)

Joseph Masters, “Elysium” (2021) (Vimeo)

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W 11/9 Luis Rodriguez, “My Ride, My Revolution,” “Oiga,” and
“Sometimes You Dance with Watermelons” from The Republic of East
LA (2002) (Blackboard)

Excerpts on LA Artists on Los Angeles, from State of the Arts:

California Artists Talk about their Work, ed. Barbara Isenberg
(Blackboard)

Viewing: Luis Rodriguez on Gift of Words (YouTube)

“Born in East LA” (1987) (excerpt)

“Dogtown and the Z Boys” (excerpt)

Listening: War, “East LA”

F 11/11 Critical Essay on Artists on Art (5 pages) + Personal Essay (1 page) on Art (due
by 4pm)

IX. LISTENING TO BABEL, OR HOW TO MAP POST-MODERN

LOS ANGELES

M 11/14 Karen Tei Yamashita, “Orange” (1991) (Blackboard)

Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange (1998), Parts 1-2 [Monday-Tues.]

Viewing: “LA Now” (2004)

W 11/16 Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange, Parts 3-5 [Wednesday-Fri.]

Laleh Khadivi, Chapters: “Paths, Deposits” and “Ecumenopolis”

from The Walking (2013) (Blackboard)

Viewing: “What’s Cooking” (2006)

M 11/21 Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange, Parts 6-7 [Saturday-Sun.]

Steve Abee, “Vermont Street,” from The Bus: Cosmic Ejaculations of a

Mind In Transit (Blackboard)

Viewing: “What’s Cooking” (2006)

W 11/23 Thanksgiving Vacation

X. BODIES AND SOULS: EROS AND REDEMPTIVE LOVE IN L.A.

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M 11/28 Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man (pp. 1-91)

“LA Lit (Does it Exist?) (1999) [D.J. Waldie and other LA writers on
LA literature, from LA Times] (Blackboard)
Optional (FYI): Mike Sonksen, “LA Authors” (Blackboard)

W 11/30 Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man (pp. 92-186)

Theodore Zeldin, “The Future of Networking” (2005) (Blackboard)

Optional: (FYI) William Cronon, excerpts from “Only Connect: The Goals
of a Liberal Arts Education” (1998) (Blackboard)

Viewing: “Another Day in the Sun” from LA LA Land (2016)

“Blade Runner 2049” (2017)

Listening: “Shallow” from A Star is Born (2018)

Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Under the Bridge”
The Doors, “The End”

M 12/9 Take Home Final Exam Due at 11:00 am. Submit through Turnitin.

Final Exam Quiz: 11 am – 1pm

2 questions, 1 based on a surprise film viewing (a comedy)
Submit answers to quiz questions through Turnitin by 1 pm

Grading Breakdown Points:

16/48 Interview Project

14/42 Research Project (Scavenger Hunt) + 1 page Essay
1/3 Midterm Quiz (1 short question, based on film viewing)
16/48 Critical Essay + 1 Page Personal Essay
10/30 Take Home Final
2/6 Final Quiz (2 questions, 1 based on film viewing)
14/42 Discussion Section Attendance and Participation
27/81 Two Paragraph Responses Per Class + Response to
Question for the Day
100/300 Total
On Turnitin, we will assign a possible total of 300 points. We will then divide your total
points by 3 in order to get a point scale from 1-100.

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Grading Scale:

A 92-100
A- 88-91
B+ 84-87
B 80-83
B- 77-79
C+ 73-76
C 70-72
C- 67-69
D+ 65-66
D 63-64
D- 60-62
F 0-59

SEVEN OR MORE UNEXCUSED ABSENCES FROM LECTURE AND

DISCUSSION SECTION MEETINGS (measured by failure to turn in a paragraph
response or be credited for attendance in discussion by the TA) COULD RESULT IN A
FAILURE FOR THE COURSE REGARDLESS OF THE STUDENT'S
PERFORMANCE ON PAPERS AND EXAMS. Attendance is measured by submission
of paragraph responses and response to the Question of the Day.

FAILURE TO COMPLETE ANY OF THE PRIMARY ASSIGMENTS (Interview

project, Research Project, Critical Essay) OR FAILURE TO COMPLETE THE TAKE
HOME FINAL (AND Midterm and Final QUIZ) WILL RESULT IN AN F FOR THE
COURSE.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT STUDENT CONDUCT CODES REGARDING PLAGIARISM

AS EXPLAINED IN SCAMPUS (P. 75, article 11.11) WILL BE RIGOROUSLY ADHERED
TO IN THIS COURSE

ENGLISH 176
Course Practices and Policies

1. This course satisfies the Humanistic Inquiry category of the GE program, and it is my
challenge to suggest how a course in humanistic inquiry may be of value even to students
who see this category as irrelevant to their major and their professional goals.

Just as English majors may find a science requirement in USC's GE program or a

quantitative reasoning requirement irrelevant to their major and their professional goals, some
students will find this course and the GE category Humanistic Inquiry irrelevant to their major or
their professional goals. My challenge, which I welcome, is to try to show how readings in the
humanities--e.g, literature, history, film, music—can help develop an intelligence that is now
recognized as important for personal happiness as well as professional success: EQ, or

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emotional intelligence, including especially the ability to listen to voices different from your own
with empathy and deep understanding.

2. The materials for this course are not organized in a strict chronological order

Unlike many courses in the humanities, the course materials for English 176 are not arranged
in a strict, chronological order, which may strike you as confusing. But this course emphasizes
seeing deep patterns and reoccurring themes in culture and history, so it will often juxtapose
readings from much different time periods in the same class or classes.

3. This course is not designed first and foremost to test an ability to memorize facts. Its
method is to develop your capacity for empathetic understanding and a form of critical
thinking that I call "democratic thinking": the ability to see and understand a subject from
multiple points of view, especially perspectives that differ from your own beliefs and
opinions.

This course is not a course in light reading or easy listening. This course instead tries to
teach what I call "uneasy listening": the ability to listen to a rich mix of voices that may
challenge a "confirmation bias" or offer "cognitive dissonance" or a "contra-diction" to what you
believe or know or value. The course will also emphasize what has been called "generous
listening": listening to other voices with curiosity, passion, interest, and disinterest.

4. By reading and listening to stories told about Los Angeles in literature, politics and
history, this course seeks to enhance our appreciation of storytelling and its powers as well
as our ability to cross-examine and judge the stories by different criteria.

The key part of your learning in this course will come from engaging the readings, viewings,
and listenings for the course and doing the research and thinking and writing required to
complete the assignments. I do provide Study Guides for many of the readings as well as
examples of the final quiz. The lectures are designed to serve as a guide for interpreting the
stories about Los Angeles to be found in a range of texts: works of fiction, non-fiction essays,
dramatic films, documentaries, films and songs.

5. The course is not light in its reading or in its writing assignments.

The USC formula is that for every hour of class time, there should be two hours of
homework. This course is 110 minutes long. The amount of time to complete the readings and
responses for each class may sometimes be as much as 2-4 hours (depending on the material and
how fast you read.)

Estimated Time for each major assignment:

Interview Project: 6-10 hours to complete

Research project: 6-10 hours to complete.

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 4-5 page critical essay + 1 page personal statement on art: 8-10 hours
Take Home Final: 2 hours to complete

6. You are only responsible for the Listenings and Viewings shown in class

You do not need to do any of the Viewings or Listenings on the Syllabus before class (or
after class). I will screen in class the Listenings or Viewings that may be a source for the
Question of the Day.

The Viewings and Listenings on the Syllabus should not be the primary text used in any
Paragraph Response to the readings (but you can refer to them in such a response).

For Your Curiosity (FYC): Readings and Viewings marked on the Syllabus are Optional,
not Required, and they should NOT be used for a Paragraph Response.

7. The course contains reading and viewing of some materials from history as well as
works of the imagination that involve stuff that is ugly, violent, unjust, cruel, and painful.

Some of the material presented in the readings and viewings and lectures may upset or offend
some students for various reasons. I welcome you to contact me about any material that troubles
you or you find inappropriate and difficult or impossible to read or view. I will accept your
reason for not completing the reading or viewing without question or debate.

8. Studies suggest that students in the classroom pay most attention during the first 15-20
minutes of a class and the last 5-10 minutes. The class time is 110 minutes. I will often try
to present key points in the first 20 minutes and the last 10 minutes. I try to split the class
up into parts, providing breaks. Generally, the first 60-75 minutes will be lecture. Then
after a break, the second half of the course will involve watching complete movies or film
clips or YouTube clips or listening to songs. The last 5-10 minutes of the class will often be
discussion about the viewings

The course tries to examine Los Angeles history and culture through different disciplines
(historical, political, and literary analysis) and through different media (film and music as well as
primary texts from history and literature). A 110 minute class will test every student’s patience.

9. Some of the materials to be taught will be in eBooks that are required to be purchased
for the course. You are welcome to purchase hard copies. Many materials will be found in
Blackboard postings. (I apologize that some pages need to be rotated to be viewed.)

10. Except in cases of significant emergency, I insist that any request for an extension on
an assignment be addressed to me personally during office hours. If I receive an
emergency text message or email 12-24 hours before the time due, I require a personal
meeting with the student within the next week during my office hours or after class.

11. When submitting assignments, please remember to include your TA name on the
assignment.

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 Note: Google Chrome is best to use (rather than Safari) as your browser for Turnitin
submissions.

12. If there are personal reasons that result in a number of missed classes or missed
assignments, please email me about them during your absence. Please do not wait until
classes end or past the time of the final exam to inform me about any such situation.

13. There is no need to inform me ahead of time in an email or text message of any class
you need to miss because of sickness or a compelling personal reason or any legitimate
excuse.

I DO NOT NEED any doctor’s note to explain an absence. I take students at their word.

14. Students taking the course Pass/Fail must complete all the primary assignments to
receive credit for the course, and I reserve the right to fail a student who fails to submit
7 or more paragraph responses/questions of the day.

15. Rewarding Attendance and Engagement with the Reading.

My policy of asking for paragraph responses to the readings for each class is designed to
reward consistent engagement with the reading.

The Questions of the Day are an attempt to reward attendance in class.

The 1 point awarded to attendance in each Discussion session emphasizes importance

I place on these discussions and the exchange of viewpoints with each other as a way to learn.

Let me add: I consider it very easy to judge the care and curiosity students give to the
materials for the course solely on the basis of their paragraph responses. Experience has taught
me that students who give care and curiosity to these responses will almost always be deserving
of an A, as they give the same care and curiosity to each assignment. The quality of your
paragraph responses will also be very much on my mind when it comes to deciding your final
grade. It can be its own form of tacit extra credit, if you will.

16. Please also feel encouraged to watch movies with friends or family and explore the
offerings in the YouTube Playlist for this course. This Playlist offers a great way to do
something of a self-study of the history, literature, film and music of Los Angeles. I will screen
in class less than half of the materials on the Playlist. You are only responsible for watching
films, film clips, and YouTube screenings I show during class time.

17. Office Hours and Response to Text Messages or Emails

I welcome the chance to conduct officer hour meetings with you through Zoom. We can
make Zoom meeting appointment during my official hour, and I am also very willing to arrange

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other times for a Zoom meeting. I am also willing to review any grades you get for assignments
for the course. I am also willing, when possible, to review a draft of an assignment to give
advice.

I try to respond promptly to text messages and emails. Sometimes it can be more difficult
to me to do that than at other times. I generally try to respond within at least 24 hours. But it is
often easier to answer some questions in person rather than in a text message. I welcome both
methods to contact me, but the more complex the question, the more I prefer to answer it in
person

18. Laptops and Phones should be turned off when films and media are being screened in
class.

The same policy in movie theaters applies to this course: Keep your laptops and phone dark
during the screening of films and media such as YouTube clips during class.

19. The Syllabus is subject to revision.

This syllabus is subject to revision, and I will not address in lecture every reading assigned
for the course. I will try to notify you in advance of each class the specific readings or chapters
that will be the focus for the next class. The Boldfaced readings on the syllabus will always be
of primary importance.

USC’s General Education Statement

General Education Requirement GE-B, Humanistic Inquiry

We all are self-reflective. We try to make sense of what it means to be human and how to relate
to one another. We seek to understand ourselves and the world around us, and always we think
about how things could be, or should be, or might have been. Humanistic inquiry takes us into
realms that lie at the heart of what it means to be a thinking, feeling person, and into realms of
interpretation and analysis beyond what facts and figures alone can tell us.

Courses in humanistic inquiry encourage close engagement with works of the imagination—in
words, sight, and sound—understanding what it means to live another life and see over the
horizon. We explore language as a medium of artistic expression and communication. We study
systems of language and thought. We seek to understand traditions that create different cultures
—their concepts, values, and events in history—and see them in relation to one another. Our
courses emphasize forms of representation and methods of interpretation, adopting broad
perspectives that are chronological, disciplinary, and cross-disciplinary. Students immerse
themselves in arts and letters to think about their own place in history and in contemporary
society, and inquire into our shared futures.

Learning Objectives

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USC’s Humanistic Inquiry program will introduce you to a broad range of courses and ways of
thinking that will take you beyond the specialization of your major and significantly extend your
ability to understand the human world and your place in it. The program will help you achieve
six principal learning objectives.

In Humanistic Inquiry courses you will:

• Reflect on what it means to be human through close study of human experience throughout
time and across diverse cultures;

• Cultivate a critical appreciation for various forms of human expression, including literature,
language, philosophy, and the arts, as well as develop an understanding of the contexts from
which these forms emerge;

• Engage with lasting ideas and values that have animated humanity throughout the centuries for
a more purposeful, more ethical, and intellectually richer life;

• Learn to read and interpret actively and analytically, to think critically and creatively, and to
write and speak persuasively;

• Learn to evaluate ideas from multiple perspectives and to formulate informed opinions on
complex issues of critical importance in today's global world;

• Learn to collaborate effectively through traditional and new ways of disseminating knowledge.

Having successfully met the learning objectives, you will have acquired both practical skills and
more intangible competencies. You will master strategies for finding, reading and understanding
relevant information from different genres, for analyzing complex problems, for making and
evaluating compelling arguments, and for preparing effective presentations. You will become a
clearer thinker and a stronger writer. You will know how to situate current events and ideas in
the right historical and cultural context to be able to make better decisions. You will gain new
insights and be inspired. You will be ready for a life of learning and creativity

Definition of Excellence in Teaching

USC Department of English
All writing is creative, and all civic engagement requires a sophisticated understanding of
discourse and interpretation. The USC Department of English is committed to the power of the
story, the word, and the image. We analyze and organize complex ideas, evaluate qualitative
information, anticipate how real audiences respond to language, and study behaviors of complex
characters leading uncertain lives with competing values. We develop critical abilities for a
successful life, but our stories tell us why life is worth living.

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Excellence in teaching is an active engagement with these commitments, perspectives, and
values. A student with a major in English should graduate with an appreciation for (1) the
relations between representation and the human soul, and (2) the relations between words and
ideas. Teachers will encourage this appreciation through their knowledge and conveyance of the
subject, the appropriateness of instructional materials, and the quality of their students’
responses. We expect our students to:
o understand the major representations in English discourse from earliest beginnings to
the current moment; all literatures exist in conversation with earlier literatures;
o organize and interpret evidence;
o feel the experiences of others, both by engaging in literatures and by their own efforts
to create new literatures;
o understand how periods, cultural intentions, and literary genres differ;
o grasp the skills and theories of interpretation, and the history of our own discipline;
o see how interpretive interests shift with time and place;
o attend to linguistic details of semantics, phrasing, and structure;
o assume there are reasonable alternative understandings of a text;
o adjudicate differences through reasoned arguments that honestly engage counter-argu-
ments.

Our students will have lives in very different arenas, but all calling for skills in discourse,
empathy, civil argument, and civic engagement. We cannot and should not say what those
careers will be; we train students for jobs that have not yet been invented.

English Department students with an interdisciplinary major in Narrative Studies should expect
instruction that inculcates an appreciation for all of the above, and coordinates with definitions of
teaching excellence in USC’s corresponding departments.

The Department of English adheres to the modalities of instruction published in the “USC
Definition of Excellence in Instruction.”

Statement on Academic Conduct and Support Sys-

tems
Academic Conduct:

Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own
words – is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself
with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Part B, Section 11, “Behavior Violating Univer-
sity Standards” policy.usc.edu/scampus-part-b. Other forms of academic dishonesty are equally
unacceptable. See additional information in SCampus and university policies on Research and
Scholarship Misconduct.

Students and Disability Accommodations:

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USC welcomes students with disabilities into all of the University’s educational programs. The
Office of Student Accessibility Services (OSAS) is responsible for the determination of appropri-
ate accommodations for students who encounter disability-related barriers. Once a student has
completed the OSAS process (registration, initial appointment, and submitted documentation)
and accommodations are determined to be reasonable and appropriate, a Letter of Accommoda-
tion (LOA) will be available to generate for each course. The LOA must be given to each course
instructor by the student and followed up with a discussion. This should be done as early in the
semester as possible as accommodations are not retroactive. More information can be found
at osas.usc.edu. You may contact OSAS at (213) 740-0776 or via email
at osasfrontdesk@usc.edu.

Support Systems:

Counseling and Mental Health - (213) 740-9355 – 24/7 on call

studenthealth.usc.edu/counseling
Free and confidential mental health treatment for students, including short-term psychotherapy,
group counseling, stress fitness workshops, and crisis intervention.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 1 (800) 273-8255 – 24/7 on call
suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week.
Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Services (RSVP) - (213) 740-9355(WELL), press
“0” after hours – 24/7 on call
studenthealth.usc.edu/sexual-assault
Free and confidential therapy services, workshops, and training for situations related to gender-
based harm.

Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX (EEO-TIX) - (213) 740-5086
eeotix.usc.edu
Information about how to get help or help someone affected by harassment or discrimination,
rights of protected classes, reporting options, and additional resources for students, faculty, staff,
visitors, and applicants.

Reporting Incidents of Bias or Harassment - (213) 740-5086 or (213) 821-8298

usc-advocate.symplicity.com/care_report
Avenue to report incidents of bias, hate crimes, and microaggressions to the Office for Equity,
Equal Opportunity, and Title for appropriate investigation, supportive measures, and response.

The Office of Student Accessibility Services (OSAS) - (213) 740-0776

osas.usc.edu
OSAS ensures equal access for students with disabilities through providing academic accommo-
dations and auxiliary aids in accordance with federal laws and university policy.
USC Campus Support and Intervention - (213) 821-4710
campussupport.usc.edu

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Assists students and families in resolving complex personal, financial, and academic issues ad-
versely affecting their success as a student.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - (213) 740-2101

diversity.usc.edu
Information on events, programs and training, the Provost’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, Di-
versity Liaisons for each academic school, chronology, participation, and various resources for
students.

USC Emergency - UPC: (213) 740-4321, HSC: (323) 442-1000 – 24/7 on call
dps.usc.edu, emergency.usc.edu
Emergency assistance and avenue to report a crime. Latest updates regarding safety, including
ways in which instruction will be continued if an officially declared emergency makes travel to
campus infeasible.

USC Department of Public Safety - UPC: (213) 740-6000, HSC: (323) 442-120 – 24/7 on call
dps.usc.edu
Non-emergency assistance or information.

Office of the Ombuds - (213) 821-9556 (UPC) / (323-442-0382 (HSC)

ombuds.usc.edu
A safe and confidential place to share your USC-related issues with a University Ombuds who
will work with you to explore options or paths to manage your concern.

Occupational Therapy Faculty Practice - (323) 442-3340 or otfp@med.usc.edu

chan.usc.edu/otfp
Confidential Lifestyle Redesign services for USC students to support health promoting habits
and routines that enhance quality of life and academic performance.

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