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Key to abbreviations for assignments listed on this page: |
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| Neupert | John Lasseter by Richard Neupert. Illinois University Press: 2016. (ISBN 0252081641) |
| W&G | Pixar's Boy Stories: Masculinity in a Postmodern Age by Shannon R. Wooden and Ken Gillam. Rowan & Littlefield, 2014. (ISBN 1442233583) e-book available online via CSU Library |
| Meinel | Pixar's America: The Re-Animation of American Myths and Symbols by Dietmar Meinel. Palgrave McMillan, 2016. (ISBN 31981036) |
| View | View the assigned film via free streaming hyperlinks on D2L before class |
| D2L | PDF files posted online via D2L. |
Please note: this syllabus is subject to change (with notice).
Monday, August 14
| Introduction to the course | |
| Reading: | 1. Neupert, 1-29 (Optional) |
| View in class | The Pixar Story (Leslie Iwerks 2007, 88 min.) |
| Quiz 0: | --Complete Quiz 0 on D2L before Monday at 11:59pm (covers the syllabus and introductory lecture) --Lockdown Browser and Respondus Webcam Monitor required --Use the Practice Quiz on D2L to check that you have the latest version *well before* any D2L quiz |
Wednesday, August 16
| View in class: | The Pixar Story (Leslie Iwerks 2007, 88 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Neupert, 29-54 (also available on D2L if you don't have your book yet) |
Monday, August 21
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Neupert 55-70 |
| View: | Luxo, Jr. (John Lasseter 1986, 2:09 min.) Red's Dream (John Lasseter 1987, 4:12 min. ) Lifted (Gary Rydstrom 2007, 5 min.) |
Wednesday, August 23
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Neupert 73-89 |
| View: | Tin Toy (John Lasseter 1988, 5:10 min.) Geri's Game (Jan Pinkava 1997, 4:52 min.) Knick Knack (John Lasseter 1989, 3:35 min.) La Luna (Enrico Casarosa 2011, 6:54 min.) |
| Additional clips and/or recommended films this week: |
| A Story (Andrew Stanton 1987, 4.34 min.) | |
| Day & Night (Teddy Newton 2010, 6.03 min.) |
Monday, August 28
| View: | Toy Story (John Lasseter 1995, 81 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Neupert 90-104 and 114-119 |
Wednesday, August 30
| Test 1: | On campus in person in U272. * Test 1 covers all films, readings, and lectures from Section 1. * Test format includes Short Answer questions (Part 1) and Objective questions (Part 2). * Bring a scantron, 2 pencils, and 2 pens. |
Monday, September 4 (Labor Day Holiday)
| NO CLASS MEETING IN HONOR OF LABOR DAY HOLIDAY |
Wednesday, September 6
| View: | Toy Story (John Lasseter 1995, 81 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. W&G page 1-bottom of page 5, top of page 9-11, 13-18, and 89-96 |
| 2. Leon Gurevitch excerpts on D2L from "Computer Generated Animation as Product Design Engineered Culture, or Buzz Lightyear to the Sales Floor, to the Checkout and Beyond!" (2012) pages 135-137 and 139-141 |
Monday, September 11
| View: | Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter 1999, 92 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. W&G 110-117 |
Wednesday, September 13
| View: | Monsters, Inc. (Pete Docter 2001, 92 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. W&G 48-52 on Monsters Inc. and 55-56 and 65-66 on Monster's University 2. Meinel excerpt on D2L from Pixar's America (2016) pages: top of 82-91 |
| Additional clips and/or recommended films this week: |
| Monsters University (Dan Scanlon 2013) |
Monday, September 18
| View: | The Incredibles (Brad Bird 2004, 115 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. W&G 22-27 and 37-48 and 85-87 |
Wednesday, September 20
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Eric Herhuth excerpt on D2L from Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination: Animation, Storytelling, and Digital Culture (2017) pages: bottom of 134-146 and top of 148-151 |
| Additional clips and/or recommended films this week: |
| The Incredibles 2 (Brad Bird 2018) |
Monday, September 25
| View: | Cars (John Lasseter 2006, 117 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. W&G 66-67 on Cars and bottom of 70-74 and top of 76-77 on Cars 2 2. Neupert 153-159 3. Meinel excerpt on D2L from Pixar's America (2016) pages: 198-204 |
Wednesday, September 27
| Test 2: | On campus in person in U272. * Test 2 covers all films, readings, and lectures from Section 2. * Test format includes Short Answer questions (Part 1) and Objective questions (Part 2). * Bring a scantron, 2 pencils, and 2 pens. |
| Additional clips and/or recommended films this week: |
| Cars 2 (John Lasseter and Brad Lewis 2011) | |
| Cars 3 (Brian Fee 2017) |
Monday, October 2
| View: | Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich 2003, 100 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Jack Halberstam excerpts on D2L from The Queer Art of Failure (2011) pages: bottom of 29-31 and 42-49 and bottom of 78-82 and bottom of 174-176 |
Wednesday, October 4
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Suzan G. Brydon, excerpts from "Men at the Heart of Mothering: Finding Mother in Finding Nemo" pages: last paragraph of 133 and top of 137-143 on D2L 2. Think through the film: How is it "Pixarvolt" and how is it not? |
| And please take a moment to complete our Midterm Course Feeback Survey |
Monday, October 9
| NO CLASS MEETING DURING FALL BREAK |
Wednesday, October 11
| View: | Ratatouille (Brad Bird 2007, 111 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Eric Herhuth excerpt on D2L from Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination: Animation, Storytelling, and Digital Culture (2017) pages: 179-183 2. Meinel excerpt on D2L from Pixar's America (2016) pages: 100-111 3. Think through the film: How is it "Pixarvolt" and how is it not? |
Monday, October 16
| View: | WALL-E (Andrew Stanton 2008, 98 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Meinel excerpt on D2L from Pixar's America (2016) pages: 122-127 2. Daniel Goldmark, "Pixar and the Animated Soundtrack" in The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics (2013) unpaginated: read the last 2.5 pages of the article (the section about WALL-E between the asterisks marking *** "WALL-E presents..." to "keen sense of nostalgia." ***) on D2L |
Wednesday, October 18
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Jason Sperb excerpt on D2L from Flickers of Film: Nostalgia in the Time of Digital Cinema (2016) "Going Home... For the First Time!" pages: 89-middle of 97 and middle of 106-113 2. Think through the film: How is it "Pixarvolt" and how is it not? |
| Additional clips and/or recommended films this week: |
| The Triplettes of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet 2003) |
Monday, October 23
| View: | Up (Pete Docter 2009, 96 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Dennis Tyler, "Home is Where the Heart Is: Pixar's Up" pages: 268-very top of 270 and middle of 273-279 on D2L 2. Meinel excerpt on D2L from Pixar's America (2016) pages: 147-top of 151 3. Daniel Goldmark, "Pixar and the Animated Soundtrack" in The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics (2013) unpaginated: read the 1.5 pages of the article just before the section we already read about WALL-E (the section between the asterisks marking *** "The two films I want..." to "Carl's quest and Ellie's spirit." ***) on D2L 4. Think through the film: How is it "Pixarvolt" and how is it not? |
Wednesday, October 25
| View: | Brave (Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman 2012, 93 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Noel Brown, excerpt on D2L from Contemporary Hollywood Animation: Style, Storytelling, Culture, and Ideology Since the 1990s (2022) pages: middle of 128 - middle of 133 2. Two blog links on D2L on Brave (For the first one, read just the first section about Brave, not the other two movies) 3. Think through the film: How is it "Pixarvolt" and how is it not? |
| **FCPA Creative Careers Fair on Friday, October 27** |
| Additional clips and/or recommended films this week: |
| Next Door (Pete Docter 1990) |
Monday, October 30
| View: | Inside Out (Pete Docter 2015, 95 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Noel Brown, excerpt on D2L from Contemporary Hollywood Animation: Style, Storytelling, Culture, and Ideology Since the 1990s (2022) pages: 74-77 2. Ebert.com review of Inside Out on D2L 3. The Guardian review of Inside Out on D2L including 4m video in middle of review text 4. Think through the film: How is it "Pixarvolt" and how is it not? |
Wednesday, November 1
| Test 3: | On campus in person in U272. * Test 3 covers all films, readings, and lectures from Section 3. * Test format includes Short Answer questions (Part 1) and Objective questions (Part 2). * Bring a scantron, 2 pencils, and 2 pens. |
Monday, November 6
| View: | Coco (Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, 2017, 105 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. Noel Brown, excerpt on D2L from Contemporary Hollywood Animation: Style, Storytelling, Culture, and Ideology Since the 1990s (2022) pages: 114-118 and 72-73 |
| 2. Juan Castellanos, "Coco: Capitalist Appropriation of Mexican Tradition" on D2L 3. Eren Cervantes-Altamirano, "Understanding Mexican Nationalism and Mestizaje Through the Film “Coco”" on D2L |
Wednesday, November 8
| View: | Soul (Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, 2020, 101 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | 1. "Feeling the Soul": Pete Docter and Kemp Powers Tread New Ground with Pixar's Metaphysical Latest" on D2L |
| 2. "Soul Searching: Pixar Gets Jazzed for its Latest Film, Which Explores New Beginnings" on D2L 3. Robert Daniels, "The Frustrating Tradition Behind Soul’s Great Flaw" on D2L |
Monday, November 13
| View: | Turning Red (Domee Shi 2022, 100 min.) |
| Reading & Quiz: | Selected reviews posted on D2L: 1. NYT review: "With Turning Red, a Big Red Panda Helps Break a Glass Ceiling" 2. Ebert.com review: "Turning Red movie review" 3. Chicago Sun-Times Roeper review: "Turning Red: Disney+ Movie Starts with Bold Premise but Script Sputters" 4. Slant review: "Turning Red: A Sweet, If Stretched-Thin, Metaphor of Adolescent Change" |
Wednesday, November 15
| Closing Feeback Survey due and Class Party Potluck |
| Review of Section 4 on cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation & general Pixar themes. Bring your questions and ideas! |
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Bring your laptop or smartphone to class. * University Course Evaluations this week. * Class party potluck: Bring food "to share" with the class! |
| Additional clips and/or recommended films this week: |
| Elemental (Peter Sohn 2023, 109 min.) |
Monday, November 20
| View: | TBA |
| Reading & Quiz: | TBA |
Wednesday, November 22
| NO CLASS MEETING DURING THANKSGIVING BREAK |
Monday, November 27 - Wednesday, November 29
| NO CLASS MEETING THIS WEEK DUE TO CONFERENCE | |
| Online Course Evaluations this week |
Monday, December 4
| Test 4: | On campus in person in U272. * Test 4 covers all films, readings, and lectures from Section 4 and major themes from Sections 1, 2, and 3. * Test format includes Short Answer questions (Part 1) and Objective questions (Part 2). * Bring a scantron, 2 pencils, and 2 pens. |