GREAT class: it ALL depends on your T.A. You have to be lucky to get an easy grader TA because if not youre screwed. And you won't know this until he grades your first paper which is after week 2 (and harder to change sections). Professor has no power over grades so you better be lucky!!!
You dont have to watch all 20 movies, only the 3 for your 3 essays.

The first essay is on the first movie you see (he gives you a prompt)
The second essay is on any movie from weeks 2-3 (4 options) (gives you a prompt for each option but you can invent your own prompt)
The third essay is on any movie from weeks 4-10 (14 options) (doesn't give you prompt, you can invent your own)

SYLLABUS:

Course Description: Scandinavian 60W provides undergraduates with a broad introductory overview of the cinematic traditions of the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). The course also meets the College diversity requirement to help students better understand the perspectives of others whose histories, experiences, cultures and social conditions may differ from one’s own. Frames of reference include but are not limited to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, language, nationality, citizenship status, and place of origin. This quarter’s films include classic Nordic films from directors such as Victor Sjöström, Alf Sjöberg, Ingmar Bergman, Mai Zetterling, Vilgot Sjöman, Lukas Moodysson, Josef Fares, Tomas Alfredson (Sweden), Carl Th. Dreyer, Thomas Vinterberg, Lona Scherfig, Susanne Bier (Denmark), Peter Naess, Khalid Hussain (Norway), Aki Kaurismäki (Finland) and Baltasar Kormákur (Iceland). The course also meets the Writing II requirement. We will focus on critical thinking, close textual analysis, and developing persuasive, well-written essays. In addition to section work (including informal writing exercises, group work, etc.), three formal writing essays of increasing length and scope are required. Students will substantially revise at least fifteen pages of essay draft versions to further develop and refine their ideas, arguments, and critical-analytical voice. Focused and engaged participation in lectures and section meetings is also a key part of the student’s overall grade. Our readings include the textbook Writing About Movies (4th edition) Gocsik, Barsam, Monahan (W.W. Norton, 2015), and selected scholarly articles as PDFs on the course website.
This course satisfies the Writing II and Diversity requirements.

Required book texts: ASUCLA Bookstore in Ackerman
Writing About Movies (4th edition) Gocsik, Barsam, and Monahan,. W.W. Norton, 2015.

Additional designated reading assignments will be available as PDFs on the course website.

GRADING

In-class participation at lectures 10%

Participation in section meetings
(all assignments, discussions, exercises, etc.) 15%

Essay #1 (4-5 pages)
Draft version 8%
Revised version +12% = 20% total

Essay #2 (5-6 pages)
Draft version 10%
Revised version +15% = 25% total

Essay #3 (6-7 pages)
Draft version 10%
Revised version +20% = 30% total

Total: 100 course points

GRADE SCALE
A+ 97-100 % B+ 87-89 % C+ 77-79 % D+ 67-69 %
A 93-96 % B 83-86 % C 73-76 % D 63-66 %
A- 90-92 % B- 80-82 % C- 70-72 % D- 60-62 %
F 0-59 %

Essay Writing assignments:
You will be asked to write and revise three essays in the course of the quarter. All drafts and revised essays must be double-spaced, have 1-inch margins, be in a 12 pt. font size, and use Times New Roman or a similar font. Essay formatting should conform to either the MLA or Chicago Manual of Style guides.

All essays must first be turned in as an advanced draft. An advanced draft is meant to be a full-length essay that has been thought out carefully. It is not simply an outline or sketch of an idea but is a structured draft essay. All drafts will receive a grade. Each draft must be rewritten once, unless it receives an A+ on the first round. Both the draft version grade and the revised version grade count toward your final grade.
If the revised essay is not a significant improvement over the draft version, your grade will be reduced! Minor cosmetic changes do not constitute a serious revision.

Essays 1 & 2: Essay topics will be handed out in advance for the first two essays. Essay #1 must be 4-5 pages and Essay #2 must be 5-6 pages in length.

Essay 3: The third essay will be an argument/approach of your own choosing on an assigned text from Week 5 or after. You must discuss your proposed paper in advance with your TA and have it approved. The third essay will also require some research and use of secondary sources. Essay #3 must be 6-7 pages in length.

Policy on late papers: Meet the deadlines. Late drafts and papers will be docked a 2/3 reduction of a letter grade for missing the initial deadline and 2/3 of a grade thereafter for each additional 24-hour day late.

POLICY ON PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. It is a violation of the UCLA Student Conduct Code and will result in the automatic assignation of a failing grade and referral to the Dean of Students for disciplinary action.
Refer to http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/dos/assets/documents/StudentCC.pdf
for Student Guide to Academic Integrity.

UCLA Student Conduct Code
102.01c: Plagiarism
Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the use of another's words or ideas as if they were one's own, including, but not limited to, representing, either with the intent to deceive or by the omission of the true source, part of or an entire work produced by someone other than the student, obtained by purchase or otherwise, as the student's original work or representing the identifiable but altered ideas, data, or writing of another person as if those ideas, data, or writing were the student's original work.

Other General Policies

The class carries impacted course status. Enrolled students will be automatically dropped if they miss lecture and discussion meetings Tuesday and Thursday of Week 1. Also, there is no section-switching. You will need to stay in the section you are enrolled in or else drop the course.

Because of university policy, the class is strictly limited to 88 students maximum (or 22 students maximum per each of the 4 TAs). Students on the waitlist will be issued PTEs only if and when openings appear. Waitlisters are advised to keep open all their other options for Writing II classes in other depts., e.g, in Comparative Literature and English.

Ultimate responsibility for all class material, and for familiarity with the syllabus, rests with the student. Students are expected to complete all assignments in advance of each class meeting and to arrive to classes on time (chronic tardiness will negatively affect your grade). Be prepared to participate.

All written work must be submitted via Turnitin. Login to MyUCLA, go to your "Courses" page, and look for the "Turnitin" link under the class name. To submit a paper, click the "submit" icon next to the assignment name.

There are no “redos,” make-ups, or extra credit. Points are awarded based only on the criteria outlined in this syllabus. You are graded on the quality of work that you turned in, not simply on the fact that you turned something in.

Please note that the professor will not change any grade assigned to you by your TA and is not a court of appeals.

The student will not be given an Incomplete (I) grade except in cases of extraordinarily damaging crises.

Graduating seniors are graded on the same basis as other students, without special consideration.

UCLA’s Mobile Phone and Pager Policy
Any disruption of a class due to the audible beeping or use of mobile phones or pagers will be treated as a violation of Section 102.13 of the UCLA Student Conduct Code and will subject a student to sanctions up to and including suspension or dismissal. Mobile phones and pagers must be turned off while in classes, libraries, or other quiet areas.

Please silence and put away smartphones during class. Using your mobile devices during class is rude, disrespectful, and distracting. Wait until you are outside of the classroom.

Viewing the films in advance:
It is the student’s responsibility to view each assigned film in advance of class.

Instructional Media Lab:
All of the assigned films for the course are available for viewing on DVD in the Instructional Media Lab in Powell 270. Spring quarter hours are:
Monday-Thursday 10am – 9pm
Friday 10am – 6pm
Saturday CLOSED
Sunday 1pm - 6pm

Bruin Media: Each film can also be viewed digitally through BruinMedia via the CCLE (Common Collaboration and Learning Environment) course link on MyUCLA. Find the films under Media Resources on the course website menu. Your computer or device needs to have downloaded Microsoft Silverlight. Mozilla Firefox is recommended also for optional access and viewing.

Update from the Office of Instructional Media: This quarter we will continue the process of transitioning from Bruin Media to Wowza.  Our office will be streaming video from both platforms as we continue to shift away from Bruin Media. When the files have been shifted to Wowza the students shouldn’t have issues with which browser to use, as it no longer relies on Silverlight.  In fact when a film link is opened the media is played in the same window as the course website, it no longer launches as a new window. Microsoft Silverlight is being phased out, so they are no longer updating it and releasing new versions.  So if the students have Silverlight installed, they won’t experience having to install new versions and have it be incompatible with different browsers.  Titles still on Bruin Media would require Silverlight and students would want to avoid Chrome or Safari, Firefox is usually the recommended browser, but we were told that once a title resides on Wowza, those issues should be gone. Students shouldn’t be able to know if a certain title is being streamed through Bruin Media or Wowza.
 

Weekly Assignments (subject to minor revisions):

WEEK 1 SJÖSTRÖM AND THE SWEDISH SILENT GOLDEN AGE

Tuesday, April 4
Introduction to course, course syllabus, policies, etc.

Thursday, April 6
View in advance: Victor Sjöström, The Phantom Carriage/Körkarlen (Sweden, 1921) 106 min.
Read: Writing About Movies (4th ed.) Chap 1: “The Challenges of Writing About Movies” (3-17) and Chap. 2: “Looking at Movies” (19-34)
Topic prompts for essay #1 handed out in lecture

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WEEK 2 DREYER, SJÖBERG, AND WWII ALLEGORIES

Tuesday, April 11
View in advance: Carl Th. Dreyer, Day of Wrath/Vredens Dag (Denmark, 1943) 97 min.
Read: Writing About Movies: Chap. 5: “Generating Ideas”; Chap. 7: “Developing Your Thesis” (137-146) and “Illustrated Glossary of Film Terms” (195-263)

Thursday, April 13
View in advance: Alf Sjöberg, Torment/Hets (Sweden, 1944) 101 min.
Complete 4-5 page draft of essay #1 due to TA via Turnitin by 11 am today

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WEEK 3 INGMAR BERGMAN: DISABILITY, AGE, AND WISDOM

Tuesday, April 18
View in advance: Ingmar Bergman, Music in Darkness/Musik i mörker (Sweden, 1948) 84 min.
Read: Writing About Movies: Chap. 8: “Considering Structure and Organization” (147-166)

Thursday, April 120
View in advance: Ingmar Bergman, Wild Strawberries/Smultronstället (Sweden, 1957) 91 min.
Read: Writing About Movies: Chap. 10: “Revising Your Work” (181-191)

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WEEK 4 THE SIXTIES: SEX, POLITICS, FEMINISM, AND NORDIC NEW WAVES
 
Tuesday, April 25
View in advance: Vilgot Sjöman, I am Curious Yellow/Jag är nyfiken - gul (Sweden,1967)121m.
Final revision of Essay #1 due to TA via Turnitin by 11 am
Topic prompts for essay #2 handed out in lecture

Thursday, April 27
View in advance: Mai Zetterling, The Girls/Flickorna (Sweden, 1968) 100 min.
Read: Mariah Larsson, “Modernity, Masculinity and the Swedish Welfare State in Mai Zetterling’s Flickorna” PDF
Read: Writing About Movies: Chap. 3: “Formal Analysis” (35-54)
and Chap. 6: “Researching Movies” (125-135)

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WEEK 5 BERGMAN’S 1968 CIVIL WAR; MOODYSSON AND THE “SEVENTIES”
Tuesday, May 2
View in advance: Ingmar Bergman, Shame/Skammen (Sweden, 1968) 93 min.

Thursday, May 4
View in advance: Lukas Moodysson, Together/Tillsammans (Sweden, 2000) 107 min.
Complete 5-6 page draft of essay #2 due to TA via Turnitin by 11 am

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WEEK 6 DOGME 95: DENMARK, MANIFESTOS, THE AESTHETICS OF LIMITS
Tuesday, May 9
View in advance: Thomas Vinterberg, The Celebration/Festen (Denmark, 1997) 106 min.
Read: Writing About Movies: Chap. 4: “Cultural Analysis” (55-100)

Thursday, May 11
Screen in class: first half of Lone Scherfig’s Italian for Beginners (Denmark, 2000) 97 min.
Read: Writing About Movies: Chap. 9: “Attending to Style” (167-179)
Professor Lunde away at SASS Scandinavian Studies conference

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WEEK 7 KAURISMÄKI’S AMNESIA VICTIM; VAMPIRES AND OTHERNESS
Tuesday, May 16
View in advance: Aki Kaurismäki, The Man without a Past (Finland, 2002) 97 min.
Read: Bert Cardullo, “Finnish Character: An Interview with Aki Kaurismäki” PDF
Read: Thomas Elsaesser, “Hitting Bottom: Aki Kaurismäki and the abject subject” PDF

Thursday, May 18
View in advance: Tomas Alfredson, Let the Right One In /Låt den rätta komma in (Sweden, 2008) 115 min.
Read: Rochelle Wright, “Vampire in the Stockholm suburbs: Let the Right
One In and genre hybridity” PDF
Revised essay #2 due to TA via Turnitin by 11 am
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WEEK 8 ETHNIC ROMANTIC COMEDIES AND THE MULTICULTURAL NORTH

Tuesday, May 23
View in advance: Josef Fares, The Best Man’s Wedding/Jalla! Jalla! (Sweden, 2000). 92 min.
Read: Rochelle Wright, “’Immigrant Film’ in Sweden at the Millenium” PDF

Thursday, May 25
View in advance: Khalid Hussain, Import Export/ Import eksport (Norway, 2005). 90 min
Complete 6-7 page draft of Essay #3 due to TA via Turnitin by 11 am

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WEEK 9 OUTLIERS AND THE NORDIC SOCIAL WELFARE STATE

Tuesday, May 30
View in advance: Peter Naess, Elling (Norway, 2001) 90 min.

Thursday, June 1
View in advance: Baltasar Kormákur, 101 Reykjavik (Iceland, 2000) 88 min.

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WEEK 10 DANISH DREAMS OF BIER AND VON TRIER

Tuesday, June 6
View in advance: Susanne Bier, After the Wedding (Denmark, 2006) 119 min.
Read: Belinda Smaill, “The Male Sojourner, the Female Director, and Popular European Cinema: The Worlds of Susanne Bier” PDF

Thursday, June 8
Screen in class: Opening section of Lars von Trier’s Melancholia (Denmark, 2011) 135 min.

Friday, June 9: Revised essay #3 due to TAs via Turnitin by 11 pm

Professor Arne is always on time, organized, and a well-articulated lecturer. Not to mention, one of the best UCLA professors that actually encourage you to learn and not penalize by grading harshly as long as you do the work. I have taken a few of his courses, I still believe he is a great well-rounded professor in the Scandinavian department. Professor Arne is passionate, knowledgeable, and very inclusive towards all his students. He really promotes a good learning experience for all his fellow students. For mid term and finals, tests are "basic" things you learn by attending class and reading over the assigned texts which are manageable, mostly interesting readings that he picked out. Note: I am evaluating this course based on an average student perspective, as I am not a nerd or someone that does all the readings. This is a good class to learn and its easy. Hope it helps.

To simply label his class as easy is a slap in the face to what learning is. Incredibly open minded, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. His passion is as contagious as the swine flu, and quadruple the impact. Take his class simply as a reminder that in this hyper competitive environment (or at least as a premed), classroom and learning can still be an absolute joy. Haven't gotten grade yet, but I don't even care. Do his extra credits also (which is watching intelligent, thoughtful films that will also positively influence your life). Who knew I would ever write one of these reviews...

If I could take 100 classe with professor Lunde, I would. He is one of the kindest professors I've had at at UCLA. He wants everyone to succeed in his class. He's very passionate about the material he teaches. I never thought I'd be interested in film noir or Swedish films but his passion and teaching style makes everything interesting! If you're in a spot where you need some extra credits, or just want to have a very laid back class, take him! The workload is very doable ie watching films and submitting a few 250-300 word responses, a group project that's actually fun because you can do it on what you want, and a midterm and final that he gives you the study guide for).

Professor Lunde is great. I like his teaching style a lot. He gives great feedback and makes the classes very enjoyable. He is a great too.

Mr. Lunde is by far the best professor I have had at UCLA. I would recommend his class to anyone. He is amazing! He is kind, intelligent, funny, and overall a wonderful person and professor. Although he does assign a good amount of reading, it is all very interesting and intriguing. It is not boring or tedious, but he actually assigns stories that are page turners. His midterm itself was average, but he grades so easily everyone in the class received a good grade. He even told us that he wanted to give everyone good grades. I loved this class and him! Everything you would want in a teacher, Mr. Lunde has. TAKE HIM!

wow professor arnie is probably the nicest professor at ucla! he smiles the whole time and is very down to earth and even though i was kind of lost, i loved coming to class each time and attendance counts so definitely you have to go! i would recommend this for any film buffs who want to branch out from your typical hollywood movies but if subtitles aren't your thing then probably not :-)

He is very nice and with a strong drive to teach. Request at least some participation from the students. He literally calls your name out to ask you questions if he feels like your participating score is a little low. 2 response and 2 reading every week. Lots of memorization for the midterm and final, but as long you know what you're talking about he will give you points for it. This is a very enjoyable class. 98 on midterm A for the class.

Professor Arne is a very well lecturer, knowledgeable, and highly organized. I took his class during fall, it was a very interesting course. Students would enjoy the class and get a good grade as long as you do all your weekly readings, response paper, and participate in class discussion. I would definitely recommend Professor Arne if you were considering taking a Scandinavian course because he is a wonderful professor who tries to help in any way possible. : ) I got an A at the end. I was a fun, entertaining, and easy course if you do the work.

I have taken two classes with Professor Lunde, and he is a great professor. He loves his subject material, even if it is in a field that does not get much love or attention. His classes are very interesting, because he highly encourages participation. He is very generous with grades, and he gives you a very helpful handout for the midterm and final. He's really just an all-around great guy.