This lecture course examines the career of Satyajit Ray, film director of the famed Apu Trilogy (1955-59) and recipient of a "Lifetime Achievement" Oscar. Celebrated as a modernist master, Ray was a towering postcolonial auteur who explored the challenges faced by modern Indian society. Still the best-selling author of young adult fiction in Bengali, his creativity also spanned music, the fine arts, and commercial graphic design. The course critically situates Ray's entire oeuvre in relation to the cultural milieus of mid-century Bengal, India, and the world.
4
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeThis man was the bane of my existence. 3 hour rambling lectures. Ranting about cultural theory while he's teaching a class about a director. Last minute study guides for midterms and always going over time when showing a film. He also gave us our final essay guidelines about 2 weeks before the final and gave very little help on how to write them
The professor doesn't have any slides and you have to sit through almost 3 hours listening to this guy ramble. He waits until the last second to give you information about something; he didn't email us about the paper until under a week before the due date. Just a simple list of instructions for the paper weeks before would've been more than enough
he has no organization whatsoever, no slides, and no way to reach him outside of class. midterm is unnecessarily hard, and his grading is questionable. i don't mind a tough professor, but i do mind one that can't teach and is being unfair.
I'm taking 155SR. Class times are incredibly long, about 3 hours and they feel almost useless. He rambles, has no slides, and no organization whatsoever. I'll give compliments that he is easy to get ahold of outside of class and the subject is interesting; but, it's very hard to get on board when the professor isn't 100% ready to teach the subject.
The 3 hour lectures had no slides and were impossible to retain any information. The 2 exams were 50% of our grade, and tested students on material that he never covered in lecture. He went on directionless tangents in lecture, and expected students to essentially teach themselves about the course material. Superficial and rude professor and TA.
I really loved Prof Sarkar's class. I find myself referencing his course concepts in my daily life. Some of the readings are tough, but he went over most of the really difficult/important ones in class. Midterm - 20% of grade, Final 20%, Research paper 40%, Attendance 20%. Graded entirely by the TA. 3 hr lectures were long but kept me engaged.