Final Exam: Three Short Essays
Due via e-mail by midnight on Friday, May 11th
The writing prompts for the final exam have been sent to the class in an e-mail. Please let me know if you have not received it, and I can re-send it to you individually.
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ESSAY #2: Social Analysis of a Film
Due via e-mail by midnight on Friday, May 11th
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ESSAY #2: Social Analysis of a Film
Due via e-mail on Tuesday, 4/24/12
It is, as we know, quite easy to get swept up into the narrative of a film – immersed in its images, surrounded by the sound – which is to say nothing of how we might identify with or feel for the characters as though they were real. As so many modernist and postmodernist interventions have reminded us, however, we are always only watching a work of artifice that is elaborately constructed and ideologically loaded. On the latter point, it is worth recalling that the ideological repercussions of a film are just as often unintended as they are the product of the filmmaker’s own agenda.
With this essay, we will aim to demonstrate the way in which films can be read as social commentary – or at the very least, the way that film comments on and re-presents problems in our so-called “real” world. There are aspects to every film that we've viewed so far – from the shortest short film to the longest, most drawn-out drama – that allude to and/or interrogate something deeply interesting, challenging, or problematic about the way things are in the world: either at the time of the film’s production, or as we view it today. Through a very careful and thorough analysis of the many aspects of one film from the course, your essay should offer a strong critical interpretation of the way that these ideas are at work in that film. In what way do the technical or formal aspects of the film contribute to a deeper understanding of the subject matter? (This includes everything from framing to lighting to soundtracks to narration to direct address and so on. You know – all the stuff we’ve literally seen so far.) What kind of irony or affect is established by the director’s choices or the actor’s performances? In what way do we literally see something in this film that challenges our previous ways of viewing the world? These are just a few questions with which you might get started.
You might also start thinking about the ways in which questions of social class, gender, ethnicity, disability, war, depression, violence, and globalism have been raised in the many films that we've viewed so far. "Social issues" can be understood very broadly in this context, though, and doesn't simply have to revolve around an identifiable conflict or question of social justice. Issues relating to identity, isolation, alienation -- anything that challenges the viewer to rethink her being-in-the-world.
In addition to your own thoughtful analysis of the film, the ideas that are introduced in this essay should be supported by academic writing on the topic that you choose. This can include scholarly essays or books that discuss your chosen film directly, but because not all of what we've viewed will have articles specifically about that text, you might also look at more general works about film theory or essays about your chosen topic as it has been addressed in other films. We will be discussing research strategies in class, and as always I am happy to meet with anyone individually to help with whatever I can.
Please include at least three secondary sources in the essay, which should be 4.5 to 5 double-spaced pages in length. Also, this essay should be about a different film than that which you chose for the first paper.
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Essay #1: Close Analysis of a Scene
Due vie e-mail by midnight on Sunday, March 4th ***note new date!***
As the wealth of visual information washes over us, we begin to observe and isolate aspects of a film that seem to suggest something beyond the sheer fact that we can see them. This, we might say, is the transformation of a "referent" into a "signifier." Through this process, the film – as with any other kind of text – can be understood to be saying something, either intentionally (as a result of the director’s vision) or unintentionally (because no amount of control can account for every possible meaning, which is a side effect of the signifier).
By now, we have been exposed to the many potential sites of meaning within a film – either as information in our textbooks, discussion points brought up in class, or more likely, simply some stuff that you noticed on your own and thought about. The purpose of our first essay is to present an in-depth exploration and analysis of a single scene from one of the films that we will have viewed by the assignment’s due date: Rear Window, Modern Times, Ikiru, Lost in Translation, or Brazil. By focusing our attention on only a few minutes of a film, we are afforded more time and room to look at as much as we can see and hear. Your analysis should take into account both the formal aspects of film-making (lightning, mise-en-scene, camera angles, etc.); symbolic motifs (recurring images or ideas that we find elsewhere in the film); and the thematic content of the scene (like, what is actually going on). You will likely discover that the critical significance or emotional effect of this particular scene emerges out of the interplay between these three.
Of course, for your essay to actually make sense you will also need to connect the importance of this particular scene to the film as a whole. The conclusion of your essay might address how what we can interpret in this scene transforms and/impacts our understanding of the film itself. Your essay should also demonstrate a familiarity with the language of film studies and film-making (for instance, the appropriate use of key terms and concepts). Additionally, it is necessary to present an interpretation of your chosen scene that goes beyond something that we may have said about it in class. In other words, please be sure to add to our overall understanding of the scene and the film, and not merely reiterate points that have been previously discussed. You can build on what we have already said, of course, but I am above all interested in what you can say about the film – what it is that you observe and find interesting or important, and how you can then apply this insight into a thoughtful and original interpretation.
No additional research is necessary for this essay, but you will need to acknowledge and cite any concepts from film studies that you have learned in our textbooks. Length = 1200-1600 words.
