These 2 essay questions demand a close detailed reading of both films. You may need to screen both films again (Ali on Kanopy, Manchurian Candidate readily available to rent) to provide specific examples from the film (composition, lighting, sound, cinematography) to support your points. Do not limit your discussion to the content alone! Do not just describe—analyze! You must use at least 2 quotes from your readings for each essay – plus 1 quote for each essay from an additional academic text that you research & read on your own. (This can include readings on the films themselves, or contextual information such as the legacy of Nazism, McCarthyism, etc.) Feel free to compare to other films seen this semester. Each essay should be at least 4 pages, double spaced.
1) In Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, during an early dialogue between Emmi and Ali, he says:
“Fear is not good. Fear eats soul up.” Explain how Fassbinder’s film orchestrates and explores the dynamics of fear of the Other. Using specific scenes as examples, consider such issues as migration, racism, nationalism, the legacy of Nazism in German history, guest workers, the structure of the nuclear family, and anti-Arab sentiment and how these are shown (both visually and narratively) to disastrously affect the romance between Emmi and Ali. How does Fassbinder’s film still resonate in contemporary life in the U.S.?
2) Toward the end of The Manchurian Candidate, Marco (Frank Sinatra) asks Raymond (Laurence Harvey): “What have they built you to do?” Nearly all of the characters in The Manchurian Candidate have been ‘brainwashed’ (severely if not utterly manipulated) in one way or another by the social order. Choosing among the prominent social or political themes in The Manchurian Candidate—the portrayal of McCarthyist anti-communism, Communism, perverse Momism, paranoia, the Cold War, the media, excessive patriotism, conformism, authoritarianism, conspiracy– show how such forces are developed visually and narratively in the film, by following the dramatic trajectory of a single major character. When if ever is a character in the film ‘free’ to act? The film never ceases to address this question of the vanishing or vanished margin of freedom in contemporary society.
