PROMPT: In our studies of the American South, we have adopted the lenses of music and film to explore several topics across musical styles, historical periods, social identities, and regional places. These topics include but are not limited to “folk” music, genre, race, stereotypes, Jim Crow, queer identity, and migration within, from, and back to the South. Compare any three of these topics as they appear and form part of the three films we studied and synthesize your comparisons into an argument about what performing and imagining the South can and has entailed. To support your argument, cite at least one source from each of the following types of course materials: readings, guest musicians (Libby Rodenbough and Joseph Terrell from Mipso, Charly Lowry, and Rhiannon Giddens), lecture notes, and powerpoint slides.
ACCESSING FILMS:
Lisa Cortes, dir., Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023) (1 hour, 41 minutes), Music Library Reserve, DVD-876. Also streaming on Max, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movie, and YouTube.
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Charles Durning, John Goodman, et al., O brother, where art thou? (2000) (1 hour, 47 minutes), https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb10108504 Links to an external site.
Dee Rees, Ron Schmidt, Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois, Horton Foote, Queen Latifah, Michael Kenneth Williams, et al. Bessie (2015) (135 minutes), https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb11215005 Links to an external site.
Your essay should total 5-7 pages (no more than 1,750 words). Please use 12-point font and leave reasonable margins (about an inch). Papers are due here (Word documents as attachments or inline, please) by Sunday, April 14, 11:59 PM.
Your grader will assess your writing on the following criteria:
Concepts and themes. Essay includes and explores key concepts/themes from course readings, guest musicians, lecture notes, and powerpoint slides.
Creative interpretation. Uses concepts and themes to explore unusual relations or connections that are not obvious across the films we’ve studied. The student offers descriptions of music but much more interpretation of the significance of music to the concepts/themes explored.
Organization. The organization of the essay is clear and logical. The essay’s introduction (http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/introductions/Links to an external site.) and conclusion (http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/Links to an external site.) are well-developed and relate strongly to the rest of the essay. An argument (http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/argument/Links to an external site.) is clearly stated toward the beginning of the essay and supported with evidence from class material throughout. The student does not make any irrelevant points. Background information is effectively integrated with the student’s own original observations.
Accuracy: There are no obvious errors in spelling and grammar. All facts are derived from course material.
Citing your sources: Chicago: Sample Bibliography Page (https://guides.lib.unc.edu/citing-information/chicago-notes-sample) and In-Text Citations (https://guides.lib.unc.edu/citing-information/chicago-notes-in-textLinks to an external site.).
