This written assignment of 1250 to 1500 words requires you to watch Bong Joon-Ho’s 2019 film Parasite and propose its candidacy for an international film preservation project. Your proposal must make the case for the organization devoting its limited resources to preserve the film. The board consists of academics from various media and humanities subdisciplines, librarians and archivists, art patrons, and other stakeholders with varying investments in preserving films. Therefore, you must make a claim in the form of a thesis statement that asserts the film’s historical and theoretical importance.
NOTE: USE THE FOLLOWING SECTION HEADING! The section in which you present your Historical Analysis, for example, should be preceded by a heading that says “Historical Analysis.”
Summary (20% of your grade) 250-300 words
Here, provide a brief summary of your argument for the film’s importance. Imagine that for the first round of evaluations, the committee will be deciding whether to advance these applications to the next round solely upon the strength of these summaries. You must be convincing and concise in order to get them to read the rest of the proposal.
Historical Analysis (40% of your grade) 500-600 words
What industrial and historical factors influenced the production, distribution, and exhibition of the film? Where and how was it produced? How does it speak to then-current historical events and/or the industrial conditions that produced it? How have audiences received the film and has this varied by time and place?
Theoretical Analysis (40% of your grade) approximately 500-600 words
Lastly, what methods have theorists and critics used to analyze the film? What theoretical approaches are most useful in analyzing it? What does understanding the film through a specific theoretical paradigm or aspect of media and cinema studies allow us to see/argue? Are there particular approaches that are underutilized in the existing literature on this film?
