For this 3-5 page essay (Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1 inch margins), you will focus on ONE of the FOUR movies we recently watched and discussed in its historical context: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Man with a Movie Camera, The Battleship Potemkin (if you have watched the whole thing), Un Chien Andoulu or Rules of the Game (although you may use other films as evidence to support your thesis). Part of our goal in this class is to reflect on the national and international forces influencing the development of film’s language and messages. Your goal is to discuss how your chosen film’s formal structural patterns, technical developments and/or meanings relate to its historical and/or material and/or economic and/or political circumstances. In what ways does the way the film presents its story (the structure of its plot, its mise-en-scène, settings, character, editing, camera work, sound) work with what its story says, and how does that, in turn, relate to the context in which it was created and exhibited?
Your paper must include at least one detailed close reading of a single scene working as evidence in support of your thesis. Always remember that film is a VISUAL medium, and close readings ought to include interpretations of the relationship between visual/cinematographic strategies and the themes of the film you’ve chosen to focus on.
I encourage you to support your readings with secondary research and citations. You are welcome to use any of the readings from class, including the textbook, as well as independent research (remember our research guide! https://guides.stetson.edu/filmLinks to an external site.). Be sure to cite research using MLA formatting.
An A paper will have an original thesis (an interpretation of the film against which reasonable people might offer counterarguments or alternative interpretations); it will provide appropriate, properly-cited evidence in establishing its context and supporting its interpretations, and its close reading will go beyond narrative-driven evidence, taking into account cinematographic elements (the stuff we learn about in class: composition, sound, editing, camera angles, etc). Your goal is not to discuss WHAT happened, but to offer a unified explanation and interpretation of the primary effect and/or meaning the film or the film’s technique generates.
Breakdown:
Format: 1 inch margins, 12pt Times New Roman font, 3-5 pages (min/max), an effective title
Goal: Discuss how your chosen film’s formal structural patterns, technical strategies and/or meanings relate to its historical/material/economic/political circumstances (you don’t have to fit ALL of these issues/approaches in your paper – but the result should in some way address form, meaning, and context).
Required Elements:
A genuine thesis addressing form, meaning, and context
One detailed, close reading of a single scene
Visual/cinematographic interpretations
