For this assignment, at the practical level, we will be demonstrating our skills in heuristic analysis, evaluating and organizing source material, crafting a focused, cogent argument, and building an effective intertextual essay.
We have explored prominent personal and social issues related to health and well-being from a variety of critical perspectives. For this written assignment, we will be applying our analytical abilities to a work of fiction: Todd Haynes’ 1995, Safe, starring Julianne Moore as Carol White.
As the film presents them, Carol’s health troubles are the product of no single influence but rather the accumulation of long-term exposure to multiple toxic byproducts of modern life. Or are they? What are some of the influences we are led to understand have so negatively influenced Carol’s well-being? Does the story suggest her ailment is in her mind or her body? Maybe somewhere else entirely? We might even connect Carol’s distress to the race issues we have explored via Barr and Bowen Matthew. (After all, her name is Carol White.)
As far as supportive material, it’s up to you to decide which ideas best fit your understanding of the film. You can talk definitions of health and healing, social hierarchies or racial influences on who gets what kind of care in this country. There is even room to discuss alternative medicine and the models of health beyond science. So as you watch, be thinking how you would account for the health-related messages in the film.
Prompt: Once you have chosen the conceptual focus of your analysis, respond to the following prompt in a 3-4 page, thesis-driven essay: What’s ailing Carol?
When talk about the film, quote specifc scenes.
