For your final assignment, I would like you to write a 3-5 page (MINIMUM) analysis of one of the documentaries listed below. This assignment will help develop your skills as a historian by practicing your ability to review and analyze a secondary source. Remember that a secondary source is something written by a historian (or other scholar of some sort) studying the time in question. It is a work of research, as opposed to a primary source. For your documentary review, I would like you to watch one of these documentaries, write a BRIEF summary of the main subject/argument of the movie (NOT a comprehensive, or scene by scene summary,) followed by an analysis of the material in the documentary that shows your ability to put the documentary in conversation with what you have learned in class. You can criticize or commend the subject/argument/narrative of the documentary, but the important thing is that you:
1. Develop some sort of THESIS
2. Concisely summarize the main subject/argument of the documentary
3. Analyze the documentary by subjecting it to your own analysis as a historian, which you will support with secondary sources (material from the textbook or class lectures,) and AT LEAST ONE primary source (from the American Yawp Primary Source Reader.)
4.Demonstrate that there is some manner in which your time in this course has helped you understand/critique social forces or historical material (demonstrate your learning.)
Finding a primary source that is relevant to your topic is an important skill for a historian, it is in-part how we conduct research. So scan through our course reader and find a source that you think will help the reader of your paper understand the documentary better and will demonstrate the historical veracity of your argument. You will develop an argument about American History by critiquing the documentary, and you will use the textbook and class lectures (secondary sources) for historical context, and the primary source for supporting your interpretation of the documentary.
When searching for your primary source, remember that each documentary relates to a specific time in American History. Best of Enemies, for example, is an exploration of the 1968 televised debates on ABC between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley. These debates were surrounding the Republican and Democratic Presidential Conventions in a highly contentious year in American history. So, when searching for a primary source, search for the sections relevant to this time period (The Cold War, or The Sixties)
Best of Enemies
This documentary is a highly entertaining exploration of the 1968 televised debates on ABC between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley. These debates were surrounding the Republican and Democratic Presidential Conventions in a highly contentious year in American history. Gore Vidal was a famous novelist and essayist who was known for his radical sexual politics and his strong orientation on the political Left. William F. Buckley has been considered the founder of the modern Conservative movement. These two hated one another’s politics and hated one another personally. Their debates proved explosive. If you choose this documentary, pay attention to the fact that this documentary has a central thesis. This documentary makes a claim about why these debates are important in American history. What, according to this documentary, did these debates do to change American history? What impression did it leave on you?
A Hopefully Helpful Word About Writing a History Paper
Part of being a historian is rooted in recognizing what is unique or distinct about a certain event in history, but another part of being a historian is trying to understand historical patterns and seeing how the echoes of historical events still resonate in our own time. So as you watch this documentary, try to develop this form of integrated thinking. For example, when you hear about how drug suspects/users are policed, think of other moments in American History when certain Americans have been vigorously policed, perhaps such as the First and Second Red Scares. When you hear about how these laws impact people of color more dramatically than white people, maybe think of the era of Convict Leasing or Re-enslavement. When you hear about how drug policies were made without or in spite of existing evidence, perhaps think about McCarthyism, or the Vietnam War. These are just examples to help you get thinking on the subject. You may, of course, choose any of these, or you may choose something else that occurs to you as you watch, but make sure you have three events/periods to compare/analyze.
IMPORTANT NOTE: you are not being asked to give me a play-by-play summary of the documentary, rather you are being asked to notice themes presented in the documentary about the subject of your documentary of choice and to relate those themes to larger issues in American History (policing, political agendas, race and class issues, etc.) For the structure of the essay, I would recommend you develop a Three Part Thesis Statement (I will post a definition describing what this is below.) Once you’ve done this, maybe use the first page to contextualize/summarize the War on Drugs, for example, and state your Three Part Thesis Statement. For your second page, I would recommend you draw out the first element of your thesis. For your third page, I would recommend you draw out your next element. For your fourth page, I would recommend you draw out your final element. For your last page, I would recommend you summarize briefly the argument you have made and close with some final analytical thoughts. So, for example, your paper might look something like
-Page One: Introduction of topic, brief summary of what the War on Drugs is (for example,) 3-Part Thesis Statement.
-Page Two: Development of first part of Thesis.
-Page Three: Development of second part of Thesis.
-Page Four: Development of third part of Thesis
-Page Five: Summary of argument presented in your paper, and final concluding thoughts.
THREE PART THESIS STATEMENT:
-A thesis statement is a sentence that makes an emphatic and explicit argument that you will develop throughout an essay. It should come at the end of an introductory paragraph or page, in which you’ve stated the essential subject matter of your paper. It should be analytical/argumentative, not descriptive, meaning you need to take a position and argue for it, rather than just describe something. A Three Part Thesis Statement is a sentence where you state that your argument will have three parts to it. For example, if I were writing on whether or not slavery really ended after the Civil War, a Three Part Thesis Statement would look something like this
-“Analyzing the immediate post-Civil War period of American History, one can see that slavery never truly ended, rather it simply changed forms into new dynamics of inequality for Black Americans, such as Jim Crow segregation, convict leasing, and lynching.”
You see how in this sentence I make an explicit claim (slavery never ended, rather it simply changed forms) and I lay out my three main facets of my argument that are supposed to prove my point (segregation, convict leasing, and lynching.) Now, for the rest of my paper, I can devote one page each to presenting my argument about each element of my thesis (one page on segregation, one page on convict leasing, and one page on lynching.)
This essay should be based on “Best of Enemies documentary”
