In this précis, please discuss the seven elements of classical story telling as applied to this film.
Additionally, please discuss:
1. Which methods of critical analysis from this Module might validly be applied to Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)?
2. Which one method of critical analysis is most instructive for this film?
HISTORICAL
A historical approach is one of the most widely used methods in film criticism. Writers organize and investigate according to a film’s place in a historical context (past and present / before and when the film was made) and in light of historical development (subsequent / events after the film was made). When employing a historical approach, there are some questions to consider–
· Is the historical information you use going to be background or introductory information for your essay?
· Are you concerned with why and how certain historical events are represented in the subject film?
· Does the historical background assist in explaining narrative or technical maneuvers in the film?
· Does the film stand out in history, or is it part of a historical trend?
· If so, is your essay intended to clarify that place in history?
· What is more important to your essay — the historical facts behind the film’s production, how its successive audiences responded to the film, or a combination of the two?
NATIONAL CINEMA
If historical issues often play some part in essays on films, another important–and related–way to discuss film is in terms of cultural or national character. This approach presupposed that films are influenced by the political and aesthetic climate of the place of origin. To better understand the film, you need to understand the cultural conditions that produced the film to better understand the film itself.
AUTEUR
The auteur approach to criticism is one of the most widely accepted and often unconsciously practiced film criticism approaches today. This approach identifies and examines a film by association with its director or star. This presupposes certain common themes and stylistics traits that link films by the same filmmaker. For example, what are the signature aesthetics of a Scorsese film? MOS (“mit ohne sound” / without sound) sequences set to popular music and/or voice over, for example?
