The flim is L.A. Confidential (1997). Each paper should develop a particular idea about the film that you find interesting or curious.
The subject of the paper may develop out of our class discussion of the film, or it may be
something that you discover in your own thinking. The choice is yours, but be careful to avoid
simply repeating the plot of the film. Consider that your audience also knows the film, so you do
not need to retell the story. On the other hand, you do need to discuss specific elements of the
film—particular scenes from and moments in the film—but you should discuss it in order to
explain and provide evidence for your own ideas and arguments.Here is some important advice about writing effectively about film: Remember that “movie” is an informal term for the medium rather than an official term,
and you want to use formal terms instead. Most of the time, the medium is called “film,”
though “cinema” and “motion picture” are also valid terms. Include a title that describes the content of your paper rather than just titling after the
name of the assignment (“Weekly Response”) or repeating the name of the film. Titles
on papers should be lively—a title is the element of a paper that promises your readers
that the paper contains interesting material. Assume that your readers have already seen and know the film. Be sure, then, to avoid
simply repeating the plot of the film: your readers already know “what happens.” You do
want to discuss particular elements of the film, including specific scenes as examples, for
instance, as well as matters such as the film’s characters and its technical elements, but
you want to use these to illustrate your own ideas about each film. Use present tense (“is”) rather than past tense (“was”) when discussing films (or any
other texts. It is conventional to discuss texts in the present: it is known as the “literary
present” or the “historical present.” Focus on the film rather than your responses to it. It is conventional to avoid comments
about your experiences seeing the film such as “after watching the film.” Your
experiences watching a film and your personal reactions are almost never relevant: make
the film rather than yourself the issue.
