– Watch Tobe Harper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
– Read Jon Towlson’s “Anti-Hollywood Violence and Dark Counterculture: Last House on the Left (1972) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
– Create a journal responding to readings in D2L Discussion Board
Here is an example down below:
Here are two responses from students this semester (not from this class, though) that fulfill the requirements of a good discussion post. Notice that the students quote the critic, have a personal response to the quote, and support that response by referencing specific scenes or by quoting characters.
Gary Simmers: (from John Gardner’s Grendel: The Monster In Search of Self): “He is a monster. And it is the monster’s absolute destiny to be slain by the hero. Ultimately, his true identity, his mythic purpose in life, is that he is the monstrous evil which the good, represented by the world-hero Beowulf, must overcome.”
While controversial, I disagree with the above statement from Simmers; Grendel was not a monster. Grendel is struggling with his identity in the modern world. He is intrigued by the humans and curses himself for being so isolated; “Why can’t I have someone to talk to?” (Gardner) Grendel questions. Grendel wants to understand himself and the surrounding world which gives him human characteristics. He is confused as to why he is a “monster” and does not understand why he is evil. It is important to note that he does have fights with Hrothgar and the humans, but the motive behind the attacks proves him to have human emotions. Simmers comments that “Struggle represents emotions, and humans have emotions, not monsters. Grendel has so many more layers than just to be called a “monster.”
