Easy Rider screen shot

Essay 2

Length and Due Date

Length: 5-6 pages (excluding screenshots), formatted as described in the “Essays” portion of the syllabus
Optional In-Class Workshop: Thursday, May 31; bring two hard copies of work-in-progress (draft, outline, list of ideas, mind-map, etc.)
Due: Tuesday, June 5, by noon via Canvas

Assignment

For the essay, you may analyze one or two films screened over the past three weeks (Working Girls, Winter's Bone, The Puffy Chair, Humpday, Fat Kid Rules the World, Safety Not Guaranteed, or 2 Days in New York) or compare one of the listed films with another course film you did not address in Essay 1 or your annotation. In your essay, you will present a claim about the film’s status as independent or the significance of the film’s style, representational strategies, or engagement with mainstream ideologies, and you will develop this claim by analyzing the film’s formal elements (mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound), narrative, themes, or ideological stance. You will also reference at least one critical course reading to support your analysis. You may write on one of the following topics::

1. On the first day of class, we defined “independent film” not only in terms of production circumstances but also in terms of narrative structure, content and themes; visual and sound style; casting and acting style; and audience involvement in creating the film’s meaning. Over the past ten weeks, we have screened independent films made over a 50-year period, from 1959’s Shadows to 2012’s SIFF films. Focusing on one or two criteria, examine how one of the films listed above marks itself as “independent.” Alternatively, you may compare two films made during different periods, analyzing how elements of independent film have remained consistent and/or altered.

2. The Puffy Chair, Humpday, Fat Kid Rules the World, and Safety Not Guaranteed feature a protagonist pair or trio that constitutes a staple of the buddy film. While mainstream buddy films develop the (typically) male duo’s relationship via shared engagement in violence, exclusion of women, homophobia and verbal one-upmanship, a recent article by Kaleem Aftab argues that independent cinema has revised the buddy paradigm. Analyze how one or two of the listed films uses narrative, visuals and/or sound to resist, challenge or subvert conventions of the buddy film and the ideology of masculinity it engages..

3. In his chapter on feminism and film, Bill Nichols discusses four stereotypes that have structured the cinematic representation of women: the virgin, the vamp, the wife and the mother. Both Nichols and Ramanathan describe mainstream cinema's gendered looking relations, which position male characters as gazing subjects and female characters as gazed-upon objects. Examine how one or two course films engage these patterns of depicting women onscreen. How does the film or films use narrative, visuals and/or sound to complicate, challenge or subvert female stereotypes or standard looking relations?

4. Examine representations of the family in one or two course films. How does the film or films portray the family via narrative, visuals and/or sound? What tensions or conflicts exist around notions of family in your selected film(s)? How does the film or films resist, challenge or subvert dominant ideologies regarding family structure and interaction? Note that your essay need not address all these questions; use them to consider your approach to the topic.

6. Analyze the purpose and effects of the improvised performances and unpolished, handheld aesthetic featured in The Puffy Chair and/or Humpday. Alternatively, you may compare one of these films with Shadows or Faces, as Cassavetes' work is frequently identified as a point of origin for "Mumblecore."

Guidelines

1.Although I’ve provided topics and posed questions to help you articulate a response, you must narrow the prompt to formulate a clear, defendable argument and develop that argument over the course of the essay. For example, one could approach the topic regarding female representation and gaze in Winter’s Bone by examining how the film engages stereotypes but complicate them in a way that does not allow reduction of the female characters’ identities. Another approach might involve analyzing the film’s construction of a gender-neutral or feminist gaze; one could also compare the film to Working Girls in this regard. Rather than listing observations on the film’s narrative, characterization, representational strategies, ideologies, themes, visuals and/or sound, the essay will evaluate the purpose and significance of these elements. Consider why the reader should care about the topic and your argument. .

2. If you undertake a comparison, remember that effective comparison/contrast essays highlight how similarities and differences reveal something important about each film, the topic, or the filmmakers. As you develop your essay, consider how each film “unlocks” the other. Ask yourself why it is important to examine these films together. While you can organize your comparison/contrast essay in several ways, you should avoid discussing one film in full, then turning to the other. This format relegates the comparison/contrast to the second half of the paper. Instead, you can structure the first part of the body around similarities, moving from one film to the other, and the second part around differences, discussing each film in turn. You can also focus each paragraph on one similarity or difference, discussing examples from both films.

3.Although the essay examines a large-scale question, close textual analysis will serve as your main source of evidence. In supporting your argument, you will need to pay attention to how the film or films address the topic through narrative and/or cinematic techniques. Focus on specific shots or scenes and the cinematic codes at work in those shots or scenes..

4. You are required to reference at least one critical course reading that helps you advance your analysis. Critical readings offer interpretations of specific films, representational strategies, film styles or cinematic techniques. When you quote, summarize, or paraphrase a source, please use MLA format. Also include a works cited list that provides bibliographic information for the film and reading referenced in your essay.

5. Remember that you are writing to an audience who has already viewed the film and read Bordwell and Thompson’s descriptions of cinematic techniques. Therefore, your essay should not offer plot summaries. Instead, any reference to the films—dialogue quotations, scene descriptions, explanations of camera movement or shot distance, etc.—should support your analysis. Moreover, you need not define film terminology; simply apply it accurately.

6. Do not forget the arguments posed in class discussion, during group presentations or on the electronic film response area. A review of class notes, lecture/presentation slides, and postings on a particular film may help you to ask key questions and shape your analysis. You will, of course, cite specific words and interpretations borrowed from classmates..

7. You may incorporate screen shots into your analysis. However, you must explicate the image within the body of the essay rather than using screen shots as decorations. Identify and discuss the visual details that illustrate your claim about the films. When using screen shots, caption each image (for example, “Figure 1: Louise and Paul framed in a mirror image”) and reference the figure number in your text (for example, “In Working Girls, Louise and her clients frequently appear in mirrors (see Figure 1). Not only do such images frame prostitute and john on an equal visual field, connoting their shared power, but they also expose male fantasies.”).

8. When describing a film's plot or stylistic techniques, use the present tense (for example, "Ree teaches her younger siblings to hunt" or "the frame frequently shifts in and out of focus in The Puffy Chair”).

9. If you’re having difficulty devising an approach to the essay, or if you want to discuss ideas-in-progress, come to my office hours or email me to set up an appointment.

Grading

I will use an eighty-point grading rubric to evaluate this essay. Late essays will receive a 10-point deduction per day late, including weekends and holidays. I will make exceptions to the lateness policy only in cases of documented illness or family emergency.

Additional Materials

Follow the links below to access restricted additional resources via our course Canvas site:

  • Bibliography for online course readings [Word :: PDF]
    The bibliography contains original citation information for all online course packet readings. Since you are accessing the readings from our Canvas site, course packet article citations on your Works Cited list should include all bibliographic information through the page numbers and end with the words, "English 345 Canvas Site. PDF file."
  • Essay 2 Film Clips
  • Essay 2 Screenshots
  • Sample Student Essays [1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 ::5]