Topic: Donnie Dark movie
Description:
The Assignment: Choose one of the following prompts and write a three page essay that responds to the prompt. Your essay should reference specific aspects – dialogue, setting — of the film to support your analysis. You may include scene summaries and/or landscape descriptions, quoted dialogue, or paraphrased dialogue, and quoted or summarized material from scholarly sources. You should include at least three carefully considered references to the film as in-text citations, properly cited in-text and in a works cited page. Your essay should also include citations from two scholarly choices of your selection. (The works cited page should also include a citation for the film/dvd.)
The Prompts:
1. Donnie Darko presents a teen protagonist, Donnie, who has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Discuss the general symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and demonstrate how Donnie fits the diagnosis. Then, discuss whether or not you think it is possible that Donnie is not suffering from schizophrenia but is, instead, a ‘living receiver’ who has a special purpose, which is to save the ‘world.’
2. As Donnie investigates the possibilities of time travel, one of the things he discusses with his science teacher is whether or not it is possible to travel back in time and stay in “God’s path.” In addition to his fear of “everyone dies alone,” Donnie must come to terms with his destiny to save others by sacrificing himself. Donnie is aware that he must sacrifice himself in a way that is morally sound, in that he does everything possible to avoid harming ‘innocent’ persons. Explain why ‘staying in God’s path’ is important to Donnie and assess whether or not you think he accomplished what he needed to in the best way possible. (The article on moral dilemmas would be a good scholarly source for this prompt, but you still need another source.)
3. Consider the adults in Donnie Darko. How would you characterize them? Are they aware of what is truly happening around them or are they naiive and shallow? For this prompt, be sure to use specific examples. For example, the adults are seemingly unaware or unconcerned about the nature of Sparkle Motion’s dances and the young ages of the dancers. Also, Mrs. Farmer and Rose Darko would provide a good comparison of characters and support a discussion about adult society. (For this prompt, you might want to explore the stereotypes associated with predominantly white suburban America in the early 1980s.)
Minimum requirements that must be met before a B or an A grade can be achieved
1. The preferred page length for this paper is three pages. The MINIMUM page length for this paper is two pages. (You may write more than three pages.)
2. Make sure your essay is properly formatted. Use MLA style – heading only on page one; title centered (no bold lettering or underlining) with all major words capitalized; no extra spacing between heading, title, paragraphs; no unusual fonts, type-size, or wide margins.
3. Include citations from the film and from two scholarly sources of your choosing.
Include a works cited page that cites your sources, including the dvd, No Country for Old Men. If you use the screenplay, you should also cite the screenplay in the works cited page.
4. Create a title that is meaningful and engages the reader’s interest.
5. A film analysis is not the same as a critique or a review. You are NOT being asked to review the film but to analyze the film within the framework of one of the prompts. Along that line, do not submit a paper that ‘just’ summarizes the film. You will need to reference the film and describe scenes and characters, but that is very different from a plot summary. If you turn in a plot summary, you will have missed the purpose of the assignment and cannot achieve a passing grade on it no matter how well written it may be.
6. Do not use I, I think, in my opinion, personally, my thoughts are. Personal references should not pop up in an academic essay.