Women in Film
FINAL FILM PROJECT
The end of the semester will culminate in your choice of a final research paper or creative project. The project needs to demonstrate active research into some topic raised by the films we have read.
The key here is to take an issue that motivates you, and deepen your intellectual and creative engagement with it. You will present your research and/or creative projects during the last two weeks of the semester in a mini-conference.
There are two options for the Final Project.
OPTION #1: REASEARCH PAPER
With the first option, you will analyze some key issue from the course with a research paper. Using the critical readings in our class as a model, write a scholarly piece that makes an original argument or insight into gender issues in film. You can then submit this paper for a WGS, FST or ENG prize for best critical essay.
Think of yourself as a film critic or blogger bringing fresh insights about a film (or range of texts) and/or particular production. In other words, what "cultural work" does your topic produce? Why should we care about it? What are the stakes?
You may agree or disagree with others who are writing about this topic (and it is a good idea to reference those critics), but don't merely repeat their arguments.
Most important is for you to articulate your own scholarly voice here and say something about the stakes of a particular work. The final paper should be 8 - 10 typed, double-spaced pages plus appropriate bibliography in MLA or Chicago style.
You should consult, and cite within the paper, at least 8 scholarly sources (i.e. articles from scholarly journals and books)-but why not use more? Three of these sources can be from our course readings-the rest comes from your own research.
OPTION #2: CREATIVE PROJECT
The creative project should be connected to themes of the course, draw inspiration from readings, and emerge from own research. You can do an action project, public scholarship, or some other creative project.
You may wish to:
• Design a Film Series about some aspect of women in film (for your dorm, the campus, or elsewhere). You would research the appropriate films, write program notes for them, organize a talk back, design the poster, etc.
• Create a short film that seeks to re-create a certain gaze. Or create a videographic essay.
• Write an op-ed piece about the state of Women in Film. Submit to the New York Times, the Miami Student, Bitch, Huffington Post, or another newspaper/blog.
• Develop your own blog like Gena Davis's Institute on Gender in the Media
• Create our own fabulous idea (in consultation with me)
A 2 - 3 page critical paper, which discusses how the research and critical readings influenced your project, must accompany the project-and at least 8 scholarly sources must be used.
PROSPECTUS & ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Regardless of which kind of final project you choose, you must write an abstract that summarizes the work you will undertake. The abstract, or proposal, will summarize, in one page (typically 250 words), the scope of your project. The proposal should be thoughtful, clearly written, and carefully edited.
The proposal should include a clear articulation of the topic. Make sure the topic is narrow enough to probe deeply but not so narrow that you can't find enough information to research about it. The proposal may also include any of the following:
• A rationale for why it is an appropriate or significant topic of study
• A list of questions you hope to pursue in the project
• A discussion of what theoretical concepts you might pursue in this study
• Your proposed thesis or argument
Annotated Bibliography
Along with the proposal, you should also submit an annotated bibliography, which is also due Midnight November 12. This bibliography should include at least 8 scholarly secondary sources (books and journal articles) for the topic of study, which are properly formatted and punctuated. In addition, you may include sources from course readings in your bibliography as well as online sources, but only three will count.
Under each source, you should include a brief, clearly written and well-edited summary (i.e. annotation) of how this source will advance your topic of study. You may also want to include in the summary a brief evaluation of the source and why you are interested in it. Is it in-depth, superficial, biased, incomplete? Make sure you review all sources carefully.
Here's an example of an Annotated Bibliography from one student (Kat Hayes):
Currie, Mark. Postmodern Narrative Theory. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
Mark Currie is a professor of literature at the University of East Anglia in the UK with research foci in literary theory, narrative theory, and contemporary fiction. This book contains a layout of narratological theory and a proposal for its new relevance with postmodern theory. I am interested in it for its frank discussion of a field in transition: how the old theory of narratology worked and how works with postmodern theory.