1. You must have a focused, arguable thesis that is surprising and provocative-one that tells me something about the film or films in question that isn't obvious or descriptive. This thesis must be placed at the end of the essay's first paragraph. To make it really easy for me to see, please underline it.
2. The essay must include close, detailed, indeed obsessive analysis of particular scenes (at least three this time, since the essay is longer)
3. The essay must have a dynamic conclusion that pushes off in a new direction and does not repeat any of the previous points. And there is one new requirement:
4. The essay must have a lively title that makes me eager to read the essay and gives me some sense of what it is about.
1. Religion and Spirituality in Film. Develop an argument about religion or spirituality as it appears in one or two of the following films: Bicycle Thieves, PatherPanchali, Wadjda, In the Mood for Love, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Ave Maria, Facing Mecca, The Phone Call, The Way of Tea (the last four on the list are short films: they are on Kanopy and we will be discussing them in class on Thursday, April 26). Remember to think about the question's cinematic dimensions as you come up with your thesis. What techniques (camera work, narrative structure, special effects or lack thereof, etc.) does the filmmaker use to create or dispel wonder, to encourage spiritual reckoning, to instill belief or skepticism, to criticize a faith or to bring viewers into a condition of greater awareness? While developing your thesis you might also think about how such subjects as death, sexuality, and organized religion are either shown as part of or separate from spirituality by the filmmakers.
2. Develop a topic of your choice on any film we have studied since the midterm. Choose one (or two, if you would like to write a comparison-based paper) of the films we have studied in the second half of the class and develop an argument about it.
What these films have in common is that they have taken us far beyond Hollywood aesthetics into film industries all over the world. The films we have studied are the following: Sergei Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin (1925) Luis Bunuel, Un ChienAndalou (1929) Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Vittorio De Sica, Bicycle Thieves (1948) Satyajit Ray, PatherPanchali (1955) Haifaa-Al-Mansour, Wadjda (2013) Wong Kar-Wai, In the Mood for Love (2000) Alfonso Cuarón, Y Tu Mama Tambien, 2001 Please remember that if you choose this topic (or any topic, for that matter) you will have to devote significant time and energy to carving out an area that interests you. It won't be enough simply to describe the plot of the film and give some of its history.
Rather, you will have to come up with an argument-something that approaches the film from a fresh angle and tells me and your readers something that isn't obvious. The topic you choose may or may not require research. Once you have decided which film you'd like to write about, you should take a step back and think about some of the strategies you saw in the last essay assignment for bringing shape and focus to a paper-for instance, selecting a minor character, or focusing on beginnings and endings, or other similar strategies.
Other approaches that might work include selecting a particular theme (ie. looking at childhood, or eating, or depictions of friendship in two films); a technique (comparing the use of special effects, or the repetition of scenes, or the withholding of information from the audience); a style (comparing two different directors' approaches to Neorealism or Surrealism); or a genre (how do In the Mood for Love and Y Tu Mama Tambien compare as examples of the genre of romance?).
You might also decide to approach your film from the point of view of its historical context (ie. how does In the Mood for Love relate to the moment of its making, which was just after Hong Kong's return to China? How does PatherPanchali depart from or exemplify the norms of the Indian cinema industry in the 1950s?)
3. Representing Mexico. Develop an essay with an argument that compares the depiction of Mexico (or what it means to be Mexican) in Alfonso Cuarón's film Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too) and in Rigoberto Gonzalez's Autobiography of my Hungers.
Length: 8-10 pages Please remember that the essay will be graded according to the same standards as last time: