Assignment:
Paper Topic
Movie Project
Choose one movie from the following list and answer one of its questions. Your answer must be in essay form, with a minimum of 600 words and two high-quality (peer-reviewed, academic) sources that pertain to the question, NOT the movie. Your essay must contain at least three references to specific scenes in the movie.
Jojo Rabbit
Q1. It has been argued that dehumanization of the enemy is a necessary step in convincing a society to accept killing in war as acceptable, while still believing that killing for other reasons is murder. Use Jojo Rabbitas an example of a fictional account of finding humanity in the enemy to discuss ways that war might be prevented by preventing dehumanization. Discuss the Holocaust or another genocide in terms of dehumanizing the enemy. Also discuss how dehumanizing the enemy works in terms of U.S. and Texas Politics. Have you seen examples of the parties attempting to "dehumanize" each other, or members of any other groups?
Lord of the Rings
Q1. How does the threat of apocalypse constrain the actions of individuals and governments? How is this "threat" utilized during election season in the U.S. and Texas?
Q2. Feminists get a lot of attention in college settings. Is this a movie about maleness? How might the recognition of maleness inform or enhance feminism?
Q3. In what way does individual risk-taking serve to provide a mechanism for advancing society?
Shaun of the Dead
Q1. How do societies organize under conditions of anarchy?
Q2. The power derived from the ability to destroy is obvious in Shaun of the Dead, but the film is also notable for all of the examples it provides of different forms of power, from hierarchy, to authority, to insanity, to knowledge and many others. Use the story to discuss how these forms of power interact, contrast and complement each other.
Star Wars(pick any of them, but don't talk to me about Ewoks)
Q1. From the invention of the stirrup, to steam power, to atomic weaponry, to biological weapons, history is replete with advances in technology causing drastic alterations to the conduct and context of international politics. What aspects of advances in weaponry make the world more or less secure, particularly in terms of terrorism or other ways in which they alter the ability of the weak or threaten the powerful?
Q2. Use Luke's home planet to discuss the role of the "fringe"--whether it is defined physically, socially or politically--in enabling creativity and other drivers of change in politics and society.
Q3. Social and ethnic groups often inflict injustices upon one another. At what point or under what circumstances do historical grievances become just that, historical? When are the descendants of the group freed from obligations for reparation or denied the right to demand redress? Consider this in terms of reparations for slavery in the United States; the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the political or economic demands of indigenous peoples; traditional food or resource rights in the face of a need for conservation, land seizures and redistribution, or clog dancing.
V for Vendetta
Q1. What role does the forgiveness of society play in the rehabilitation of criminals? Does an "unforgivable" crime create an unforgivable individual and, hence, a criminal that cannot be rehabilitated?
Q2. Explain how Marx's concept of false consciousness is inherent in the plot of V for Vendetta.
Q3. In what way does individual risk-taking serve to provide a mechanism for advancing society?