Third Major Writing Assignment

ENG 281-002

Length: Four pages minimum (five for W students)

Format: MLA, with Works Cited page

Sources: One academic source (cannot originate on the internet – you must find a book

or journal article published by an academic press).

Due: Rough Draft (three pages minimum) 11/18, Final Draft 12/02

This assignment must conform to these guidelines or it may receive a failing grade. “W” students must pass the paper with a grade of “C” or higher or they will fail the course outright. There are no rewrites for this assignment.

Remembering all previous guidelines I’ve given you in this class re: writing and particularly writing a film essay, I will now call on you to write a paper in which you argue against a specific critical interpretation of one of the films we have watched in class. To complete this task, you need do four things:

a) Choose a film that you have seen in class this semester, and have not previously written about.

b) Find an article from an academic journal (preferably a film journal) or a scholarly book that reads this film as a primary area of focus. This source may not originate on the internet and must be published by a university press. Noted film journals: Camera Obscura, Cinema Journal, Film and History, Film Quarterly, Journal of American Culture, Journal of Film and Video, Journal of Popular Culture, Literature/Film Quarterly, Screen, Velvet Light Trap.

c) Evaluate this scholar’s interpretation of the film and compare/contrast it with your own take. Important questions you might ask: What critical theory informs this author’s approach to the film (feminist, cultural studies, Marxist, gender studies, queer theory, historical, etc.)? How might that theory color his or her interpretation of the text? Is the thesis sound or flawed? Are all of its conclusions supported with convincing evidence? What is my own take on this film (or at least on the aspect of the film that the article discusses) and how might it differ from or even contradict this scholar’s work? Have I seen something that this author has ignored? What difference might that have made in his or her thesis? There are more questions you might ask here, and I will be happy to help you in conferences.

d) Write an “article” of your own in which you react to the work you have read and form your own arguable thesis out of this critical evaluation. As part of this thesis/support for it, offer an alternate interpretation of one or two key scenes that the author discusses or fails to mention in his or her article.