World Cinema Paper

1. For this reflection paper, choose two of the six films listed above, and describe how each draws up a familiar genre code or convention (character type, plot line, narrative theme) or alternately, employs other borrowed conventions of storytelling from news media or fairytales, for example.  A strong paper will cite one or more of the scholars or critics we have read in this unit. You should also directly reference the lectures where appropriate.

 (links will be below)

2.  Be sure to carefully describe a moment in each film which exemplifies how it engages with (or perhaps subverts or reinvents) the genre/s you have chosen to write about. If the film you have chosen abandons genre, explain what other modes of storytelling it employs instead. A strong analysis will also make reference to the formal terms we have been discussing in this course (framing, mise-en-scène, shot, take, etc.). Illustrate the moment you are describing in each film with a screen shot. (PLACE A SCREENSHOT OF THE SCENE IN PAPER J)

3) In your conclusion, analyze what you take the be significant about how each director you have chosen to write about plays with and subverts familiar codes of storytelling (whether drawn from a particular genre, or some other mode of storytelling, for example, news reporting or fairytales). Use the terms of your analysis to propose a point of comparison between the two films you have selected. A strong conclusion will clearly identify what new insights about each film this comparison generates. For example, “While Film A uses X strategy to subvert the codes of genre, Film B instead employs Y approach. This difference is meaningful in this way …. “

Suggestion for structuring your essay in three parts:

1. Film A
2. Film B
3. Compare A & B. 

(You don’t have to follow this structure, but it will make it easier to be sure you’ve answered each part of the prompt for each film.)

CITATION GUIDE: Please put the author’s last name in parentheses, followed by a page number. If you cite a lecture, cite the number in parentheses, for example, “(8.4).”  No other footnotes are necessary. If you cite any sources that you have read on your own, please cite the sources properly and include a footnote in the MLA style (Links to an external site.). Failing to do so will be considered plagiarism.