Choose one of the 5 topics to write on
Write an essay on one of the following topics. This paper should be 1200-1500 words in length and, while you should feel no pressure to quote the film in question, frequent reference to specific elements in the film is a must (don’t discuss the film in a synoptic way; be as concrete as possible in your investigation). It is therefore a good idea to review the film of your choice. Should you refer to any critical sources in producing the paper, provide a full (and correct) bibliography (MLA style).
The expressionist impulse has always resulted in an anti-rational discourse that inverts our expectations of the standard narrative (in which a hero overcomes terrific odds to succeed as a character, then rides off into a happy ending). Instead, in expressionism, darkness replaces light, chaos displaces order, and the emotional conquers reason. While hope is the artistic goal of the traditional narrative, fear and paranoia are the targets in expressionism. With this in mind, define Fritz Lang’s Metropolis as an expressionistic work. Pay particular attention to the use of setting and the manipulation of mise-en-scène as amplifiers of the expressionist impulse in this film.
Explore in what ways Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner borrows from Lang’s Metropolis. Your paper should do more than look at settings. It should also develop a close reading of some of the elements of mise-en-scene (lighting, proxemics, angles, composition, and so on). Which film seems to you to be the most effective in terms of how it communicates feeling or idea to the audience?
Hitchcock claimed that Rear Window “was purely visual” and that “the story is told only in visual terms.” Discuss the mise-en-scene of two to three central sequences in this film to see if you agree with him. If so, why? And if not, why not? Examine framing techniques, camera movements, shot composition and the capturing of setting in building your response. Does the camera succeed in telling the story, or are other elements important too (such as dialogue and action, for instance)?
Gothic fictions and films most often contain threatening mysteries and curses victimizing, in particular, heroines who may either be destroyed or saved at the end. Quite often, they employ interlocking elements of religion or cultism and isolation from the collective. They also tend to combine fantastic elements, such as the spirits of the dead or possession by them, with realistic elements, such as a need for a character to find protection, love or acceptance. In light of this definition, define Peele’s Get Out! as a neo-gothic film. Be specific in your response but avoid creating a simple listing of elements (synthesize your analysis to promote an idea, or thesis).
Explore how literature is transformed into film. Choose either “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (based on the Ambrose Bierce story of the same name), Apocalypse Now
(based on Conrad’s famous novella Heart of Darkness), or Bladerunner, based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream or Electric Sheep? Investigate how the director’s treatment departs from the author’s original version. You may comment upon which seems to you to be the most effective version, but the real focus in this assignment should be placed upon identifying major interpretive differences between the two versions, and in speculating upon the director’s intent in making departures from the original work. Concentrate primarily on the film in question.
