Write an essay
Question Description
In your first essay, you thought about the various approaches to the concept queer. Your second essay shifts focus from abstract theory to critical analysis of pop culture. This project allows you to use your film analysis skills to discuss the deeper meaning of a feature film. You will pick a live-action fiction film from one of the following genres to write about:
Superheroes
Space/ space exploration
Magic/ fantasy
Military
Sports
As you watch the film, take notes on the parts that stand out to you. Pay attention to the technical aspects of filmmaking.
Think about how the director creates diegetic norms.
For example: in a fantasy film like those in the Harry Potter series, it is normal for children to do magic and communicate with owls, toads, and rats. In a superhero film, it may be normal for the city the hero lives in to be beleaguered by crime that the police cannot seem to stop.
As you think about what is normal in the world of the film, consider the one of the characters in the film. Are they “normal”? Are they “abnormal”? A stigmaphile or stigmaphobe? How can you tell?
For example: in the sports film Rudy, one might argue that the main character, Rudy, who is abnormally small to play football, is a stigmaphobe because his actions focus on minimizing his difference from the other players.
Write a 4-5 page paper in which you close read one scene. Your close reading should focus on specific details and the elements of film at work in the scene. You should consider the scene’s significance in the film as a whole. Your close reading of the technical choices in this scene will help you characterize the world of the film and how the character relates to that world. Is your character a stigmaphile or stigmaphobe? What does this say about the idea of “normal”? You will find the Warner reading a helpful and necessary tool in the construction of this paper.
Your essay should be MLA formatted, 12 point Times New Roman font, 4-5 full double spaced pages, and include a Works Cited wherein you cite the film and Warner. You will not need and should not include any additional sources for this essay.
4 full pages should be plenty of space for this assignment, but if you really need to, you can go up to 5.
