26 Jun CRITICALLY DISCUSS ANY OF THE FILMS SCREENED IN THE COURSE IN RELATION TO DISCOURSES SURROUNDING THE “DEATH OF CINEMA”.
Between 2000-2500 words. You MUST note the actual word count of your essay on the first page
ANSWER any one of the following questions:
1. “His work constitutes a formidable meditation on the possibilities of cinema […] he enters the history of film as its first consciously destructive figure.” (Susan Sontag) Critically discuss Sontag’s statement by closely examining two or three sequences from either Le Mépris (Contempt) or Histoire(s) du Cinéma.
2. “…’reality’ is nothing but an expression of the prevailing ideology. Seen in this light, the classic theory of cinema that the camera is an impartial instrument which grasps, or rather is impregnated by, the world in its ‘concrete reality’ is an eminently reactionary one. What the camera in fact registers is the vague, unformulated, untheorized, unthought-out world of the dominant ideology.” (Jean-Luc Comolli & Jean Narboni) Critically discuss Comolli and Narboni’s claim in relation to one of the films screened in the course.
3. How do the formal strategies (they way film form is deployed or used) of any of the films screened in the course respond to, engage with or express ethical or political concerns? Discuss with reference to Jean Luc-Godard’s claim that “Tracking shots are a question of morality.”
4. “Isn’t this, then, a sound definition of realism in art: to force the mind to draw its own conclusions about people and events, instead of manipulating it into accepting someone else’s interpretation?” (André Bazin) Critically discuss Bazin’s conception of realism in relation to any one other film theory OR film discussed in the course (it doesn’t have to be a theory or film that deals explicitly with ‘realism’.) Your argument should examine at least one film in detail as part of your response to the topic.
5. Critically examine the concept of the “male gaze” (as discussed by Laura Mulvey) in relation to any of the films screened in the course. Your answer should consider the role of vision and seeing in the film you have chosen and address Mulvey’s essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”.
6. “The film critically analyses, reconstructs and deconstructs the image of the family. In this sense it re-documents the representational history of a family.” (Adrian Danks) Critically analyse this quotation in light of the representational strategies of A Song of Air, Merilee’s re-use of her father’s home movies in particular. In what ways can A Song of Air be considered a feminist film?
7. What is a feminist film? Critically examine in relation to any two films screened in the course (the film you chose does not have to be feminist). Your response should also include a close textual analysis of one sequence from each of your chosen films
8. “To find my own vision, I had to reject yours.” (A Song of Air) Use this statement as the basis of a critical discussion of any of the films screened in the course. Your answer should focus upon issues of “vision”, as well as the place/role of the cinema as a critical practice.
9. “I await the end of cinema with optimism.” (Jean-Luc Godard) Histoire[s] du Cinéma is a poetic meditation upon the end or death of certain types of cinema, perhaps all cinema. Critically discuss with reference to specific sequences of Godard’s Histoire[s] du Cinéma.
OR
Critically discuss any of the films screened in the course in relation to discourses surrounding the “death of cinema”. Why are such ideas/discourses attractive to particular filmmakers and types of cinema?
10. “Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception.” (Stan Brakhage) Critically examine the role of counter-cinema or avant-garde film practice in critiquing and questioning the conventions of mainstream/dominant cinema. Your answer should discuss and compare the techniques and approaches utilised by any two films screened in the course (though they must qualify as avant-garde films at some level).
11. Critically examine the role played by film theory and film practice in questioning and critiquing dominant forms of cinema. Your answer should focus upon the relationship between a specific film and an example of written film theory encountered in the course.
12. Laura Mulvey argues that “Going far beyond a woman’s to-be looked-at-ness, [classical Hollywood] cinema builds the way she is to be looked at into the spectacle itself.” Compare the ways in which Vertigo and Le Mepris/Contempt reflect, respond to, appropriate or critique this ‘specularization’ of woman in terms of both form and content.
SOME GUIDELINES
– The questions asked in the assessment task generally address fundamental and specific aspects of contemporary film theory. These questions require that you engage critically with specific texts (mostly specific films and examples of written film theory)
– This is a research essay. Its purpose is to assess your ability to find, evaluate and apply research on one or more areas of film theory. Read through the attached topics and choose one of the questions to answer. Locate relevant research material with which to answer the question. Evaluate this data and then write the essay.
– The comparative and analytical skills and approaches suggested by this assessment task are essential and are some of key things tested by it in general, as is the ability to use/read specific filmic examples in relation to specific questions and conceptualisations of cinema.
– Be careful in your writing as it is important that you move beyond simply quoting, paraphrasing and collating the analysis/arguments of others (even though you will be using this material and commenting upon it). You need to use this material critically and thoughtfully.
– This essay focuses on specific critical discourses/theories, systems and ways of thinking that surround and effect cinema (and that are also inseparable from it). Thus, the question(s) is asking you to enter into these particular ways of thinking about and around cinema; specifically the ways in which film theory (both written and filmic examples) engages with questions relating to the nature and function of the cinema, and how these theories relate to specific (or other) filmic examples.
– The questions themselves are relatively specific, but they do allow a broad range of responses (there are many choices within most questions too).
RESEARCH EXPECTATIONS
– Harvard referencing list at the end AND in-text citation
– Minimum of 5 different written sources, (NOT including the video source of the film)
(an in depth critical engagement with an idea from a secondary source that links clearly to your argument and to the essay topic is MUCH more valuable than passing references to several different sources.)
-Remember to cite all references used in your essay, whether you quote them directly or not. You must include complete and accurate referencing for all your sources. These will be checked.
Our website has a team of professional writers who can help you write any of your homework. They will write your papers from scratch. We also have a team of editors just to make sure all papers are of HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE. To make an Order you only need to click Ask A Question and we will direct you to our Order Page at WriteDemy. Then fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Fill in all the assignment paper details that are required in the order form with the standard information being the page count, deadline, academic level and type of paper. It is advisable to have this information at hand so that you can quickly fill in the necessary information needed in the form for the essay writer to be immediately assigned to your writing project. Make payment for the custom essay order to enable us to assign a suitable writer to your order. Payments are made through Paypal on a secured billing page. Finally, sit back and relax.
About Writedemy
We are a professional paper writing website. If you have searched a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help in your coursework. We offer HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE Papers.
How It Works
To make an Order you only need to click on “Order Now” and we will direct you to our Order Page. Fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Are there Discounts?
All new clients are eligible for 20% off in their first Order. Our payment method is safe and secure.