Welcome

Welcome to the course blog for An Introduction to Film and Media Studies in the Department of Theater, Dance and Film at Franklin & Marshall College. You can download a pdf of the syllabus for the course here.

Blogs posted to this site are for the purpose of fostering classroom discussion. Frame grabs and film clips posted here are “fair use” according to the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video published by the Center for Social Media at American University.

Useful (and free) imaging resources for bloggers include Jing (for grabbing and labeling images and stills), Handbrake (for grabbing DVD clips), and MPEG Streamclip (for editing clips).

SYLLABUS / ASSIGNMENT: WEEKLY BLOG POST

Final Paper Question for Toy Story

Toy Story 3 (2010). Directed by Lee Unkrich.

Does Toy Story 3 give children a subjective view on how they look at different genders? Why or why not? (Aaron V)

Final Paper Topic (Gran Torino)

Gran Torino (2008), directed by Clint Eastwood.

Question: Does Gran Torino offer an effective critique of the social prejudices within a viewer? How?

Final Paper Proposal: The Others

The Others, 2001, Alejandro Amenabar.

How does Amenabar combine the genres of Melodrama and Horror in The Others to not only cause emotional responses to characters and plot, but also to scare the audience with its frightening concepts?

In the film, the genres of Horror and Melodrama are combined very effectively, not only to frighten the audience, but to produce a heightened emotional response, especially around the central female character.  Using “smokescreen” horror tactics to mask strains on familial and religious convictions, while keeping formal horror conventions very subtle.  Further, Melodramatic techniques are used to create sympathy for the characters, further the plot, and heighten the emotion in a movie that is not just about “scares.”(Ben H.)

Final Paper Question

Film Title: Adventureland

Release Year: 2009

Director: Greg Mottola

Question: Is pursuing the American Dream the road to happiness?

Jennifer W.

Final Paper Proposal

Film: Titanic

Director: James Cameron

Release Year: 1997

Question: How does James Cameron use the dichotomous relationship between rich and poor, and their aligning values of bad and good, to set up a classic romantic tragedy?

Julie P.

Final Paper Question

Title: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Date: 21 December 2007

Director: Tim Burton

Question: How does an audience accept and even take pleasure in the protagonists’ acts of violence and murder in Sweeney Todd?

Final Paper Question

Does The Shawshank Redemption offer an effective critique of a particular attitude towards ‘justice’? (Lili S.)

Final Assignment – Proposal

Film: Titanic

Director: James Cameron

Year: 1997

Question:  What kind of moral implications does the portrayal of social status have on Titanic’s audience?

 

(Taylor S.)

Final Assignment – Amelie

Amelie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2001)

Is Amelie an adult fairy tale?

Amelie can be seen as an adult’s fairy tale with its a whimsical plotline and visual imagery. Yet it overturns the archetypal fairy tale plot in which Amelie acts as her own fairy Godmother. She helps countless men and women including herself find happiness/love. However her good deeds are delineated by gender and reinforce traditional gender roles. In fact, Amelie’s good deeds further women’s false liberation and containment within the domestic sphere.  -Lauren S.

Nostalghia and Confusion

In the beginning of Nostalghia, they set the tone for the film and the complexity of film shots and techniques, as well as themes throughout the film.  There is a discussion between a man and a woman in a dark church lit with candles.  The woman is shot from very far away at first, and the man off camera and not seen.  Then they follow with a closeup of the man and the woman is off camera for a long period of time.  They are discussing why women are more devout than men, and the scene cuts back to a group of women carrying an effigy.  As one of the women bows down to pray to it, birds fly out of the effigy.

This scene made me feel very confused and disoriented because of the unconventional shots the director uses, as well as the absurdity of the action and discussion going on in the scene.  The dark lighting added a sense of mystery and complexity that made me wonder what was going on, as I struggled to make heads or tails of what the scene was trying to explain.  This scene in particular set the tone for the complexity of the rest of the film, and the careful attention to detail that had to be paid in order to try to understand what was truly going on. (Bryan S.)