Week 8

Good evening, class.  Hope you are doing well.  The quarter is quickly advancing, and our work will soon be finished.  Today I will return the graded final narrative drafts and any other paperwork you have submitted.  The plan is to review the field work assigned, the final draft work of your image-based research essay, allow for some readings and review, and practice work.  We may next week watch a film.  In the past I have shown Where the Boys Are (1960), directed by Henry Levin, a coming-of-age story that was filmed in Ft.Lauderdale.  The subject matter, courtship, and the risks posed, is perennial. The film could be used as the basis of an individual research paper or an extra-credit essay. Perhaps you'd prefer something different.  It's a Wonderful Life, a classic Christmas story and multi-award winning film that was directed by Frank Capra and released in 1946, comes to mind.  I'll take suggestions. Perhaps Ex Machina (2015), a film about artificial intelligence starring Alicia Vikander, who recently won an Academy Award.

A film review traditionally lets the public know in so many ways whether a film is worth its salt.  The reviewer summarizes the basic conflict and plotting, setting, cast of characters, and central theme(s), and how it all plays.  A film may succeed in some ways, and fail in others, and is rarely reducible to blanket judgment.  That said, good critics can make us aware of weaknesses and strengths we might not perceive on our own, specifics of a film’s construction, scenes, dialogue, performances, emotional appeal, etcetera. A film may spark debate about issues, focus attention on important social or cultural concerns or historical representations, including those of race, gender, class, and law. The reviewer should strive for accuracy of representation where objectivity can be had, but the reviewer’s personal experience of watching the film and critical opinions reflect his or her individuality and rightly so. Often the film is an opening to discussion of current events and issues.

   The climax of Where the Boys Are (1960), which turns on the rape of a female college student too distraught and helpless, apparently, to give much resistance, might make for an interesting short report on the legal definition and punishment of rape today (and historically), or how colleges address rape on campus.   Some recent reports have focused on the case of a Stanford male student named Brock Turner, convicted of raping a young woman.  He was set for release after serving 3 months of a 6-month sentence in prison.  Other reports focus on violence against women on campuses, which may be on the increase (see Kelly Oliver's "There Is No Such Thing as 'Nonconsensual Sex.' It's Violence." at the Nytimes.com). The URL below provides an interesting historical view of the legal ramifications of rape over time. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/08/22/redefining-rape-tackles-the-the-rape-of-citizenship.html

A detailed description of writing the film report itself can be viewed at the following URL:  https://twp.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/film-review-1.original.pdf

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You must soon begin researching the final project, which is to be 600-750 words in full MLA format (all sources documented).  I encourage you to focus on a fresh, timely subject (or make it fresh, show its currency) about which much information and perspective can readily be found, and that you have a personal stake in, by which I mean the subject really does matter to you.  Your writing will thus convey greater credibility.

--------------Presenting Poetry--------

In a poem by Tony Hoagland called “The Best Moment of the Night,” he writes about an informal dinner party.  The human guests are gathered around a table and beneath it is a dog whose eager affection strikes a chord in the poet and creates a “moment” (line 1).  The dog, “down near the base of the butcher-block table/ just as the party was getting started” (lines 2-3) makes him understand something about his own isolation.  He seems lovelorn, and when that dog offers up its belly to be petted–“the vulnerable belly” (line 18)– he momentarily admires it, and is warmed by it, for the dog is still “panting, and alive, and seeking love”(line 19) in a way that he, as a human, can’t readily do in front of the gathered guests. 

Lines of poetry should be integrated into the text body unless greater than three successive lines, and slashes and line citations used in text as references.  The title and author must be identified of course.  You should use the author's last name alone after the initial full name reference.

Classwork:  Compose a 250-word explication addressing the theme of the poem selected (TBA).  Use the MLA format for presenting  text in direct quotation and be sure to identify title and author. The composition should offer a reading of the poem and your response to its contents.