Reading Film

This Study Guide prepared by:

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

Elaine Bontempi, M.Ed.

Catherine Kerley

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this chapter, the learner will be able to:

1. Explain the relation between popular films and cultural values;

2. Describe how images from film reinforce cultural stereotypes,

3. Explain when film narratives and the images from films undermine or subvert popularly held cultural values and/or beliefs;

4. Take a position with respect to the influence that films have on the moral fiber of America, and on the ethical beliefs and values of young people;

5. Analyze the semiotics of film stills and promotional items, and be able to develop a promotional poster designed to appeal to certain audiences and convey certain meanings for a hypothetical film.

Readings

David Denby, "High School Confidential" The New Yorker. 2000.

David Denby is film critic of New York magazine. He is the author of Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World (Simon and Schuster, 1996), an account of a year spent recently immersed in a a study of classic works of literature and art at Columbia University, a course of study he first took three decades earlier as an undergraduate at the college.

Multiple-Choice Questions

What does the princess of high school look like?

She is blonde.
She is tall.
She is slender.
She wears non-name brand clothing.
All but d.

What movies is this typical princess seen in?

She’s All That.
The Patriot.
Independence Day.
Never Been Kissed.
Both a and d.

Before teen movies, a popular and repeated movie type was the ______ movie.

Horror.
Western.
Action.
Comedy.
Foreign.

In a teen movie a guy who eats 20 large pizzas is considered to be a

Looser.
An outcast.
A hero.
Bulimic.
Person with an eating problem.

According to the article, what is the most vivid emotion of youth in the movies?

Pride.
Happiness.
Sadness.
Humiliation.
Anger.

What movie should have been called “Portrait of the Filmmaker as a Young Nerd”?

Rushmore.
Disturbing Behavior.
Ten Things I Hate About You.
Never Been Kissed.
She’s All That.

In teen movies, what do the nerds usually need?

Seal of Approval.
Money.
Girls.
Validation.
Both b and c.

In the movies, “Heathers” and “Carrie”, the outcast students do what to the “popular” students?

Worship them.
Avoid them.
Kill them.
Become them.
Frame them.

What teen movie does the author praise?

Clueless.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.
Not Another Teen Movie.
Election.
None of the above.

What is the one unquestionable truth of teen movies?

Geeks Rule.
Jocks always can fall for the outcast girl.
The Blonde never wins.
Outcasts can get their revenge.
They make a lot of money.

Before You Read

List three movies that might be considered as being produced for the teen market. What are some of their defining characteristics, in terms of setting, heroes, villains, love interest, etc.? Support your arguments with specific examples.

After You Read

Check out three teen “nerd” or “geek” movies, ideally one from each different decade – 1970s, 1980s, 1990s – and discuss their similarities and differences.

Web Links

Cutting Class.

http://www.citypages.com/databank/22/1097/article10018.asp

Society and Culture Association. Teen Movies-A Case Study of a form of popular culture.

http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pta/scansw/teen.html

Smells like Teen Cinema. http://www.mbhs.edu/silverchips/features/2000/nov99/16feat.html

Ten Things I Hate about Teen Movies. http://www.ncubator.com/Arts/TenThingsTeenMovies.htm

Election Movie Review.

http://members.aol.com/aleong1631/election.html

Michael Parenti, "Class and Virtue," Make-Believe Media. St. Martin's Press,1992

Michael Parenti received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1962. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. His writings have been translated into Bangla, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The entertainment media presents working people as not only unlettered and uncouth but also

a. more desirable and less moral than other people.

b. less desirable and less moral than other people.

c. less desirable and more moral than other people.

d. more or less desirable.

e. none of the above.

2. The story of Treasure Island shows implicit class perspectives about the Squire and Long John Silver, the two groups that are searching for the lost treasure have

a. moral claim to the treasure while the others do not.

b. money to own an entire crew and the other volunteers to be apart of

the crew.

c. no since in gaining anything.

d. both a and b.

e. none of the above.

3. Sometimes class contrasts are put together within one person, as in The Three Faces of Eve, a movie about

a. A women who is victimized by her spouse.

b. A mentally disturbed women who is married.

c. Middle and upper-middle class people.

d. A women who suffers from multiple personality traits.

e. None of the above.

4. What are the lower-ranking members of the A-team like?

a. They are from a low social class.

b. They are of mixed race.

c. They are good at punching out the bad guys.

d. They do not do any of the thinking.

e. They are all of the above.

5. Sometimes class prejudice is interwoven with gender bigotry, as in the movie Pretty Woman. What are some examples of this?

a. A woman ditching her man and making it on her own.

b. Winning the love and career advantages offered by a male.

c. A women winning the lottery and giving the money to her lover.

d. Both a and c.

e. All of the above.

6. Virtue is described as

a. measuring one’s approximation to its class.

b. a character whose hierarchy corresponds with the social structure.

c. a character whose speech and appearance are middle and upper class.

d. developing a material base and becomes a class act.

e. All of the above.

7. In A Women Under the Influence, it is suggested that the wife would have

been better off if she had married what type of man?

a. A middle-class man.

b. A kinder man.

c. A gentler man.

d. A better-looking man.

e. All but d.

8. The African American character in The A- Team is

a. A bad ass.

b. Intelligent.

c. Well-mannered.

d. Does strategic planning.

e. All but A.

9. In Pretty Woman, the prostitute has a metamorphosis like whose?

a. Scarlet O’Hara.

b. Eliza Doolittle.

c. Eve.

d. Anne Frank.

e. None of the above.

10.The moral of Pretty Woman is intended for

f. Prostitutes.

g. Women.

h. Men.

i. Post-Reagan yuppiedom.

j. Post-Bush yuppiedom.

Before You Read

List two movies that involved a crime spree, serial killer, or murderer who is from a working class or poverty-stricken background. Examples could be Raising Arizona, Natural Born Killers, The Talented Mr. Ripley, In Cold Blood. List two movies with killers from middle-class or privileged backgrounds. Examples could be Fatal Attraction, Black Widow, Double Indemnity, Basic Instinct. How is social class depicted, and is there any connection between social class and values?

After You Read

Can you think of any films that challenge the assumptions that Parenti is making in this article? List the assumptions that are being challenged, and provide examples from the films to support your position. Be sure to quote from Parenti’s article.

Web Links

Social Class in Films by Michael Parenti. http://www.cyberusa.com/~gmarshal/social.htm

Anthony Asquith’s Pygmalion. http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/31/pygmalion.html

Pretty Woman. http://www.movieforum.com/movies/titles/prettywoman/index.shtml

Review of Tender Fictions.

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/17/08c_tender.html

The Three Faces of Eve rottentomatoes.com review. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ThreeFacesofEve-1031769/preview.php

bell hooks, "Mock Feminism" Reel to Reel: Race Sex and Class at the Movies, USA: Routledge 1996.

bell hooks, also known as Gloria Watkins, is a Distinguished Professor of English at City College, City University of New York. She is a writer, feminist theorist, and cultural critic. She is the author of numerous books and also writes frequently for such magazines as Spin, Interview, Essence and Z.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Waiting to Exhale is basically about_____ and ________.

a. social movements, political ridicule of blacks.

b. black women who are concerned with racial issues, gender equality.

c. trials, tribulations of four professional black women.

d. none of the above.

e. all of the above.

2. The Color Purple was directed by

a. Steven Spielberg.

b. Tom Hanks.

c. George Lucas.

d. Kevin Costner.

e. Terry McMillan.

3. The film Waiting to Exhale can claim both blackness and black authenticity because

a. a white man wrote the screenplay.

b. a black director was hired.

c. a white director was hired while the book was written by a black

woman.

d. a black woman wrote the book on which the movie was based upon.

e. both b and d.

4. Kevin Costner produced and starred in the film The Bodyguard. No one thought that the film was on the market as a black film, why?

a. It portrayed interracial love.

b. The film was produced by a white male.

c. No one showed curiosity of the racial identity of the screenwriter or

behind the scenes.

d. The film had no importance for black women.

e. All of the above.

5. In the past, black film was usually based on a

a. black filmmaker who focuses on white life.

b. white filmmaker who focuses on white and black life.

c. black filmmaker who focuses on some aspect of black life.

d. black filmmaker who focuses on some aspect of white life.

e. none of the above.

6. What are some of the ways that the movie version of Waiting to Exhale differs from the novel?

a. The novel is about white women.

b. The movie does not touch upon the politics of race and gender.

c. The film, unlike the novel, does not show the women as feminists.

d. In the film, James declares his undying love for his white wife.

e. Both b and d are correct.

7. In the film version of Waiting to Exhale, only _______ women have committed relationships with ________ men.

a. Rich, black.

b. White, rich.

c. White, black.

d. Black, White.

e. Rich, Rich.

8. Waiting to Exhale is a film about helping black women to stay

a. Friends Forever.

b. In their Marriages.

c. Off of drugs and alcohol.

d. Stuck.

e. Together.

9. Young black women go to see this film to be reassured that

a. Black men are uncaring.

b. No matter how good they look, they will still be abandoned.

c. They will be loved forever by a white man.

d. Black men, with their faults, are still who they are meant to be with.

e. Both a and b.

10. Hollywood exploits blackness, in films like Waiting to Exhale, to

a. Prove a point about race issues in America.

b. Make money.

c. Show Hollywood makes movies about all types of people.

d. Attract a wider audience.

e. Both a and c.

Before You Read

List three stereotypes you might find in movies that deal with black women. These may involve a black woman’s profession, her marital status, number of children, relationship with men, how she decorates her house or apartment, the car she drives, and how she dresses. How are these stereotypes damaging? Explain by using examples.

After You Read

Think of two films that feature a black leading female. Do they also depict how black women are “stuck” or do they suggest that black women can achieve dreams and that a Cinderella story is a possibility for their lives? What are the films? Who directed them? Who do you think the target audience is?

Web Links

Sisters in Cinema web site.

http://www.sistersincinema.com/

Blackfilm.com—A site dedicated to African Americans in the film business. http://www.blackfilm.com/

Blaxploitation: A Sketch.

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/18/18_blax.html

Women Filmmakers of the African and Asian Diaspora.

http://eng-wdixon.unl.edu/diaspora.html

Waiting to Exhale.

http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/177908

Michael Medved, "Hollywood Poison Factory." Hollywood vs. America, HarperCollins; 1995.

Michael Medved is a film critic, best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host. His daily three-hour program, emphasizing the intersection of politics and pop culture, reaches more than 1.8 million listeners in 140 markets, coast to coast.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The problem with today’s films is that

a. The performers lack brilliance.

b. The camera work is inadequate.

c. The characters are morally and spiritually empty.

d. Films cost too much money to produce.

e. The editing leave most of the good scenes on the cutting room floor.

2. What movie remake changed the hero into a cheating sleaze ball husband?

a. The Silence of the Lambs.

b. Cape Fear.

c. The Fisher King.

d. The Pope Must Die.

e. Naked Tango.

3. Hollywood portrays marriage as

a. Unhealthy.

b. Perfect.

c. Dangerous.

d. Oppressive.

e. All but b.

4. What was the author’s choice for best movie in 1991?

a. The Silence of the Lambs.

b. Beauty and the Beast.

c. The Last Married Couple in America.

d. A Kiss Before Dying.

e. Thelma and Louise.

5. What percentage of movies released in 1991 were G-rated?

a. 58 percent.

b. 24 percent.

c. 96 percent.

d. 2 percent.

e. 15 percent.

6. Which of the following films have married couples that do not resort to violence or divorce?

a. A Kiss Before Dying.

b. She-Devil.

c. Deceived.

d. Cape Fear.

e. None of the above.

7. In Hollywood what types of characters have religion or turn to religion for help?

a. A crook.

b. A happily married husband.

c. An innocent child.

d. A grandmother.

e. All but a.

8. In the Last Temptation, the released convict is a

a. A belligerent husband.

b. A Jew.

c. A Killer Christian from Hell.

d. A homosexual protestant.

e. A former priest.

9. What percentage of Americans objects to foul language in the motion pictures?

a. 96 percent.

b. 56 percent.

c. 78 percent.

d. 80 percent.

e. 75 percent.

10. What TV program does the author co-host?

a. Entertainment Tonight.

b. 60 Minutes.

c. Sneak Previews.

d. Hollywood vs. America.

e. Both c and d.

Before You Read

List three of the sleaziest movies you can think of that undermine morality and pump psychological poison into the minds of the viewers. What are the names of these movies? What are they about? Who starred in them? Why do you think these movies were popular (or unpopular)? After watching them, did you feel tempted to commit desperate acts, or behave in the way the protagonists in the movie behaved? Not even a tiny bit?

After You Read

Movies are often blamed for corrupting youth and poisoning the minds of the viewers. Take a position that counters Medved’s and argue that watching movies about morally bankrupt people committing heinous acts could be a good thing for society. Use three films as examples.

Web Links

Michael Medved’s Homepage.

http://www.michaelmedved.com/

Hollywood and the American Family Association. http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/afa/222001b.asp

Three Big Lies that Hollywood Tells. http://www.americasfuture.net/1997/aug97/97-0803c.html

Hollywood’s War on Moralism. http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/2001/march/rwt_hollywood.htm

Cape Fear Movie Review. http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1991/11/680423.html

Freya Johnson, "Holy Homosexuality Batman!: Camp and Corporate Capitalism in Batman Forever "Bad Subjects, Issue # 23, December 1995.

Freya Johnson is a Ph.D. student in the English Dept. at the University of California at Berkeley. She studies postmodernism, pop culture, and T.S. Eliot.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The author of this article is

a. A disgruntled gay male.

b. Michael Medved.

c. Freya Johnson.

d. The ghost of Gene Siskel.

e. Frida Kahlo.

2. This article is an example of

a. An interesting overview of elephants in the wild.

b. How Batman and Robin are like Burt and Ernie.

c. Surrealism.

d. Film criticism based on queer theory.

e. Dada and the Cabaret Voltaire.

3. How did Joel Schumacher get away with making a mainstream movie with so much “queer” content?

a. By paying off the studio heads.

b. By turning the queer subtext hidden beneath the surface of

many Batman representations into an overtly queer

supratext that goes right over the heads of the mainstream

viewing audience.

c. By putting a warning label on all posters.

d. By making sure that the outfits were very cute.

e. He didn’t get away with it, and Christian groups had a “Batman Comics”

burning crusade across America. Sales of Batman plunged and the

movie was pulled off the market, and copies destroyed.

4. According to the author, the Riddler aligns “Bad Capitalism” with

a. “Bad Sexuality”.

b. “Bad Sartorial Tendencies”.

c. bad taste in women.

d. sexual fantasies.

e. Hollywood.

5. Queer theory asks the reader to take a look at film and literature from a new viewpoint. It suggests that there are multiple interpretations of the same “text” and that one can see how supposedly mainstream works of art subvert the status quo, and suggest that they often exaggerate, toy with, or engage the audience in an “inside joke” (“wink-wink/nod-nod”) as they skirt the edge or plunge right into non-mainstream, even sexually taboo subjects. The question they ask is:

a. What is “normal” in shopping in a supermarket?

b. Where is Gotham City anyway?

c. Why does it intrigue us to think of a superhero as possessing qualities

possibly antithetical to the idea of a superhero? What does it tell us

about our need for a complex, layered world of ideas?

d. Why are there non-straight references and allusions in a supposedly

straight film?

e. c and d apply.

6. “Camp” appeals to children’s

a. sense of play.

b. their love of exaggeration.

c. their consciousness of the gap between who they are who they would

like to pretend to be.

d. need to stay out all night in tents.

e. a, b, and c.

7. According to some, Camp’s irreverence toward gender difference and mockery of the extremes of femininity and masculinity titillates kids because it

a. implicitly undermines the authority of parents who are seen to embody these constructions.

b. is a popular way to dress at school.

c. is very confusing.

d. reminds them of Halloween.

e. has something to do with doing well in reading class.

8. Batman Forever is over-the-top campy and ironic partly because

a. Batman Returns, directed by Tim Burton, was too dark and violent, which led to poor sales of Batman Returns-themed merchandise.

b. parents complained that Batman Returns was too violent for kids.

c. Batman Forever needed to appeal to media-savvy audiences.

d. campy is considered funny, while violence and darkness are considered

dangerous and serious.

e. all of the above.

9. According to the author, Batman Forever’s “Campy Capitalism”

a. gives even the “serious” moments in the film a possibly ironic valence.

b. kicks off the film when Batman declines a sandwich with the line, “No

thanks -- I’ll get drive-through” with an immediate reference to McDonald’s, which was a huge corporate merchandising partner.

c. gives a nod to the viewer’s knowledge of the film’s status as a promotional vehicle and thus invites the audience in the movie’s light-hearted irreverence toward itself.

d. all of the above.

e. none of the above.

10. This article teaches the viewer to look at film as a text with interpretive possibilities. In the case of Batman Forever, the interpretive possibilities include

a. Batman, Robin, the Riddler and others exhibit “queer” behavior, which undermines the idea that superheroes are ultra-masculine straight men.

b. References to promotion and commercialism which are echoed in real life give the film an ironic depth because it is simultaneously making an inside joke with the audience about its own commercialism.

c. Camp is an effective way to question blanket assumptions and stereotypes.

d. all of the above.

e. none of the above.

Before You Read

Define “queer theory,” and give examples of pre-1950 films that can be considered to be subverting “straight” values.

After You Read

Think of other films that feature a man and his sidekick. Could queer theory apply to them? Explain why or why not.

Web Links

Batman in the Closet. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~swinick/Batman/Batman3.html

A review of Batman Forever Roger Ebert. http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1995/06/984038.html

It’s the Ambiguously Gay Duo. http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/batmanandrobin/351.html

Queertoons salon.com.

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/mill/1998/08/03mill.html

When Is a Kiss not a Kiss? When It’s a Queer Kiss. brightlightsfilm.com. http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/20/20_queerkiss.html

Anthony Lane, review of Pearl Harbor" The New Yorker. 2001.

Anthony Lane has been a film critic for The New Yorker since January of 1993. Salon.com features this: “Lane, who shares film reviewing duties with Terrence Rafferty, wasted no time in establishing himself as the magazine's most accessible, and probably most beloved, critical voice. A merry sprite, Lane strews comic riffs like pixie dust as he gambols along. ("To lap-dance," he explained in his review of Showgirls, "you undress, sit your client down, order him to stay still and fully clothed, then hover over him, making a motion that you have perfected by watching Mister Softee ice-cream dispensers.") Lane also happens to be one of the few film critics remaining who can send you rushing out of your chair and into a movie you never thought you'd want to see -- Speed, for example -- if only to share the giddy buzz in his cranium. Lane's most obvious fault is that, when he comes to a fork in the road, he'll always go low instead of high, settling for a hammy joke instead of reaching for something more exact. Entire truckloads of his cracks are already browning at the edges: "He's blond, and he's thoughtful," Lane chirped about the title character in Bernardo Bertolucci's Zoe Baird-era film Little Buddha, "and his nanny, so far as we know, is not an illegal alien." http://www.salon.com/june97/tina3970625.html

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Who is Rafe’s best buddy?

a. Ben Affleck.

b. Colonel Doolittle.

c. Danny.

d. Josh Hartnett.

e. Sammy.

2. Who becomes the first black sailor to be awarded the Navy Cross?

a. Cuba Gooding, Jr.

b. Dorie Miller.

c. Michael Bay.

d. Anthony Lane.

e. Michael Shannon.

3. This article is

a. A movie review.

b. An editorial.

c. A crossword puzzle.

d. All opinion.

e. Both a and b.

4. When Rafe is leaving for England he decides not to ______ with his girlfriend.

a. Get married.

b. Get along.

c. Have sex.

d. Leave.

e. Kill.

5. Rafe is

a. Blind.

b. Dyslexic.

c. Deaf.

d. Obsessive Compulsive.

e. Afraid of heights.

6. Evelyn, believing Rafe is dead, makes love to

a. Colonel Doolittle.

b. Sammy.

c. Danny.

d. Alec Baldwin.

e. Cuba Gooding, Jr.

7. As a nurse, Evelyn’s duties consist of

a. Wearing a two piece on the beach.

b. Dream of Rafe.

c. Not notice other people making out on the beach.

d. Soothing scalded butts of sunbathers.

e. All but d.

8. How did the author feel about the end of the movie?

a. It ended on a high note for America.

b. It was a weak attempt to make America the winner.

c. It was an added ending because the director did not remember we lost in Pearl Harbor.

d. It moved him to tears.

e. Both b and c.

9. Bay does pay elaborate homage to the niceties of

a. American tactics.

b. Japanese tactics.

c. American weaponry.

d. Japanese weaponry.

e. Both b and d.

10. The last Michael Bay film before Pearl Harbor was

a. Independence Day.

b. The Lion King.

c. Armageddon.

d. Scream.

e. None of the above.

Before You Read

Who are audiences who might like to see a war movie? What kind of war movie is likely to appeal most to a large audience? Why?

After You Read

What is the primary “message” in the film, Pearl Harbor? How does Anthony Lane suggest what he believes to be the underlying motives and messages in making and releasing a film such as Pearl Harbor? Support your argument by incorporating quotes from the article. How do the images used in the websites on the film further support your argument?

Web Links

The Official Website of Pearl Harbor. http://video.go.com/pearlharbor/index.html

Beyond the Movie: Pearl Harbor National Geographic. http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/prs-for/japan/japrs-xz/i-yamto.htm

Another Pearl Harbor Review.

http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/p/pearl_harbor.html

12/7/41: Pearl Harbor.

Four reviews of Moulin Rouge: Roger Ebert, "Moulin Rouge" Chicago Sun Times, 2001. Stanley Kaufmann, "Moulin Rouge" The New Republic, 2001. Elvis Mitchell, the New York Times, 2001. Owen Glieberman, Entertainment Weekly, 2001

Roger Ebert has been the film critic of the Chicago Sun Times since 1967 and is the only motion picture critic to have won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism (1975). He is co-host of Ebert & Roeper and the Movies, which appears on more than 200 television stations and ranks as the top-rated weekly syndicated half-hour show on television. For 24 years, he co-hosted Siskel & Ebert with the late Gene Siskel

Stanley Kauffmann is internationally recognized as a film critic and writer. Awarded the Telluride Film Festival Award for Criticism in 1998, he has taught at Yale University's School of Drama, Adelphi University, and most recently, Hunter College of the City University of New York. His previous books include Field of View and Distinguishing Features, both available from Johns Hopkins.

As well as hosting The Treatment, Elvis Mitchell is currently a film critic for the New York Times. He is heard nationally as the entertainment critic for NPR's Weekend Edition. Mitchell also hosts the Independent Film Channel's Independent Focus series.

Mitchell's past broadcast credits include stints as a guest correspondent and host for KCET Public Television's award-winning public affairs program Life and Times, as a special correspondent for CNN's weekly series Newsstand: Entertainment Weekly, and as a regular panelist on the nationally syndicated "Last Call" and guest anchor on CBS Nightwatch.

A prolific film critic, Owen Gleiberman writes film reviews for Entertainment Weekly, as well as other publications.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Moulin Rouge was directed by

a. Nicole Kidman.

b. Steven Spielberg.

c. Owen Gleiberman.

d. Baz Luhrmann.

e. John Leguizamo.

2. Moulin Rouge was filmed in

a. Paris.

b. The real Moulin Rouge.

c. Australia.

d. Los Angeles.

e. England.

3. Moulin Rouge is a

a. Classical Musical.

b. Romantic Comedy.

c. Rock Musical.

d. Rock Opera.

e. Drama.

4. What are some other films that have this same musical theme as the Moulin Rouge?

a. Dancer in the Dark.

b. Carousel.

c. Carmen.

d. A Knight’s Tale.

e. All but b.

5. An artist whose music was used in Moulin Rouge is

a. Madonna.

b. Britney Spears.

c. N’Sync.

d. James Taylor.

e. The Beatles.

6. Stanley Kauffmann feels that Ewan McGregor

a. Was difficult to work with.

b. Did everything he was asked to do.

c. Had a terrible singing voice.

d. Should have produced the film.

e. None of the above.

7. Moulin Rouge begins

a. In black and white.

b. In the world of Christian.

c. In the style of old French Films of the 1890s.

d. All of the above.

e. Only a and d.

8. Which article feels that Moulin Rouge is an excellent film for young people who use DVD’s?

a. Owen Gleiberman’s article.

b. Roger Ebert’s article.

c. Elvis Mitchell’s article.

d. Stanley Kauffmann’s article.

e. Both b and c.

9. Which author feels that Moulin Rouge’s director was correct in using so many cuts in the film?

a. Owen Gleiberman’s article.

b. Roger Ebert’s article.

c. Elvis Mitchell’s article.

d. Stanley Kauffmann’s article.

e. Both b and c.

10. In the film, the Sound of Music lyrics are played on top of what artist’s song?

a. Madonna.

b. Elton John.

c. Nirvana.

d. Björk.

e. Christina Aguilera.

Before You Read

Think of films from the 1990s that fit the musical genre. Did you enjoy them? How are they different from the “classic” musicals from the 1950s and 1960s, such as Hello, Dolly!, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, The Music Man, and others? Compare and contrast the settings, the protagonists, and the background. Do the musicals or soundtrack-driven films from the 1990s tend to be “darker”? Examples may include Romeo and Juliet, The Crow, Evita, and Phantom of the Opera.

After You Read

Do you think that Moulin Rouge will go down in history as a classic film? Will it be watched ten or twenty years from now, or is its appeal ephemeral and faddish? Take a position and support your argument with examples from the film.

Web Links

The Official Site of the Moulin Rouge.

http://www.clubmoulinrouge.com/mr.htm

Other Reviews of Moulin Rouge. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/MoulinRouge-1107863/?rtp=1

The Most Famous Cabaret in the World. http://www.cofrase.com/moulin_rouge/indexuk.htm

Award won by Moulin Rouge. http://www.oscar.com/nominees/sound_moulinrouge.html

Australian Site of Moulin Rouge. http://www.moulinrougemovie.com.au/html/index_a.htm

Linda Williams, "Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, Excess." Williams, Linda. "Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess." Film Theory and Criticism. Ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 701-715.

Linda Williams is Professor of Film Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She recently edited Viewing Positions: Ways of Seeing Film (Rutgers, 1995) and is the author of Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the 'Frenzy of the Visible' (California, 1989).

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Linda Williams and her seven- year- old son go to the movies; they often selected different categories of films. Some of the categories that were mentioned were the scary, sad, and the K for kissing movies. What did her little boy refer to these categories as “gross?” What were some of the categories that were mentioned?

a. Hispanic Japanese films.

b. Sad and emotional films.

c. scary monster films.

d. the K word for kissing, romantic films.

e. b, c and d.

2. What three elements are sensational effects of the three types of films discussed?

a. Sex, Gender, Violence.

b. Gender, Excess, Drama.

c. Sex, Violence, Emotion.

d. Emotion, Violence, Drama.

e. None of the above.

3. What are the excesses, according to Altman, in the classical narrative system?

a. Unmotivated Events.

b. Rhythmic montage.

c. Highlighted Parallelism.

d. Overlong Spectacles.

e. All of the above.

4. What is the original meaning of the Greek word ecstasy?

a. Love and Passion.

b. Insanity and Bewilderment.

c. Sexual excitement.

d. Anger and Melodrama.

e. None of the above.

5. “Pornography is the theory and _______ is the practice.”

a. Intimacy.

b. Rape.

c. Sex.

d. Love.

e. Passion.

6. What film is an example of the terror of the female victim as spectacle?

a. Psycho.

b. Stella Dallas.

c. Stella.

d. Terms of Endearment.

e. Hustler.

7. Which of the following films are maternal melodramas?

a. Psycho.

b. Steel Magnolias.

c. Terms of Endearment.

d. Halloween.

e. Both b and c.

8. The “bad girl” is punished, but in return she receives

a. Death.

b. Money.

c. Pain.

d. Pleasure.

e. Fame.

9. If pornography meets “on time” and horror meets “too early”, then melodrama meets

a. On time.

b. Just right.

c. Too soon.

d. Too late.

e. Too bad.

10. The deployment of sex, violence, and emotion has a great function for ______ genres.

a. Gender.

b. Melodrama.

c. Body.

d. Emotion.

e. Excess.

Before You Read

What do you define as pornography? When is a film “art” and when is it “pornography”? Why? Explain your reasoning and give examples.

After You Read

How does one establish limits and standards for films with respect to the depiction of sex and violence? Do you think that warning labels and disclosure are effective? When is something too violent? Describe a film you saw that you considered too violent, and possibly dangerous to the psyche. What do you consider to be the negative consequences of watching sex and violence? Describe the cause-effect relations.

Web Links

The Naked Truth about Porn http://www.queendom.com/sex-files/pornography/porn-emotionaltoll.html

Women in Horror Films http://members.aol.com/Zeroice013/Horror.html

Melodrama Films filmsite.com http://www.filmsite.org/melodramafilms.html

About the Author Linda Williams http://www.well.com/user/freedom/williams.html

The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/bookrev/cat-people.htm

Queer Horror: Decoding Universal’s Monsters. http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/23/universalhorror.html

Louise Erdrich, "Dear John Wayne." Jacklight. Harper & Row. 1982

Louise Erdrich was born in 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota and grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota where her parents worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She received an M.A. degree from the John Hopkins University in 1979. Erdrich's fiction and poetry, draws on her Chippewa heritage to examine complex familial and sexual relationships among full and mixed blood Native Americans as they struggle with questions of identity in white European American culture. She is a novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist and a critic. Award-winning author Louise Erdrich published her first two books — Jacklight, a volume of poetry, and Love Medicine, a novel — at the age of thirty. The daughter of a Chippewa Indian mother and a German-American father, the author explores Native American themes in her works, with major characters representing both sides of her heritage. The first in a multi-part series, Love Medicine traces two Native American families from 1934 to 1984 in a unique seven-narrator format. The novel was extremely well received, earning its author numerous awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1984. Since then, Erdrich has gone on to publish The Beet Queen, Tracks, The Bingo Palace, and Tales of Burning Love, all of which are related through recurring characters and themes.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Dear John Wayne is a(n)

a. Editorial.

b. Short Story.

c. Poem.

d. Essay.

e. Song.

2. What do the Indians slip in?

a. Mud.

b. Horse poop.

c. A smoked screen of blood.

d. Hot spilled butter.

e. Coke.

3. Death makes us owners of

a. Everything.

b. The human spirit.

c. Nothing.

d. Ourselves.

e. Life.

4. What do “we” scratch?

a. Mosquito Bites.

b. Each other.

c. Our Heads.

d. Our Nose.

e. The Wall.

5. When does the poem take place?

a. Summer.

b. Winter.

c. Fall.

d. Spring.

e. October.

6. What kind of car is in the reading?

a. Firebird.

b. Pontiac.

c. Honda.

d. Ford pickup.

e. Lexus.

7. Who is the author of the reading?

a. Unknown.

b. John Wayne.

c. The Sioux Indian tribe.

d. Louise Erdrich.

e. Sammy Smith.

8. The person is the letter is talking to

a. You.

b. The Indians.

c. People who visit drive-ins.

d. John Wayne.

e. It does not say.

9. The heart is so

a. Incomplete.

b. Unfulfilled.

c. Blind.

d. Happy.

e. Empty.

10. The poem has an overall feeling of

a. Surprise.

b. Happiness.

c. Joy.

d. Thanksgiving.

e. None of the above.

Before You Read

List some of the films that John Wayne starred in. What stereotypes are associated with him and the genre of the “western”? What are the masculine qualities usually associated with him? Why?

After You Read

The poem suggests that watching a “classic western” genre film through the perspective of a Native American could be offensive, painful, and tragic. What are a few of the responses that you see in the poem, and how do you explain them in terms of the “messages” encoded in a western film?

Web Links

The Birthplace of John Wayne.

http://www.johnwaynebirthplace.org/

All About John Wayne.

http://www.jwplace.com/index.html

The Actor and his Films.

http://www.thegoldenyears.org/wayne.html

The History of the Sioux Indians.

http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/nhhs/project/1999/sioux/sioux.htm

Walk the Life of the Sioux Indians. http://www.d21.k12.il.us/isu_d21_pds/ss_projects/native_americans/

Sherman Alexie, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" Old Shirts and New Skins. UCLA AmericanIndian Studies Center, 1993.

Sherman J. Alexie, Jr., was born in October 1966. A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, he grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, about fifty miles northwest of Spokane. Approximately 1,100 Spokane Tribal members live there. Alexie's father is a Coeur d'Alene Indian, and his mother is a Spokane Indian. In June 1999, The New Yorker acknowledged Alexie as one of the top writers for the twenty-first century. He was one of twenty writers featured in the magazine's Summer Fiction Edition, "20 Writers for the 21st Century." Alexie, who resides with his wife and two sons in Seattle, has published fourteen books to date, including his most recent collection of short stories, The Toughest Indian in the World, and his newly released poetry collection, One Stick Song.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The author of this article is

a. a Native American writer in film, television, and theater.

b. from the Taos Pueblo tribe.

c. Sherman Alexie.

d. both a and c.

e. none of the above.

2. The author has won several writing awards. Which of the following has he won?

a. Washington State Digest Writer’s Award.

b. World Heavyweight Championship Poetry Bout.

c. Ernest Hemingway Commission Fellowship.

d. Lisa Wallace Governor’s Award.

e. New York Times National Magazine Award.

3. The writer captures the modern Native American experience in writing with both anger and great affection and humor. What book would the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" located in?

a. Toughest Indian in the World.

b. Smoke Signals.

c. Old Shirts and New Skins.

d. Indian Killer.

e. Reservation Blues.

4. In the poem, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” the writer starts off discussing the Sand Creek Massacre. How are these two associated with one another?

a. both are very similar because they deal with such great violence.

b. the two events occurred within the same time span.

c. both deal with Native American Reservations.

d. the two events happened in the same state.

e. none of the above.

5. In the reading, what point is the writer trying to get across?

a. that there is no weakness in the world of today.

b. violence is a good way to deal with the type of problems we face in life.

c. that these articles put together do not allow fear.

d. both b and c.

e. none of the above.

6. The author discusses two horrific events. What are they?

a. American Indian Movement.

b. Sand Creek Massacre.

c. Wounded Knee.

d. Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

e. both b and d.

7. How many women and children were killed at Sand Creek?

a. 28 Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children were slaughtered.

b. 105 Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho were slaughtered.

c. 115 Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children were slaughtered.

d. 155 white women and children were slaughtered.

e. 205 women and children were slaughtered.

8. There were 700 heavily armed soldiers. Who led them?

a. General Custer.

b. Colonel Swindle.

c. General Chivington.

d. Colonel Chivington.

e. none of the above.

9. The poem is referred to as a thin line between

a. “bitterness and happiness”.

b. “love and music”.

c. “butchery and dark humor”.

d. all of the above .

e. none of the above.

10. The Sand Creek and Texas Chainsaw Massacre add a sense of __________ to the film.

a. excitement.

b. exhilaration.

c. madness.

d. fear .

e. both c and d.

Before You Read

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a classic horror film, filled with what many consider to be gratuitous violence. Sherman Alexie suggests that the modern American psyche, because of the history of genocide of Native Americans, has a hunger for carnage, but the more one witnesses, the more one craves it. Do you agree? What do you think is behind the appeal of the horror film?

After You Read

Alexie’s poem seeks to expose dominant American attitudes toward Native Americans, and it suggests that the culture relishes the carnage. In what ways is his poem effective in making parallels between horror films and the Indian experience, and suggesting that non-Indian America unconsciously hungers for more such carnage? Do you think this could apply to other countries where there has been a conquered and virtually exterminated minority? (Germans and the Jewish people? for example). How?

Web Links

Biography of the writer.

http://www.fallsapart.com/biography.html

Sherman Alexie’s Crazy Horse Poetry. http://www.speakeasy.org/wfp/02/Books.html

Chainsaw of Fools http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.28.97/chainsaw-9735.html

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

http://zap.to/massacre

Review of Sherman Alexie’s Poetry. http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/alexie/reviews.htm

Lynne Cheney, John Edgar Wideman, Paul Schrader, Katha Pollitt, David Mamet,"Tough Talk on Entertainment" Time. June 12, 1995.

Lynn Cheney has been characterized as a “right-wing warrior who used her post at the NEH to fight the Republican culture wars of the eighties; the ideologue who, after continuing to serve as head of the NEH through the Bush years, resigned following Clinton's election and moved to the American Enterprise Institute to write Op-Ed hit pieces, and later co-hosted the now-defunct CNN show Crossfire Sunday--she was the one "on the right." In her heyday Lynne Cheney was not just a conservative gadfly; after she targeted the National History Standards in 1994, the Senate voted 99 to 1 in support of her call to defund the project. Very few opinion writers ever experience that kind of triumph”

John Edgar Wideman's life is as dramatic as any of his brooding, Faulknerian novels. Born in Pittsburgh to a black working-class family, he became an African-American golden boy — a Rhodes scholar and basketball star, as talented on the court as he was brilliant in the classroom, and the subject of a 1963 Look magazine article titled "The Astonishing John Wideman." As a boy, he planned to leave his background behind for a dazzling future as a novelist, academic and intellectual, but family and politics intervened. Wideman came to see the complex problems of African-American life as inescapable. His brother, Robby, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison (the victim was killed by Robby's partner in a robbery) in 1976. Wideman's struggle to come to terms with his brother's deeds and their consequences became the subject of his memoir, "Brothers and Keepers." Then, in 1986, his own 16-year-old, mixed-race son stabbed and killed a classmate during a field trip. Articles that subsequently appeared in Vanity Fair and Esquire indicated the boy had long been emotionally troubled and characterized Wideman as filled with controlled racial anger.

American screenwriter Paul Schrader wrote the films Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Affliction. In an online interview, he talks about his self-destructive and edgy heroes, his relationship with Martin Scorsese and his Dutch Calvinist upbringing. Former critic of renown whose contributions to American cinema include three striking screenplays for Martin Scorsese and a directorial output that has unrelentingly and inventively examined both true-life stories and controversial social issues, Schrader began his career as a film critic in Los Angeles and published a still-influential study, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, in 1972. His first produced screenplay, co-written with his brother Leonard (who later scripted Kiss of the Spider Woman 1985) and Robert Towne, was for the Japanese underworld thriller, The Yakuza (1975). Schrader collaborated with Scorsese for the first time on Taxi Driver (1976), a classic study of urban alienation, and made his directorial debut with Blue Collar (1978), a gripping, muckraking account of autoworker exploitation in Detroit. 5 After several flawed but interesting films, he attracted attention with the ambitious, multi-layered biopic, Mishima (1985), a portrait of controversial Japanese author Yukio Mishima. The film took the "artistic merit" prize at Cannes for "John Bailey's visual conception, Eiko Ishioka's designs and the music of Philip Glass." 5 Schrader's subsequent work has encompassed controversial subjects ranging from the life of Jesus, in the Scorsese-directed The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), to terrorism, in 1988's Patty Hearst. Returning to a favorite theme of the damaged macho man, he fashioned a minor masterpiece from Russell Banks' novel Affliction (1998), offering actors Nick Nolte and James Coburn meaty roles as a son and father struggling to connect. Schrader, who was formerly married to production designer Jeannine Oppewall, married actress Mary Beth Hurt in 1983.

Columnist Katha Pollitt is well known for her sharp and provocative analyses of popular culture and politics. Her "Subject to Debate" column, which The Washington Post called "the best place to go for original thinking on the left," began in January 1994 and appears every other week in The Nation; it is frequently reprinted in newspapers across the country. Pollitt counts Susan Sontag, Gloria Steinem and Naomi Wolf among her many vocal fans and Camille Paglia--who wrote recently that she hopes Pollitt "burns in hell" for her analysis of Katie Roiphe's The Morning After--among her critics. A superb stylist, Pollitt can always be relied on for her wit and her keen sense of both the ridiculous and the sublime. In the past, her Nation essays have targeted "family values," surrogate mothers and "difference feminism," among other topics. More recently, her column has tackled teenage motherhood, welfare "dependency," abortion's place in health care reform, the Million Man March, the French strikes of fall 1995 and Shakespeare in the canon.

A noted American playwright, David Alan Mamet, was born in Chicago on November 30, 1947. He studied at Goddard College in Vermont and at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York. He has taught at Goddard College, the Yale Drama School, and New York University, and regularly lectures to classes at the Atlantic Theater Company, of which he is a founding member. David Mamet is a leading American playwright whose spare, gritty work reflects the rhythms of Harold Pinter and the tough attitudes of his native Chicago. Noted for his strong male characters and their macho posturings, Mamet's knack for creating low-key yet highly charged verbal confrontations in a male-dominated world has consistently made his work fodder for discussion and deconstruction.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Lynne Cheney feels that _____ and ______ know something has gone wrong in the entertainment industry.

a. Artists and Consumers.

b. Democrats and Republicans.

c. Conservatives and Liberals.

d. Musicians and Actors.

e. None of the above.

2. John Edgar Wideman says that the best art interrogates

a. Life.

b. Beauty.

c. Color.

d. Consensus.

e. Both a and b.

3. Wideman also feels that once black rap music began to dominate the airwaves, the government then decided to ______ it.

a. Regulate.

b. Condone.

c. Condemn.

d. Buy.

e. Perform.

4. Donna Britt was ______ to hear Bob Dole verbally attack the entertainment industry.

a. Mortified.

b. Horrified.

c. Glorified.

d. Glad.

e. Saddened.

5. Hollywood calls popularity_____; politicians calls it _____.

a. Ratings, money.

b. Oscars, votes.

c. Money, votes.

d. Money, approval ratings.

e. Both a and c.

6. Paul Schrader finds Hollywood to be

a. Profitable.

b. Greedy.

c. Popular.

d. Evil.

e. Sickening.

7. Katha Pollitt says, “Criticizing right-wing talk radio for demeaning women is

a. Defending American Vales.

b. Loosing Popularity.

c. Politically Correct.

d. Garbage.

e. Fun.

8. David Mamet feels popular culture is

a. Good.

b. Provokes the soul.

c. Garbage.

d. Popular.

e. Evil.

9. Stanley Crouch is a

a. Playwright.

b. Critic.

c. Actor.

d. Politician.

e. Professor.

10. Crouch says people in the industry are about

a. Making money.

b. Breaking taboos.

c. Upsetting Politicians.

d. Shocking people.

e. Demoralizing America.

Before You Read

Do you see parallels between Hollywood and Washington in the sense that both are image factories, and that they create illusion that is likely to be met with acceptance and support by Middle America? What are the parallels, and how do they create a false illusion of reality? Is this dangerous, necessary, or simply entertainment? When? How?

After You Read

Which of the statements and points made in the article did you find particularly provocative? Why? Do you think the public should be educated in order to see the spin and manipulation behind media productions? Do you think the public is already politically and technologically savvy enough to realize that anything seen on film has been manipulated or altered, and thus is not necessarily real? If so, when does the skepticism or cynicism go too far?

5 web links re: author and/or reading topic

Bob Doles’ Acceptance Speech. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/convention96/floor_speeches/bob_dole.html

Dole to Hollywood: Don’t Hurt Our Families. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9607/30/dole.hollywood/index.shtml

Dole’s Blast at Hollywood Resonates.

http://hnv.nin.net/hnv3/post2.html

Lawmakers, health professionals blast entertainment for marketing adult material to children. http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/13/ftc.hearing/

America moved toward family-friendly entertainment in 1996. http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9612/31/politics.media/

Public Enemy: Hollywood in the Pre-Code Era. http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/17/04b_warner.html

Visual Analysis

Movie Still from WAG THE DOG. http://movieweb.com/movie/wagthedog/co2.jpg

“The Clinton Syndrome, or, The Survival Legacy.”

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/36/wagthedog1.html

Essay Questions

1. This film still depicts a scene in which the director (played by Dustin Hoffman) is viewing the results of his Hollywood studio production made in response to a scandal that the White House wants to cover up by distracting the populace and creating a false news story. Anne Heche and Robert DeNiro are the behind-the-scenes magicians who are helping guide the production. How do the actors in this scene help suggest that Hollywood directors are more or less lost in their own worlds, and that they can be used by Washington (or others) without realizing the consequences of their actions, or even considering ethical implications?

2. Can you identify any conspiracy theories in current contemporary culture that are predicated upon the notion that the CIA or some secret organization contacted Hollywood and created a completely false image, which was released to the public and passed off as news or truth? What are they? How did the public react? Did these have a different impact outside the U.S.?

http://movieweb.com/movie/moulinrouge/co8.jpg

Essay Question:

1. Take a close look at this image. Are there elements from earlier films and famous film posters that add meaning and suggest that this film is in a long tradition of classics? Investigate the film posters for Georges Melies films, Disney’s Peter Pan, Disney’s Mary Poppins, as well as others. For further thought: How does the borrowing of images create intertextuality?

2. List the emotional and intellectual impact of the various aspects of this poster. Describe possible “messages” in

· the arrangement of the elements

· the colors

· the fact it is at night

· the stars

· the Eiffel Tower

· the city lights below

· the man and woman dancing along the curvature of the earth.

http://www.filmsite.org/voya.html

Voyage dans la Lune, Le/A Trip to the Moon (France, 1902), the screen's first science fiction story, was a fourteen minute masterpiece, created by imaginative French director and master magician Georges Melies in his version of the Jules Verne story.

Essay Question

1. The film still above has been copied and “referred” to in videos by K. D. Lang and The Smashing Pumpkins. The original is from George Melies’ A Trip to the Moon, filmed in 1902 and one of the first films to use special effects. Why do you think that other artists would be intrigued by Melies’ image and want to use it in their works?

2. What is the impact of borrowing familiar elements and images from film classics and incorporating them into a poster for a new film? What does the collage do? Imagine that you have been asked to design a film poster for a new film, and you have decided to make a collage that integrates the echoes of at least five films. Sketch it or create a mock-up of the poster, then describe the impact you’d like it to have on your audience.

Batman Forever poster.

http://www.hollywoodposter.com/picture1.html

http://www.hollywoodposter.com/poster_images/btman.gif

Essay Question

1. According to the reading in the text, Batman Forever concerns itself primarily with the idea that appearances deceive, and that there are hidden identities and hidden behaviors that, if studied closely, reveal the true nature of reality. This thesis is supported by Batman’s hidden identity, the “Bat Cave” that is underground and hidden from view, but the place where transformation takes place, the masks, and the costumes. What are the elements in the poster that might further support this idea?

2. One can argue that the presence of the full moon plays a very special role in film, given that the moon, as well as the cinema screen, only reflect what is projected upon them. For the moon, the reflection is light from the sun. For the cinema screen, light from the projection system illuminates the screen. However, one can argue that the viewers also project upon the screen, and thus they see their deepest fantasies and wishes enacted there. With this in mind, think of the films that include an image of a full moon. Does the presence of the moon send the message that these films are particularly evocative of a state of mind that explores the unlocking of fantasies and what is hidden? Take a look at the Batman Returns poster and explain how this premise does or does not fit. Think of other film poster examples as well, and analyze them in terms of the full moon and the unlocking of fantasy.

Legally Blonde

http://www.blockbuster.com/bb/movie/details/0,7286,VID-V+++246684,00.html

Essay Question

1. Analyze the videocassette cover for Legally Blonde and name the elements that perpetuate cultural stereotypes. How does one know, from the design of the cover, that this is a comedy? Do images of cultural stereotypes play a role? Would this be funny to a person from a different culture? How might they see the message in the cover?

2. If you were to design a poster or an advertising campaign for a new film that parodies individuals who typically enjoy privilege in American society, what would you include? What would be your theme? Could you potentially offend certain audiences? How and why?

Read and Respond

Please read the following websites and answer the Discussion Question below.

A Quickie Look at the Life and Career of Tex Avery. brightlights.com. http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/22/texavery.html

Goosing Mother Goose: The Fairy Tales of Tex Avery. http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/22/texaverytales.html

Tex Avery Tribute.

http://www.texavery.com/

Write an essay that responds to this Discussion Question:

Analyze the stills from Tex Avery cartoons, and play the audio files. If possible, rent Tex Avery cartoons and view them. Are they still funny, more than fifty years after their creation? What elements are funny, and why? Keep a log of your smiles and laughs, and write down precisely what scenes provoked a response in you. Are the reversals of expectations and parodying of gender roles still effective in creating humor? How does Tex Avery bring the high and mighty to their comeuppance? How does he satirize the perquisites of power? Use specific examples, and explain how, with supporting explanations.

Destinations

University of California at Berkeley. Articles and Reviews from Cineaste Magazine.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/CineasteMenu.html

Film Comment Magazine.

http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/fcm2.htm

Women in Cinema: A Reference Guide. http://www.people.virginia.edu/~pm9k/libsci/womFilm.html

Women’s Studies Database: Film Reviews. http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/FilmReviews/

Robert Ebert: Reviews, articles, essays. The Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/index/ebert.html

Reviews by Linda Lopez McAlister. RottenTomatoes.com http://www.rottentomatoes.com/author-4017/

p.o.v.: A Danish Journal of Film Studies. http://imv.au.dk/publikationer/pov/POV.html

Journal of Media and Culture. Media-Culture.

http://www.media-culture.org.au/

Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies. Institute of Film Studies. University of Nottingham. (England).

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/