Description
Essay
The essay for this lesson is required to be 750-1,000-words and clearly demonstrate your understanding of the prompt. Essays should be 5 or more paragraphs with a clear introduction, thesis statement, and conclusion, written in APA format (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/). Once completed, submit your work to the Essay Dropbox.
You may select from one of the following prompts:
Compare and contrast the significance of the final scene in two of the following films (High Noon, On the Waterfront, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Invasion). What does this scene mean? If these films were fables, how would you summarize their moral prescriptions? How do these endings reflect the era in which they were created?
Compare and contrast the following scenes from the On the Waterfront and High Noon, and discuss them relative to the political tensions surrounding the historical context in which both films were created:
The scene in High Noon where Kane visits the church in an attempt to enlist help from citizens of Hadleyville and an impromptu town meeting ensues, 2) the scene in On the Waterfront where Father Barry stages a meeting for the longshoremen in the church basement and attempts to organize them for action
Discuss On the Waterfront and High Noon in the context of claims offered in Ellen Schrecker‘s article, “McCarthyism: Political Repression and the Fear of Communism.” In your conclusion, including a commentary on whether you agree or disagree with Schrecker’s analysis and why, or provide a critique of either film’s message.
Discuss On the Waterfront in the context of the claims offered in Kenneth Hey’s essay, “Ambivalence as a Theme in ‘On the Waterfront.'” Use specific examples from the film and the essay to inform your analysis. In your conclusion, including a commentary on whether you agree or disagree with Hey’s analysis and why.
Discuss the key claims Susan Sontag makes in her essay, The Imagination of Disaster, and relate them to your analysis of a contemporary disaster film or horror film. How are the cultural fears conveyed in the contemporary film you have selected similar and/or different to the cultural anxieties relayed in classic postwar science fiction films? What do these similarities and differences reveal about the historical contexts in which the films were created?
Discuss the significance of sleep and sleep deprivation in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Invasion(2007). What does Loock say these themes and the emphasis on medication symbolize relative to the cultural contexts in which the films were created?