Free State of Jones (2016) Movie

OPTION 1: Watch Free State of Jones (2016) and use scholarly and historical sources to answer the following
questions. What role does Federalism play in the film? What about individual rights? What are the tensions
throughout the film between the rights of citizens, states, and the Federal government? How can individual
rights best be safeguarded? Think about the tensions between the Knight family (both depicted in the film and
also historically), freed slaves, Mississippi as a state, and the Federal government. You have plenty to work
with: Federalists and Anti-Federalists, the 10th Amendment, Civil War and Reconstruction-era amendments to
the Constitution, natural rights, etc. Last, what do you think is the main philosophical theme of the film, if any.
Why?
OPTION 2: Watch Spinning Boris (2003) and use scholarly and other sources to answer the following
questions. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, what electoral challenges was Russia facing?
What were the foreign policy implications of the post-Soviet Russian election? Coming from the US, its 2-party
system, and Constitutional stability, why do the American campaign strategists have such a difficult time
helping the Yeltsin campaign? What is motivating voters in Russia during this time? Why is the Russian
campaign and election so chaotic? Last, what works in the election? Why? Think about Duverger’s Law, the
two-party dynamic that the campaigners are used to in the US, and what does/does not work in trying to
replicate political strategies from the American system into the Russian one in this early post-Soviet era.