Formal Paper Two

Title: Analyzing Biopics

Thesis statement due: October 1
First draft due: October 8
Second draft due: October 20

Objectives:  to analyze films; to break down a topic into subpoints for discussion and analysis; to generate a thesis statement

Audience: readers of salon.com

Task:  The editors of salon.com (having delegated these responsibilities to J. Haefner) have asked you to write an article which discusses a character from The King's Speech (movie AND book) in relationship to some general cultural themes. In other words, how does the representation of one character reflect or comment on a broader theme (some suggestions listed below)?  Inevitably you will also find yourself making some comments on differences between the film and print version of your character. Some possible themes are:

Evidence: You'll be using two primary sources for this review: the book and the film. Primary source: an original work of art or historical document. Secondary source: an analysis or interpretation of a primary source. The editors remind you that any good writing is grounded in the balance between general statement and specific detail, and so the amount and kind of detail you include to illustrate and substantiate your claims about the characters and the theme(s) they exemplify matters a great deal. From your primary sources, you can include text from the book, dialogue from the film (link to the script below), camera work, sound effects, music, editing and shot transitions, lighting, etc. (link to Dartmouth College guide to writing about film below). Secondary sources might include other reviews, histories, cultural analyses, pop culture references, etc. Since this is a magazine article, the editors do not expect you to provide MLA citation for your sources, but some indication of the source--for example, the author's name or the title of the book/article--in the text would boost your credibility for your reader without impeding the reader's reading flow. 

Online Reviews:
For current reviews in salon.com, go to:  http://www.salon.com/movies  
Also check out Ebert's review of The Hurricane: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000107/REVIEWS/1070302/1023
NY Times review of The King's Speech: http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/movies/26king.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Roger Ebert's review of The King's Speech: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-kings-speech-2010
IMDb's compilation of reviews of The King's Speech: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1504320/externalreviews 

Other Links:
Here's a PDF file of the script of The King's Speech
Article from Time magazine on the difference between books and films
Yale's guide to writing about film: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/index.htm

Thesis Statement: The thesis statement should be one page in length.  The initial section is the actual thesis statement, which can be several sentences long ( I wouldn't go over three sentences). Following that, there should be a brief description of the structure of your paper, based on your thesis, or an informal or formal outline.

Length: 5 pages or more

Points: 150

Commentary: For every formal paper, a one-page commentary on the process you went through as you completed the first draft is required. This commentary is NOT included in the page length requirement.