MDST 1502 ASSIGNMENTS NOTE: Assignments and due dates are subject to change.
The following written assignments should be be double-spaced using regular fonts and margins, without extra spacing. 11 or 12 point font is acceptable, with 1 inch margins. No title page is necessary, and headings do not count towards the page count; 3-5 pages means 3 to 5 full pages of actual printed text, excluding your name, the course, headings, extra spacing and the like.
1. Research Paper on Literary Criticism
200 Points DUE August 30
Literary criticism (sometimes called "lit crit") is the analysis, interpretation, and
evaluation of written texts. Simply stated, it is "writing about writing."
Research the history and the practice of literary criticism---basically, of book
reviews, though literary criticism includes much more than book reviews. It
includes lectures, speeches, courses, articles, book chapters, entire books, and
even series of books, all devoted to major works of literature, to genres (or
types) of literature, to literary eras, to literary movements, to publishers,
editors, authors, and the like.
In a research paper of 5-7 pages, give a brief history of literary criticism, including how and when it developed, some of its major practitioners, where it can be found (literary magazines, academic journals and the like,) and its most common forms (such as formalism, psychoanalytic, Marxist and the like.) Most importantly, briefly describe the basic practice of literary criticism, or how it is done: What kinds of texts do literary critics work with? What exactly do critics analyze and evaluate in a text? What are some key terms used in literary criticism? How do critics divide literature into component parts? What aspects within a text are analyzed (for example, setting, character, conflict, and plot.) What kinds of aspects outside of the text are analyzed (for example, a text's social and historical context, the audiences reached by a text, how a text is used in other works of art, and the like.)
You don't have to answer all of the questions above, but you should focus your paper on some aspect of "lit crit." For example, you could concentrate on modern American lit crit, or on ancient Greek lit crit, or on a particular literary critic. Many philosophers and writers have practiced lit crit going back nearly 2500 years: Plato and Aristotle in ancient Greece, Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas in the context of Christianity, Samuel Johnson and William Blake in 18th Century England, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allen Poe in 19th Century America, for example. More contemporary, 20th Century literary critics include Kenneth Burke, Northrop Frye, T. S. Eliot, and Stanley Fish.
Whatever the main focus of your paper, the key is not to simply give information about a genre, era, or specific critic, but rather to describe more broadly what literary criticism is and how it is practiced.
Include a bibliography with at least 3 sources used in your research, at least one of which should be a non-Internet source like a book or literary magazine. Your textbook and the faculty web page should not be included in your sources. Also, avoid using popular web sites like wikipedia.com, about.com, and the like; these sites come up on top of most web searches because they're so popular, not because they're the best sources! Online, look for sources from colleges and universities (they'll often have .edu web addresses.)
NOTE: There's no way to cover all of literary criticism in depth in this paper. One of your challenges is to focus on some aspect of the practice that's interesting or has meaning for you. The same will be true for your book and film reviews; you can't possibly write about every aspect of a text. Instead, you'll make the text your own by focusing on some aspect that has meaning and significance to you.
2. Research Paper on Film Criticism
200 Points DUE Sept. 13
Film criticism applies many of the terms and methods used
in literary criticism, plus others that are peculiar to an audio-visual medium
like the cinema. Film critics "read" movies as if they were texts; film
criticism is, simply stated, "writing about movies." Research the history and
the practice of film criticism---basically, of movie reviews, though film
criticism includes much more than film reviews. It includes lectures, speeches,
courses, TV shows, articles, book chapters, entire books, and even series of
books, all devoted to specific films, to genres of film, to eras in film, to
actors and directors and studios and the like.
In a research paper of 5-7 pages, give a brief history of film criticism, including how and when it developed, some of its major practitioners, where it can be found (popular magazines, film journals, television shows and networks, web sites) and its most common forms (such as formalism, psychoanalytic, feminist and the like.) Most importantly, briefly describe the basic practice of film criticism, or how it is done: What exactly do critics analyze and evaluate in a film? What are some key terms used in film criticism? How do critics divide a film into component parts? What aspects within a film are analyzed? What kinds of aspects outside of the film are analyzed (for example, a film's social and historical context, the audiences reached by a film, how a film is used in other works of art, how a film is distributed (in theatres, on television, streaming online, on DVD,) how a film fits within the career of its producers, directors, and actors, and the like.)
As in your paper on lit crit, you don't have to answer all of the questions above, but you should focus your paper on some aspect of film criticism, such as popular film criticism, which appears in newspapers and broadcasts and basically reviews films to guide the public, or academic film criticism which appears in journals and books and takes a more sophisticated approach using concepts from film theory. There are many famous popular reviewers, like Rex Reed, Gene Siskel, Richard Roeper, Gene Shalit, and Roger Ebert, as well as less well-known but highly respected academic critics like David Bordwell, Ephraim Katz, Andre Bazin, Siegfried Kracauer, and Richard Schickel. Some of the best film criticism comes from people in the film industry as well, including Woody Allen, Sergei Eisenstein, Francois Truffaut, and John Waters. Remember that whatever your focus, the key is to describe broadly what film criticism is and how it is practiced.
Include a bibliography with at least 3 sources used in your research, at least one of which should be a non-Internet source like a book or film magazine. Your textbook and the faculty web page should not be included in your sources. Also, avoid using popular web sites like wikipedia.com, about.com, and the like; these sites come up on top of most web searches because they're so popular, not because they're the best sources! Online, look for sources from colleges and universities (they'll often have .edu web addresses.)
3. Book Review #1 100 Points
DUE Sept. 27
In a review of 3-4 pages, analyze, interpret, and
evaluate Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Your review shouldn't involve
merely describing the novel---that would be just a book report. Instead, you
want to dig deeper into the themes and meanings of the novel, analyzing how its
parts (setting, character, plot, tone, structure, etc.) work together to create
a complete work of art. The review should develop some idea of yours
fully; in other words, you should make some kind of a claim about the novel
(what Postman calls a "proposition.") And that claim should be unique to
you---in a sense, you're making the novel your own.
There are virtually an infinite number of ways you could approach this. For example, you could ask, "What is the novel about?" and focus on the theme of good vs. evil; or, on the theme of the dangers of scientific progress; or, on the theme of human ambition. You could argue that the novel is a great work of literature, or that it is more like pop culture, more like an average horror film. You could choose a conflict and focus on that; for example, there's a conflict between Dr. Frankenstein and his lover; another between Dr. Frankenstein and his monster; and yet another conflict occurs within Dr. Frankenstein (this may be the most interesting conflict, and one that suggests a psychoanalytic approach.) You could choose to compare how the novel was received in the early 1800s to how it is received today; two centuries of experience with science and its consequences have surely changed its meaning for today's reader. You can't discuss every possible aspect of a text; you must choose some aspect or angle to focus on.
Your review should make some kind of a claim about the text, and then develop and support that claim. Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, for example, makes the claim that our culture has moved from an Age of Typography and Exposition, to an Age of Television and Entertainment, with disastrous consequences. He develops and supports that claim with evidence and arguments, with examples and explanations. Your literary criticism should be similar to his cultural criticism; the difference is that you're focusing on some aspect of a single text, while he focused much more broadly on an aspect of our entire culture, namely, the effect of media on our public discourse.
Remember that good criticism combines analysis, or how the novel works, as well as evaluation, or how well it does what it does. There's plenty of room for creativity and for your own opinion, as long as you demonstrate a close reading of, and a deep understanding of, the novel. Also, good criticism takes into account the social, cultural, and historical context of a novel and how that context influenced the work.
4. Film Review #1 100 Points
DUE Oct. 11
In a review of 3-4 pages, analyze,
interpret, and evaluate Kenneth Branagh's film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Your review shouldn't involve merely describing the film. Instead, you want to
dig deeper into the themes and meanings of the film, analyzing how its parts
(setting, character, plot, scenery, costuming, cinematography) work together to
create a complete work of art. The review should develop some idea of yours
fully; in other words, you should make a claim or proposition about the film and
then develop and support it.
In addition to the approaches suggested above for the novel, you could focus on more cinematic aspects of the film, such as the visual aspects (the "mise en scene") or the musical score. You could focus on direction; how did Branagh create the meaning(s) he intended by choosing which parts of the story to highlight, which to get rid of, and which to create himself. You could focus on differences between the film and the novel and explain why the film is different.
Remember that good criticism combines analysis, or how the film works, as well as evaluation, or how well it does what it does. There's plenty of room for creativity and for your own opinion, as long as you demonstrate a close viewing of, and a deep understanding of, the film. Also, good criticism takes into account the social, cultural, and historical context of a novel and how that context influenced the work.
5. Book Review #2 100 Points
DUE Oct. 25
In a review of 3-4 pages, analyze,
interpret, and evaluate Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The
same questions and approaches apply here as in your review of Frankenstein.
But, the context is more complicated; Hawthorne was a 19th Century author
writing about 17th Century colonists. So, your review should take into account a
broader swath of history, possibly even including the present; for example, how
do we contemporary Americans view not only the beginnings of the modern era (the
1830s and 1840s) but also the early Puritan settlements that first arose in
America in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Conflict is key to this novel, especially the inner conflicts felt by
Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, but also the social conflict between this
pair and their rigidly moralistic Puritan community. The structure of the novel
is a good topic as well, as is the use of imagery or the use of symbolism.
Try to be creative and give a unique critique of the novel. There are many, many ways to approach it, and many, many arguments that you could make about it. Part of the point of criticism is to make a work of art yours, to understand it in a way that's uniquely yours.
6. Film Review #2 100 Points
DUE Nov. 8
In a review of 3-4 pages, analyze,
interpret, and evaluate the film The Scarlet Letter. The same questions
and approaches apply here as in your review of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
But, in this case, the film takes a lot more liberties with the novel than
Branagh did with Frankenstein. There are characters and scenes in
the film that weren't in the novel, and there are political themes in the film
that Hawthorne wouldn't have dreamt of. For example, the film involves a
feminist theme, and the ending of the film is very, very different (it's far less tragic)
than the ending of the novel--a typical sort of Hollywood ending. The film includes an entire household that's not
in the novel, as well as an African-American character. Why the differences?
Try to be creative and give a unique critique of the film. There are many, many ways to approach it, and many, many arguments that you could make about it. Part of the point of criticism is to make a work of art yours, to understand it in a way that's uniquely yours.
7. Final Essay 200 Points
DUE Dec. 6
In an essay of 4-6 pages, develop and support a
claim/proposition concerning our televisual, electronic media culture. You'll
work with the professor to develop the topic of the essay, which can be about
anything related to the themes of the course. You may or may not choose to
include oral and literate communication; you may or may not choose to include
past eras, like Postman's Age of Typography. Your topic should be unique to you
and should draw on the texts and lectures from the course, while going beyond
these to something that you find meaningful and significant.