Y200 Politics and Film

Spring 2009

Second Paper Assignment

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Paper Length: 5 pages (double-spaced and typed)

Papers are due: Wednesday, April 1, 2009, at the beginning of class

The second paper assignment gives you a choice of one of the following three projects:

(1) Compare two films that deal with American politics. The two films may be selected from the following list:

Citizen Kane

Election

Thank You for Smoking

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Gabriel Over the White House

Advise & Consent

Primary Colors

The Manchurian Candidate

The Candidate

Nashville

Born on the Fourth of July

Dave

In your essay be sure to talk about how the makers of the films dealt with major issues like the nature of the American democratic system, the power of the media, the power of private interests, corruption, and human nature in general. It might be interesting to compare and contrast films that are optimistic and pessimistic or cynical and idealistic.

(2) Collect and analyze quantitative statistics on the Hollywood film industry. Annual time-series data on theater attendance, box office revenues, tape rental revenues, VHS tape sales, for the major film studios could be one set of statistics to collect. Another would be the annual sales and profits of the major Hollywood studios (using their annual reports to stockholders). Another would be information about the use of Hollywood and other types of films as content in both broadcast and cable TV networks over time. You should present the statistical information in the form of tables and graphs and discuss the trends over time. You should prepare a written report on your data and include, if possible, a computer disk with the written report that shows the data on a computer spreadsheet program format such as Microsoft Excel (.xls). Alternatively, you can make a presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt). Be sure to identify the sources from which you compiled your data.

(3) Compare two films that deal with one of the following topics: (a) feminism and gender issues, (b) terrorism, or (c) civil rights and race relations in the United States. Please be sure to talk about how each of the selected films deals with the most important political issues connected with the overall topic. Be sure also to discuss whether the film is a Hollywood product and how that may have affected its content and presentation.