Cinema Criticism

 Choose four (4) of the six questions below to answer for your midterm exam. Each answer should be 2-3 typed pages, 12-point font, with normal margins. Each answer should contain at least two (2) direct citations from the relevant text reading. Each answer should clearly state which question you are answering and which film you are utilizing as your focus. Specific examples from the film should be incorporated into your response. Begin each individual answer on a fresh new page and provide a cover sheet with your name and class information. Each of the four individual answers will count as 25-points and will be graded individually. Well-constructed and well-written responses will have strong, clear, well thought-out main ideas that are presented succinctly in the opening paragraph and then developed in an orderly fashion throughout the body of the response. Conclude by summarizing and restating the main idea of your response. Direct citations from the text need only reference the chapter and page number you are referring to—no other bibliographic citation is necessary. Finally, well-written answers should be free from grammatical errors and misspellings. Please note that if you have difficulty writing, there are many resources on campus to help you in this endeavor. Utilize them if necessary. Questions (Choose four to answer): 1. Using Chronicle of a Summer as your focus, discuss the various problems with applying theories of Realism to an analysis of a given film. Cite at least two key ideas presented in your text reading on Realism to support your position. Also include specific examples from Chronicle of a Summer in your response. 2. Using Salaam Bombay! as your focus, discuss the relevance and application of Marxist theory in understanding a film and its meanings. Cite at least two key ideas presented in your text reading on Marxism to support your position. Also include specific examples from Salaam Bombay! in your response. 3. Using Run Lola Run as your focus, discuss how a Formalist theoretical approach is not always limited simply to an analysis of film style or technique. Cite at least two key ideas presented in your text reading on Formalism to support your position. Also include specific examples from Run Lola Run in your response. 4. Using The Double Life of Veronique as your focus, discuss how the therapeutic methods of Psychoanalysis have been applied to analyzing film. Cite at least two key ideas presented in your text reading on Psychoanalysis to support your position. Also include specific examples from The Double Life of Veronique in your response. 5. Using The Searchers as your focus, discuss the importance of genre in understanding film and how Genre theory accounts for genre transformation. Cite at least two key ideas presented in your text reading on Genre Theory to support your position. Also include specific examples from The Searchers in your response. 6. Using Dancer in the Dark as your focus, discuss at least two theoretical approaches (aside from Genre Theory) that could be employed in analyzing the film. Cite at least two key ideas (one each) from chapters covering the various theories you choose. Also include specific examples from Dancer in the Dark in your response.