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LICA251

Global Cinemas: Global Cinemas: Forms, Debates, Histories

Assignment Brief

Guidelines:

• You should answer one question from this list.

• Your essay should include close stylistic and/or thematic analysis of particular films.

• Your essay should refer to relevant readings discussed on the module.

• Film choice: Your essay should refer to films we have studied on the module. However, you are also welcome to discuss films that we have not covered directly on the syllabus to develop your argument. Please ask your tutor or the module convenor if you have any doubt about your choice of case study.

• You should follow the Harvard referencing system. Guidelines for this are on the LICA UG information Moodle page and on the University library website.

• If you’d like to discuss your essay with the module convenor or seminar tutor, please book a meeting during our office hours or contact us to arrange an appointment.

• Word length: 2000-2500 words (this comprises 30% of the overall mark for the module).

N.B. the word-length for those JYA students only taking term 1 is 3500-4000 words (same deadline).

Questions

1. Roberta Pearson observes that ‘the emergence of the “cinema of narrative integration” coincided with the cinema's move towards the cultural mainstream and its establishment as the first truly mass medium’. Discuss what you understand by this claim, illustrating your answer with a consideration of relevant film examples.

2. Dracula and Mildred Pierce may be considered products of the Hollywood studio system. Discuss the degree to which the label “studio filmmaking” can be applied to them.

3. In what ways has Germaine Dulac's The Smiling Madame Beudet (1923) left a significant impact on contemporary cinema? Discuss the film's enduring influence in relation to the themes of subjective storytelling, feminist perspectives, and avant-garde aesthetics. Provide specific examples from contemporary films, directors, or movements that have been inspired by or have drawn upon Dulac's pioneering work.

4. Joyce Nelson, in her article on Mildred Pierce, argues that the film provides a 'false suture'. According to Nelson, how does Mildred Pierce do this, and what are its consequences? In your answer, you should also state to what extent you agree (or disagree) with Nelson's reading.

5. As exploitation and cult director, Ed Wood well exemplifies Jeffrey Sconce’s definition of the ‘golden age of badness’. Reflect on the ‘badness’ of Ed Wood’s filmmaking and Plan 9 from Outer Space, particularly in relation to classical Hollywood, and discuss the pleasures of watching ‘bad films’.

6. Think about the key stylistic and narrative aspects of neorealism and reflect on this quote from André Bazin: “the faithful reproduction of reality is not art”. How does this statement links to Miracle in Milan and to what extent this film expands the notion of neorealism by mixing social reality with the fantastic?

7. According to Thomas Elsaesser, film melodrama can show us ‘the patterns of domination and exploitation existing in a given society’. Explain how Imitation of Life (1959) reveals such patterns. Alternatively, you might wish to demonstrate how Imitation of Life fails to reveal patterns of domination and exploitation and, on the contrary, hides or distorts those patterns. (See Elsaesser, ‘Tales of Sound and Fury’, in Nichols, B. (ed.) Movies and Methods Volume II, p. 185.)

8. In his work To the Distant Observer, Noël Burch claims that Japanese cinema is mysterious and “other” to Western culture and aesthetics. Therefore, it needs to be explained and decoded in order for Western audiences to understand it. Critically discuss Burch’s claim in relation to Rashomon.

9. Christopher Frayling claims that Sergio Leone’s westerns constitute a ‘critical cinema’. Discuss what you understand by this, illustrating your answer with close reference to one or more films.

10. How does Downpour (Bahram Beyzaie, 1971) negotiate different types of gaze (i.e. male gaze, power gaze, etc.)? How does this impact the representation of women in the film?

Submission instructions:

• Deadline: 12pm, 15 January 2024

• Essays must be electronically submitted via the module’s Moodle page by 12 noon on the

deadline date. JYA students should submit by the same deadline.

• You should anonymise your essay, putting your student number at the top of the document, rather than your name.

GRADING: Please note that the assessment criteria we use to grade your work are posted on the ‘LICA Undergraduate Information’ Moodle page. The grading of LICA251 coursework assignments is moderated by ‘sampling’. This means that a representative selection of marked scripts from across all grades (A,B,C, etc) is double-marked by a second marker to ensure that all markers across the department are applying the criteria in the same way.

PLAGIARISM: The University takes plagiarism very seriously and any student detected attempting to pass off someone else’s work as her/his own may be subject to the University’s disciplinary procedures. The University policy statement on plagiarism is reproduced in the LICA undergraduate handbook, which also contains additional information about plagiarism, but if you are uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask.