War Films Midterm Prompt-B Shroff
Due April 29th at the beginning of class
SELECT ANY TWO QUESTIONS— SELECT TWO SEPARATE FILMS
Two and a half to three pages each response
5-6 pages 12p font double-spaced
**MINUS POINTS FOR LATE PAPERS, NO PAPERS BY EMAIL**
You are required to bring into your paper brief and relevant quotes from at least one of the Readings attached to each film. You can ALSO add SOME Lecture Notes WITH DATES to your essay.
- Geoffrey White argues that while Disney Studios’ close association with the Navy and the war veterans was elaborately undertaken to give the film Pearl Harbor the outward stamp of authenticity, the film itself powerfully replays the dominant perspective of war emphasizing the dominant story of the attack on Pearl harbor, mainly as the loss of innocence and remembering the subsequent retaliation as acts of heroism, patriotism– the good war. Drawing on White’s essay, discuss 1)some publicity events staged by Disney around the film Pearl Harbor and 2)the re-play of loss of innocence and the heroism in the film through Danny and Rafe.
2A. Leo Braudy argues that the film Letters from Iwo Jima “semi-documentary style and… focus on the grunt in the front line rather than the epic hero essentially subverts the heroic mode” i.e. depicts the futility of war and the futility of the belief that to die for the country is honorable. David Morris adds that Letters… humanizes the enemy and breaks the convention of classic WWII films. In the light of these statements, discuss how the film depicts war and humanizes the Japanese –“the evil” enemy of the nation in WWII films. – Discuss the representation of any two characters from: Saigo, Kuribayashi, Baron Nishi, Shimizu.
OR
2B. According to Robert Burgoyne, in Hollywood war films suicide is intrinsically tied to Japanese militarized masculinity as a fanatical act, but Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima represents suicide in a more complex, nuanced way within a larger cultural context. Discuss Baron Nishi OR General Kuribayashi drawing on Burgoyne’s argument. How does the film ennoble both these characters?
- Drawing on Gregory Waller’s perspective on the film Rambo, discuss the multi-layered issues that come up for us in the film, from Rambo’s a)“sculpted physique for the viewer’s benefit and pleasure” to b)“mak[ing] good his desire to refight the Vietnam war [as a] literal one-man army” and c) Rambo’s appeal to his audience for “an outpouring of love for Vietnam vets and, more crucially, a willingness to actively win this time.”
All assignments are essays.
Do not retell the story i.e. the plot of the film. In your opening paragraph, present an argument, a thesis in which you state what you will explore or analyze in your essay and then provide examples/evidence from the film with brief quotes from the Course Reader/Lecture Notes to back up your argument. Bring in other readings with proper citations. The overall development of your argument, content and organization of the essay are very important.
Number your pages.
When you quote relevant BRIEF sentences from the Course Reader use page numbers in parenthesis.
Always proofread your essay for spellings.
Your References/Citations can be on the LAST PAGE at the end of the essay, not necessarily on a NEW page OR you can PRINT/HANDWRITE CITATIONS ON BACK OF LAST PAGE —
SAVE THE TREES
