Short Essay Due April 9th

Film 2400
Short Essay II – due April 9, in tutorial
Choose ONE of the following two topics:

TOPIC 1
What is an ideological state apparatus (ISA)? How does an ISA function? What is the relation between representation and myth (Barthes) and, more specifically, between the cinematic system of representation and ideology (Althusser)? How does the film First Blood, part II (George Cosmatos, 1985) function as an ideological text? In your opinion, to which of the 7 categories of film (constituted by their relationship to ideology) listed in Comolli’s and Narboni’s essay does First Blood belong and why?
In your essay, refer to the following readings:
Barthes, Roland. “Myth Today,” Mythologies, 109-159 (reserve)
Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (reserve)
Comolli, Jean-Luc and Jean Narboni, “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism”, Braudy and Cohen 812-820
NOTE: First Blood, part. II is available at Bay Street Video (www.baystreetvideo.com)
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TOPIC 2
What are the principal issues cinema semiotics deals with? What new and important questions about cinema does this theory raise? In what way does the film Two or Three Things I Know about Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966) reflect, illustrate or challenge some of the key premises of film semiotics?
In your essay, refer to the following readings:
Metz, Christian. “Some Points in the Semiotics of the Cinema”, Braudy and Cohen 65-72
Metz, Christian. “Problems of Denotation in the Fiction Film”, Braudy and Cohen 72-87
Wollen, Peter. “Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d’Est”, Braudy and Cohen 525-533
NOTE: Two or Three Things I Know about Her is on reserve at the Film and Video Library (Scott library).
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TOPIC 3
What are the principal issues spectatorship theory deals with? What new and important questions about cinema does this theory raise? In what ways does Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960) reflect, illustrate or challenge some of the key premises of spectatorship theory?
In your essay, refer to the following readings:
Metz, Christian. “From The Imaginary Signifier”, Baudry and Cohen 820-836
Baudry, Jean-Louis. “The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in Cinema”, Baudry and Cohen 206-223
Carroll, Noël. “Jan-Louis Baudry and ‘The Apparatus’”, Baudry and Cohen 224-239
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TOPIC 4
What is ‘cinematic excess’? What new and important questions about cinema does the notion of ‘cinematic excess’ raise? In what ways does Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2001) reflect, illustrate or challenge the idea of ‘cinematic excess’?
In your essay, refer to the following readings:
Thompson, Kristin. “The Concept of Cinematic Excess”, Braudy and Cohen 513-525
Williams, Linda. “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess”, Braudy and Cohen 727-742
Sconce, Jeffrey. “‘Trashing’ the Academy: Taste, Excess, and an Emerging Politics of Cinematic Style,” Braudy and Cohen 534-553

NOTE: Both films are on reserve at the Film and Video Library (Scott library).


Given the length of this assignment (only 4 pages), the most important skill you will have to demonstrate is the ability to synthesize several dense theoretical texts into a few major points without oversimplifying the major arguments made by the three articles you are dealing with. Also, you will have to demonstrate your ability to draw connections between theoretical texts as well as between texts and films.
For this assignment only DO NOT USE DIRECT QUOTES. Instead, paraphrase and/or summarize the relevant points in the three articles. Although you are not quoting directly, you should still acknowledge that the ideas you are discussing are not your own: every time you summarize or paraphrase an idea from any of the 3 essays, PROVIDE THE RELEVANT PAGE NUMBER in parentheses.

Note from Eli: Please remember to have a thesis statement!!