Objective: Paper 3 requires you to write either a Theoretical Essay, Critical Essay, or another essay that has you investigating other opinions about a movie, while ultimately stating your own Opinion and Evaluation.
Assignment: Watch Captain Marvel, currently in theaters, and then read at least five news media reviews and at least ten comments/reviews on social media. News media would include a publication such as a magazine (Entertainment Weekly), newspaper (New York Times or even Variety), blog (Slashfilm, a.k.a. /Film), IndieWire is another one; there are plenty of other news platforms that specialize in publishing/sharing journalism, reporting, reviews, opinions, editorials, etc. Social media is a platform for engaging with people, connecting with people, such as Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, even a site like Rotten Tomatoes where reviews get published and then people can comment throughout the primary review post, or write their own reviews to crowdsource the review. Count YouTube as social media too. On Twitter, search for the topic using a hashtag and keywords, such as "#CaptainMarvel reviews."
Goals:
- watch Captain Marvel, which may or may not answer questions about the next MCU film, Avengers: Endgame
- learn about the positive and negative opinions circulating around Captain Marvel
- dig deep, look at who is saying what, and ask yourself, Are the negative opinions warranted? Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is way, way off base and needs to stop acting, speaking, and behaving so negatively?
- determine if the negative reviews are warranted, or if these negative reviews and in some cases mean, hateful things are the result of something else, something beyond the movie, something maybe even unrelated to the movie itself
- share your own personal and objective opinions about what people are saying about Captain Marvel
- at the paper's conclusion, state your own opinion about the movie: is Captain Marvel great, good, okay, bad, really bad, and why?
Considerations:
- Take a stance, and stand up for the movie by putting the haters in their place, or if the movie is in fact bad, say why it's bad and back it up with sound reasoning.
- What can your paper tell us that we do not already know?
- How can your paper reveal deeper issues, going beneath what the general viewer and reviewer has seen?
- How do you interpret the negative reviews, or even the expectations about the movie before it came out, when viewed through the lens of prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination, and especially sexism?
- How can your evaluation and opinion of Captain Marvel advocate for women's rights and equality of the sexes?
- What can you learn about the movie's director, production, actors, or other backstory, to further your arguments?
- How can you compare/contrast this situation with Captain Marvel with other movies where a female superhero was the lead? Wonder Woman? Catwoman? Elektra? The Wasp? How did those movies do, for better or worse, and how does that compare to what's happening right now with Captain Marvel?
- How can you balance your own personal opinions and evaluations with objective analysis of the movie, sharing your tastes and preferences with the reader while also being observant and open minded? See Chapter 1 Opinion and Evaluation for insights on this matter.
Format:
- your first and last name in paper's header, all on one line
like so... Firstname Lastname VCOM392 - Times or Times New Roman font, 12 point size and double-spaced
- 2-page minimum, 3-page maximum
- printed and handed in Mar. 22 at start of class
- NOTE: Mar. 22 will be used to discuss the movie and the position you took when writing your paper; we will work in small groups and then come together for a discussion among the whole class; a short lecture will also be given in preparation for our March 29 movie screening
Evaluation
Worth 45 points:- 15 points: craft of writing, spelling, grammar
- 10 points: addressing the required content for the essay
- 15 points: taking a stance on the negative reviews, and strength of argument(s) or content presented (note that compared to prior papers, this field is worth more)
- 5 points: presentation, professionalism, following directions
