[Course Description] [Schedule and Course Outline][Lessons (Resource Questions)][Mid-Term Exam] [Paper Assignment (and Examples)] [Final Exams]
You must answer question one or two; do not, however, answer both.
1. Single out one specific scene from AFGM, and use this scene to explain Hollywood-style editing. Tell how the Hollywood system functions as a "grammar" capable of ordering film narratives. What two other terms are used to describe this sort of editing? Why do these terms make sense?
2. Rob Reiner, AFGM's director, is pretty widely recognized director. Do you consider him an auteur? Why or why not?
If you choose, answer one of the next two questions, but do not answer both.
3. AFGM is a generally unrestricted narrative (which, of course, means that its story is "told" by an unseen, omniscient narrator). But as B&T write: "Narration is never completely unrestricted." There is always something that the unseen narrator (the camera) conceals, "even if it is only how the film will end" (65). Explain how not knowing deeply affects or structures the viewing experience. Be very specific, but use specificity as a means to lead readers to general rules about the function of range (hierarchies of knowledge) in the film as a whole.
4. This question, prompts you employ the concept of "depth" as a means of opening up AFGM. First, by what means are we as viewers granted access to the psychological states of the film's characters? Second, how do you account for the film's reliance on this means of generating psychological information about its characters? In other words, what would become of AFGM if Rob Reiner had chosen a different approach?
Answer no more than two of the following three questions.
5. Assume that your readers understand Labov's six parts of an anecdote, but also assume that they haven't actively employed his theories to think about AFGM. First, tell them where the evaluation section of the film occurs--i.e., in what scene. Second, tell them how it and the other evaluative moments push forward this film's narrative.
6. Focus on one major character in AFGM and tell how editing, cinematographic, and mise-en-scene choices converge to create his/her character.
7. Using vocabulary you've learned in this course, explain why it is a formal (story-telling) necessity to "kill off" Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (J. T. Walsh).
Everybody must tackle one of these final questions. They center on the assumption that nobody enjoys film for purely formal reasons. Content always matters.
8. Develop a thesis that accounts for the popularity of AFGM by arguing that the film's narrative makes all the right arguments--pulls all the right strings--at just this "right" moment in America's history.
9. Comment on the role played by Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) in AFGM. What is its function within the narrative? Should Moore's part encourage or discourage feminists? Support your declaration. Qualify it, if need be. But whatever you do, read Galloway symptomatically.
10. Write out a short, imagined conversation (a short play with dialogue) between Comolli and Narboni where they seek to employ their classification system as a means of understanding the cultural significance of AFGM. Make Comolli argue that the film belongs in Category A. It's typical Hollywood product. Make Narboni argue that AFGM belongs in Category D. He sees the film's content as radical. Explore both positions.