Your introduction paragraph must explain why you chose the film you did and provide a summary that ends in your thesis statement. The introduction only needs to be 5-7 sentences, including the thesis. The thesis should be at or near the bottom of the introductory paragraph.
Make sure to have a thesis encompassing all presented elements. The following is an example from the film Food Inc.:
Made in 2008, Food Inc. is a well-done documentary that examines the problems of food production in this country, both at the production and consumption levels, and it shows how political food is in this country, even today.
Food Inc. cannot be used for the essay since it is too old, but I will use it as an example.
As I stated previously, I want you to evaluate the film as an argument. To do that, you must explore the following in your body paragraph.
Please note: Body paragraphs should be 6-10 sentences long.
Who? Who is the filmmaker? What are other films they have made? Is there a familiar arc in all their films? What are their politics? Have they made those known in the film or outside the film?
Where? Where does the film take place? Does the topic the film explores only happen in that place? Why is that?
When? When was the film made? What time frame is the film exploring? Have there been significant changes on the subject over time? Have there been significant changes on the subject since the film was released?
How? How was the film made? Was this film low budget, or is it an expensive major studio film? What impact does that have on the viewing experience? What tools did the filmmaker use that you found effective, and what was not as effective?
The questions I ask above can be combined into two or three paragraphs. For example, many students combine the “who” and “how” together in one paragraph and then the “where” and “when” in another paragraph. Some need a whole paragraph just for the “who” questions, but they do the other three in one paragraph. There are several iterations. It depends on your movie and the subject.
The question below, though, is the bigger one, and it will require at least three body paragraphs, if not more.
What?
What did you learn about the topic through your research? How has the argument around this topic changed (or not) and what is the implication of that? Explain.
What examples of ethos, pathos, and/or logos are used in the film? Is their use effective? Why or why not? Explain. When you discuss these terms in your essay, you need to name the term, explain the meaning, and then connect that to a specific event in the film.
Does the filmmaker offer an opposing view to the argument they are making? If the film does not, why do you think they made that choice? What would the opposition to the film say and why? Explain.
Do you recognize any logical fallacies in the film? What are they? Explain. See my logical fallacy lecture note for more information.
Finally, in your conclusion, you will need the following:
A topic sentence that restates the thesis but doesn’t use the same words.
Tell us where you fall on the issue, whether you agree with the filmmaker, and why or why not.
The conclusion should be 5-7 sentences long.
Essay Requirements:
Your final draft must be 1500-2000 words. Put your final word count at the end of the essay but before the Works Cited page.
The essay must be in MLA format.
You need to highlight parts of your essay as follows:
Highlight the thesis and all of the topic sentences in light yellow. That way, I can see what you think is the thesis and which sentences you feel are the topic sentences, and then I can verify that.
Highlight all quotes, including citations, in light green. Direct quotes are often necessary and can provide a real impact; however, they should be used sparingly. An essay with too many direct quotes lacks development and will be marked as such. So, again, having that information highlighted gives a visual cue if you are using too many quotes.
Highlight all summaries, including citations, in light blue. I have you do this because one of the issues you need to be careful that you do not provide too much summary of the film. As for the secondary sources, you will need to summarize, and that is fine, but you do not want too much summary, or it takes away from your ideas. Either way, highlighting in blue gives you an easy visual to see if you offer too much summary.
Highlight the following terminology in light pink: ethos, pathos, logos, opposition, and logical fallacy(ies). You just need to highlight the word leading into the definition and then the explanation. Again, I am having you do this so that you can easily visualize if you have all of the required elements.
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