This assignment is designed to help you establish and apply criteria for effective evaluation of information and entertainment provided through an audiovisual medium.  The purpose is to help you make informed judgments, interpret symbols, clarify values, and convince others of your position.  In the process you can become a more informed consumer of one form of today's media--film.

The Problem
The student movie reviewer for Sojourn, Samford’s literary/art magazine, is graduating, and next year’s editor is looking for a replacement who can write accomplished reviews for an intelligent audience.  Since the former reviewer started as a sophomore, the Sojourn sponsors are anxious to get the replacement started early in his/her college career and are accepting applications from current freshmen only.  You decide to apply (well, okay, I know . . .), and your assignment is to write a review of a movie, available on video, that depicts some aspect of one of our course themes:  civil rights, science and religion, or the modern environmental movement.  A list of possible films follows, though you may suggest others for me to consider.  You are to analyze the film in terms of broad aesthetic, cultural, and historical considerations that are standard for film criticism.  The historical context is especially important since you will be expected to conduct research to determine if the movie is historically accurate—i.e., that it accurately portrays the scientific/technological, socio-political, economic, and/or other aspects of the subject.

List of films

Imperialism
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Japanese occupation, POWs
Dances with Wolves (1991), US/Native American
Gandhi (1982), Overthrow of colonial power
Lawrence of Arabia (1964), British/Saudi Arabia
Out of Africa (1985), African colonization
A Passage to India (1982), British/Indian relations
Zulu (1964), African colonization

Science and Religion/Ethics
Jurassic Park (1993), cloning, exploitation of nature
Contact (1995), search for extra-terrestrial life

Environment
The China Syndrome (1979), pollution
Chinatown (1974), water rights, development
Gorillas in the Mist (1988), endangered species
Silkwood (1983), pollution
Soylent Green (1973), overpopulation, food supply

Analytical considerations for film criticism.
You should respond to at least some of these considerations from each category.

Aesthetic considerations.  These are the basics of film as art, the things people win Oscars for:  acting (believable, actor is appropriate to the part), directing (quality, connection to director’s other films), screenplay (scene selection, dialog), cinematography and technical aspects, musical score.  You also may need to consider genre (war, western, biography, documentary), setting (often closely associated with cinematography), or symbolism (usually associated with theme).

Cultural considerations.  How does the film comment on why we do the things we do—why we eat, dress, play, talk, sing, live the way we do?  How does it comment on the day to day assumptions we make about other people, those like us and those different from us?  What does the film say about regional or national values and assumptions?

Historical considerations.  How are real or potential events represented, and why?  From whose point of view do we witness the events?  Does this point of view give the viewer a subjective or an objective view of the events?  How does the film’s interpretation of the events measure up to any conventional interpretation that may exist?  Does the film promote a specific ideology?

You will be expected to make some sense of your personal response to the movie, to draw conclusions about the meaning and value of that experience and then pass that on to your readers.  Remember that for many of the most famous and influential films, reasonable people disagree about both the meaning of the film and its quality as a work of art.  Make sure to construct a logical argument, support it with facts, respond to objections, and persuade your readers of your interpretation.  To help make your evaluation more meaningful, also consider these questions (which may overlap somewhat with the considerations given above):

• What were the movie's merits?  Its inadequacies?
• Did the movie evoke an emotional response?  Explain.
• What did it say about the human condition?
• Is this movie worth seeing today?  Why or why not?
• What does the movie say to the Samford community?
• How would it play to the Samford community?

Format for papers and annotated bibliographies
The paper must be typed, double-spaced, 1200-1500 words long.  The number of sources will not be specified, but you must support your findings with relevant research from published reviews and other sources, particularly your comments about the historical accuracy or realism of the film.  You and your partner(s) for the evaluation speech must compile a thorough annotated bibliography of published reviews of the film; this of course would NOT include reviews from the zillion "Pookey-Doo's movie review" web pages.  Each annotation may be brief (40-50 words), and you do not have to refer to all reviews in your paper or speech.  When you turn your paper in, your folder must include your peer-reviewed draft, peer edit sheets, and copies of sources.  E-mail the final version to me as an attachment by class time on the due date; name your paper (your Word file) with your SU e-mail ID and EVAL--for example, "gwbushEVAL."

Evaluation criteria--make sure you paper has or does the following:
1. A thesis that is clearly stated and appropriately qualified
2. Establishment and application of criteria for effective evaluation
3. Reason and supporting evidence for the judgment
4. Basic information about the movie and principles involved in its making
5. Assessment of the movie's realism or historical accuracy
6. Credibility through selective use of sources, correctly documented
7. Consistent viewpoint throughout
8. Lively and appropriate style
9. Standard written English
10. Evidence of revision

Evaluation Discussion Assignment

For the evaluation speech, you will be paired with one or possibly two other students.  The format for this speech will be like Hot Ticket or the old Siskel and Ebert:  The Movies television show.  You may videotape your presentation for the class to watch on TV, or you may give the presentation live in class.  I will videotape these live presentations, and there may be opportunity for the best reviews to be aired on the campus cable system as part of Inside Samford, the weekly half-hour news program produced and aired by upper-level JMC majors.

The presentation should be 10-12 minutes, with both partners participating equally and interacting appropriately.  Your videotaped presentation will be evaluated based on the usual criteria from the critique sheet.  Make sure you keep the broadcast format in mind, including a 1 to 1 1/2 minute clip from the film, and address yourself to a Samford audience.  Evaluation criteria are the same as for the essay.