Cultural Analysis Essay
n this essay, you will offer a critical analysis of a film.
Your essay should be 3-4 pages in length (not including title page, works cited, and statement of originality).
1. Choose one film, either a documentary film or fiction film, from the list below (trailers are linked and I’ve attempted to include an up-to-date list of streaming platforms, some of which have a small rental fee. I’m sure several of them are available on additional streaming sites besides what I’ve listed here).
Documentary Films
13th (2016) – documents racial inequality in US prison population (Netflix)
5 Broken Cameras (2011) – documents non-violent protests in the Palestinian West Bank (Amazon Prime)
American Factory (2019) – documents clashes between high-tech China and working-class America in an industrial factory (Netflix)
American Arab (2013) – Filmmaker Usama Alshaibi sheds light on the multifaceted Arab-American experience in post-9/11 America (Amazon Prime)
Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock (2017) – captures the story of Native-led defiance that forever changed the fight for clean water, our environment and the future of our planet (streaming for a suggested donation of $5 – can pay less)
Blacking Up (2010) – explores tensions surrounding white participation in hip hop (Kanopy, through the MTSU library website)
Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (2004) – documents children in Calcutta whose mothers work as prostitutes (Amazon Prime)
China’s Lost Girls (2005) – examines the “one-child policy” in China and its cultural implications (Amazon Prime)
Dark Girls (2011) – examines biases and attitudes about skin color (Amazon Prime)
Daughter from Danang (2002) – the story of a girl, adopted at a young age by an American family, who returns to Vietnam and is reunited with her biological mother (Amazon Prime)
Enemies of the People (2009) – examines the reasons why nearly 2 million Cambodians were killed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge (Amazon Prime)
Girl Model (2011) – a subtle, disturbing look inside the world of modeling (Amazon Prime)
God Grew Tired of Us (2006) – documents four boys who were displaced from Sudan and their adjustment to life in the United States (Amazon Prime)
Hearts and Minds (1974) – examines varying attitudes about American involvement in the Vietnam War (Amazon Prime)
Hot Girls Wanted (2015) – follows the lives of several 18- and 19-year-old pornographic actresses (Netflix)
Inside the Ku Klux Klan (2016) – a documentary look at the Missouri chapter of the Traditionalist American Knights of the KKK (Amazon Prime)
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (2011) – an exposition of the modern sex slave trade (You Tube)
Paris is Burning – (1990) documents drag queens and queer balls in New York city (You Tube)
Shake Hands with the Devil (2007) – follows the United Nations’ divisive mission to Rwanda during the genocide (You Tube)
South of the Border (2009) – documents social and political movements of South America (Amazon Prime)
The Life and Death of Marsha P Johnson (2017) – examines the death of Black transgender legend found floating in the Hudson River (Netflix)
Fiction Films (or based on a real story)
12 Years a Slave (2013) – based on an incredible true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom (Amazon Prime)
A Separation (2011) – a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage (Amazon Prime)
Barking Water(2009) – hoping to see his daughter and grandchild, a terminally ill man (Richard Ray Whitman) embarks on a road trip with his former lover (Amazon Prime)
Battle of the Sexes (2017) – based on the true story of the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs (Amazon Prime)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2010) – in a defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood (Amazon Prime)
Belle (2013) – based on the true story of the illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral (Amazon Prime)
Boy Erased – based on the true story of the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents at age 19 and forced to attend a conversion therapy program (Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Max)
Black and Blue (2019) – a fast-paced action thriller about a rookie cop who inadvertently captures the murder of a young drug dealer on her body cam (Hulu)
Black Panther (2018) – superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
Bombshell (2019) – the real story of three women news anchors who become headlines themselves when they risked everything to stand up to the man who made them famous (Amazon Prime)
Boyz N the Hood (1991) – a coming-of-age story set in a South Central Los Angeles neighborhood beset by gang violence and drugs (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
Coco (2017) – young Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol and finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events (Amazon Prime)
Crazy Rich Asians (2018) – the story follows New Yorker Rachel Chu as she accompanies her longtime boyfriend Nick Young to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore (Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Max)
Everything is Illuminated (2005) – tells the story of a young man’s quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map by the Nazi invasion (Amazon Prime)
Fences (2016) – Troy Maxson once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but was deemed too old when the major leagues began admitting black athletes (Amazon Prime)
Gran Torino (2008) – a disgruntled Korean War veteran sets out to reform his neighbor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino (Amazon Prime)
Green Book (2018) – a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx is hired to drive a world-class Black pianist on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) – based on the novel written by James Baldwin (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
Moonlight (2016) – a look at three defining chapters in the life of a young black man growing up in Miami (Amazon Prime, Netflix)
The Mustang (2019) – a violent convict is given the chance to participate in a rehabilitation therapy program centered around the training of wild mustangs (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) – a young Greek woman falls in love with a non-Greek and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
Outsourced (2006) – US American call-center manager Todd is shocked to learn that his company is shutting down and moving its operations to India (Amazon Prime)
Parasite (2019) – meet the Park Family, the picture of aspirational wealth, and the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else (Hulu)
Selena (1997) – the true story of Selena Quintanilla-Perez, a Texas-born Tejano singer who rose from cult status to having chart topping albums (Amazon Prime)
Shouting Secrets(2011) – estranged siblings and their father are forced to deal with one another in the confines of a hospital and at the family home on a reservation after their mother descends into a coma (Amazon Prime)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) – as 18-year-old Jamal Malik answers questions on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” flashbacks show how he got there (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
Smoke Signals (1998) – an unlikely pair leave home on what becomes an unexpected unforgettable adventure of friendship and discovery (Amazon Prime)
The Farewell (2019) – Billi’s family returns to China under the guise of a fake wedding to stealthily say goodbye to their beloved matriarch (Amazon Prime)
The Namesake (2006) – after moving from Calcutta to New York, members of the Ganguli family maintain a delicate balancing act between honoring the traditions of their native India and blending into American culture (Amazon Prime)
Tortilla Soup (2001) – three grown sisters try to cope and live with their father Martin (Amazon Prime)
Where Do We Go Now (2011) – Muslim and Christian women join forces to stem the tide of violence in their war-torn Middle Eastern village (Amazon Prime)
2. Use the concepts discussed in Chapters 6-7 of the textbook to analyze the film and to write your essay. (You can also draw upon learning from earlier chapters and discussion postings but you’ll need to apply key concepts from Chapters 6 and 7). Do NOT give a summary of the film. I have seen the film. This is not a film summary; it is a film analysis.3. Give your essay a title.
4. Write an introduction.
5. Cite the textbook at least four times. Give page numbers when citing or referencing concepts from the textbook. You may also cite outside research sources, if applicable.
6. Describe the social identities and/or the cultural patterns, beliefs, and values represented in the film and analyze their significance. Support your reasoning with information from the textbook.
7. Ensure your analysis addresses these questions:
- How do the characters, representations, and/or ideas in the film relate to the theories in the textbook and course materials?
- How does the film contribute to your knowledge or understanding of intercultural communication?
8. Describe how some of the following concepts are exemplified in the film:
Social identities and identity development
Stereotyping, prejudice, and racism
Cultural beliefs and worldview
Cultural traditions and rituals
Cultural values such as:
- Individualism/Collectivism
- Competition/Cooperation
- Future/Past
- Informality/Formality
- Materialism/Spiritualism
- Masculinity/Femininity
- Indulgence/Restraint
- Control over nature/Harmony with nature
- Doing/Being
- 9. When analyzing the film, you might consider some of the following questions:Note: DO NOT attempt to answer all of these questions. These are some of the kinds of questions that you could address to complete the assignment satisfactorily, and they will vary from film to film.
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What social and cultural identities do the characters in the film acquire either voluntarily or involuntarily? How do their identities develop? Do any characters struggle with his or her identity? How so? How do these struggles reflect the worldview of the character(s)? Are any stereotypes evident in the film? Explain. Is prejudice evident in the film? Explain. Is racism evident in the film? Explain. What cultural beliefs, traditions, and rituals are depicted in the film? What different cultural groups and/or social identities are represented in the film? Is there conflict between differing value systems? What deep structures of culture are reflected in the film? Consider the role of family, religion, and/or national history. How does the communication between characters in the film affirm dominant cultural patterns? How does communication challenge the dominant cultural patterns? Are values of individualism or collectivism exemplified in the film? How so? What cultural values of masculinity/femininity are depicted in the film? What are the gendered expectations of characters? Which person/nature orientations are portrayed in the film? Which time orientations are portrayed in the film? Are the cultural groups portrayed in the film high context or low context? Does the communication between characters from different cultures reflect intercultural competence? In what ways? Or, if intercultural competence is lacking, how could it be improved? 10. Write a summary/concluding remarks.11. Include a References page following APA format. Be sure to list all references including your textbook and the film. Outside research sources are optional.12. Include the statement of originality.LATE ESSAYS ARE AUTOMATICALLY DROPPED 20 PERCENT. Late essays are ONLY accepted ten days past original due date. Assignments not submitted to the late Dropbox within ten days after the original deadline will be recorded as a ZERO for that assignment. The only exception is the final paper, which must be submitted within four days after the original deadline so that I have adequate time to review and to submit your final grade.
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