Goal: Using your anthropological perspective, write a critical analysis of the ways in which people, places, and problems are represented in the media.
Audience: General readership of a newspaper, magazine, or reputable online media outlet.
Description: You have now viewed two full-length ethnographic films based in the Caribbean, Life and Debt and Nothing Like Chocolate, and completed worksheets highlighting some of the key points. For your final essay, you will choose one of these films to write about in a 6 pages film review.
First Step: Select one of the assigned films for this essay and join a roundtable group for that film. (Remember: roundtable participation is mandatory.) You will want to watch sections that you are analyzing multiple times. They can be streamed from our HuskyCT site.
Draft:See Brown pp 30-36 for detailed instructions. Be sure to address each of the bulleted points on p. 31: Briefly summarize, then contextualize, evaluate, and identify something interesting by using one of the strategies on pp 34-35. Outside sources are optional. DO NOT just summarize the film: you should be reviewing its strengths and weaknesses. Note that you still need a thesis, and this is not the same as the film’s argument. For example, if you write “Life and Debt presents the argument that structural adjustment programs have had a negative effect on Jamaicans,” this is true, but it is not a thesis; it is part of a summary of the film. No reasonable person would disagree that this is what the film is arguing. YOUR thesis might be: “I argue that Life and Debt effectively conveys its central argument because of x, y, and z aspects of the film.” Or, “I argue that Life and Debt does not effectively convey its central argument because of x, y, and z aspects of the film.” In other words, your thesis must be about the film, and it must be something arguable (i.e. another reasonable person might see things differently).
Papers should integrate at least one expanded analysis of a particular scene in the film. In addition to Brown’s list on p. 36, you may want to consider the filmmaker’s choices about some of the following:
Narrator/Narration
Atmosphere/Mood (Music, lighting, etc.)
Filming angles (background visuals, close-ups, etc.)
Choice of interviewees and questions
Spontaneous or scripted
Lingering shots (what draws your attention and why)
Choice of beginning and end of scene
Placement of scene in relation to scenes before and after
Please cite your film on a Works Cited page as follows:
Director’s Last Name, Director’s First Name, dir. Original Release Date. Title of Movie. Location
of Distributor: Name of Distributor, Item Release Date. Medium.
- For example:
- Hitchcock, Alfred, dir. 1954. Rear Window. Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures, 2001. DVD.
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