Blog Guidelines

The goal of this class blog is to provide you as students with an opportunity to engage a bit more deeply with the films that we study in our course.  Although the writing is certainly not the same as a formal academic paper, please do still consider it a public space to share thoughts, ideas and analyses on the stories.

Specifically, I hope the blog will help you do the following:

• Foster curiosity about music, art, books, historical movements, restaurants and anything else related to the films we watch.
• Help you practice close reading–thinking critically about the language, cinematography, imagery, historical context, tone, etc.
• Give you an opportunity to practice ‘public’ writing.

Over the course of the semester, you will create four posts in four different categories which include:

Art/Music/Literature: Look up a piece of art or a song or a book mentioned in the short story and comment on how being familiar with it changes your view of the story. You might even insert a link or embed a YouTube video for your readers.

About the Director or Writer: Research the director or writer of one of the films, reading either their bio or an interview. Does what you read about the author help you to understand the story?

Close Reading: Take a scene or series of scenes from a film and elaborate on why you believe it is (or they are) significant. How does the performance, imagery or writing work in this passage?

Historical Context: How does researching and learning a bit more about the historical context change your perception of the film? Why or how might the historical moment be important?

Ethical Questions: How does the film provide a simplistic ‘moral’ or how does it subvert the idea of a clear ending or simple division between good and evil? Discuss an ethical question raised in either a film or a recent class discussion and elaborate on how/why it is complex or important.

Personal Reflections: How did the film impact you as a viewer? Why? Was there a particular moment in the film that surprised you, resonated with you, or perplexed you?

Posting Guidelines

Posts should be between 200-300 words generally.

Students will be separated into three groups: posters, responders and readers. Each week, these groups will rotate so that one week you will post, the next you will respond to others’ posts, and the following you will simply read the others’ posts (responding will be optional during this week). The schedule for this is on Sakai in the Resources section in the Blog folder.

Select a category for your post (based on the ideas above–we can also add more based on class-generated ideas).

Post in a different category each time you post. In other words, if you post a personal reflection one time, then next time you must choose something other than that.

Follow the following advice on how to post a comment: How to Write a Great Blog Comment.