Essay about film ‘Some like it hot’ and analysis
SC: Film
Essay 1 (1000-1250 words)
Due: Monday September 19th
I prefer a writer good in film analysis
In his introduction to The Matter of Images, Richard Dyer notes the importance of cultural and social contexts for audiences to use to make sense of images:
In stressing complexity and contradictoriness at the point of reception, however, I am not only suggesting that people can make representations mean anything they want them to mean. We are all restricted by both the viewing and reading codes to which we have access (by virtue of where we are situated in the world and the social order) and by what representations there are for us to read. (2)
Write an essay in which you explore a specific scene from Some Like It Hot. Choose a scene that deals with some aspect of social identity in a way that you find compelling, interesting, irritating, or problematic. Make sure to describe the scene you are using in detail and explain its significance to your argument in addition to its function in the film as a whole. (I strongly recommend re-watching that particular scene.) You should write about both the content of this scene AND your response to it.
How does your social identity and the context in which you have developed that identity affect your experience viewing and analyzing the scene you have chosen? What responses, reactions, or conclusions do you have about the way social identity is functioning in this scene? How are your responses, reactions, or conclusions shaped by your own personal sense of identity? Who would you anticipate as having a similar response to you? Who would not?
You do not need to answer all of these questions, and you certainly should not respond to them in order. Rather, think of the questions as prompts for thinking about the origins and stakes of your response to the specific scene you have chosen and its relevance in the film as a whole. Since this project is inspired by your reading of Richard Dyer?s chapter 3, ?The Role of Stereotypes,? be sure to make thoughtful use of terms and direct quotations from that chapter. How is your work informed by your reading of that chapter? Where might it diverge? Include a Works Cited page.
