3410
Essays are worth ten
points each. Your answers should be
typed, double-spaced, in standard expository essay form (introduction; body;
conclusion) and written in complete sentences and paragraphs. Outlined answers are not acceptable.
You may consult notes and texts to write your answers. Any answer that quotes text material, directly or indirectly, must then build on that material by explaining it, analyzing it, comparing it and/or contrasting it to other ideas, all in your own words. Exams are due promptly at 2:00 pm Thursday, 2/17.
1. What are the differences between drama documentary, documentary drama, and docudrama? How does each of these attempt to bridge the gap between what Bill Nichols calls “the world” represented in documentary, and “a world” created by fiction? Back your answer up with specific examples from films we’ve screened.
2. Compare and
contrast the definitions and discussions of the documentary mode developed by
Bill Nichols and Carl Plantinga. How can their discussions encompass about
very different films such as City of
3. Using the criteria John Belton offers, to what extent are La Jetee and Little Match Girl melodramatic? Are they melodramas? What would be the difference?
4. What are “warrants” and why are they essential to the claims that docudramas make? How are these at work in specific examples in Call Northside 777 and JFK?
5. Based on the issues that come up in what you’ve read by Robert Rosenstone and George Custen, what are the advantages and disadvantages to representing history through documentary drama and docudrama? Draw examples from 13 Rue Madeleine, Rome Open City, Call Northside 777, and JFK to support your answer.