Advanced Composition: Writing About Film

A characteristic of advanced writers is their ability to adjust to the demands of various writing situations and various genres. Our primary texts for the course will be films—films that belong to several sub-genres but all derive from the traditional fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty.” We will examine how filmmakers from different historical and geographical contexts interpret the same story in vastly different ways. For some films, we will also study trailers and posters in order to interrogate the relationship between the films themselves and the ways they are advertised. Meanwhile, we will read and write texts that are all about these films but are otherwise very different: reviews, academic articles, summaries, opinion pieces, and even DVD blurbs. Because this course fulfills the “C” (composition) requirement, you will produce 25-30 pages of writing, some of which will undergo a revision process. The course grade will be based on writing assignments and in-class participation.