English 11.67
Unit 1: Irish Creation of Irish Popular Culture
Writing Spotlight: Pathos & Concision

project

Unit 1 Project: Film Analysis

Purpose: to demonstrate both recognition of pathos and facility at employing it yourself
Audience: someone intimately familiar with your film
Writing Focus: concision; narrow, arguable & supported thesis; points backed up by relevant detail, effective intro & conclusion

In this 4-5 page, MLA-style essay, you will tackle an Irish film released in America which foregrounds some element of Irish social or cultural history. Discussion of this element should provide the background or context for your argument, but will not constitute the central focus of your paper. In other words, you will probably discuss this aspect of the film in your introduction and/or conclusion, but not linger on it overly much in the body of your paper.

Your primary consideration will be the use of pathos, our rhetorical device of choice for Unit One. You will engage pathos at three different levels: 1) you should analayze the emotion exhibited by one or more of your chosen film's characters during 2-3 important scenes. Whether you focus on two or three scenes will likely be determined by how much you have to say about each one, but I recommend choosing scenes that work well together in some logical fashion. 2) you should discuss the pathetic reaction requested or demanded of the viewing audience by the entire film. That is, what taste/emotion does the director presume to leave in the viewer's mouth? If you wish to discuss not only the concluding emotion evoked, but a changing pathetic path throughout the story, that is fine. 3) you should yourself employ pathos as an organizing principle in at least one of your paragraphs. At the end of your paper, leave a few lines of space and then identify in one sentence the paragraph(s) (by page # and topic sentence) into which you consistently injected pathos, AND identify the intended emotion you hoped to evoke from your reading audience.

Your paper should include references (quotation, paraphrase or summary) to two professional sources. These can be web sites, but they need to be well-regulated (not personal) web sites, preferably those connected with a media corporation or an established film review site. All sources, including the film itself, should be listed in a Works Cited page at the end of your paper (this page is not one of your 4-5 pages, but an additional page). You may also wish to include an Appendix at the end which contains screen captures of any images to which you make reference in your paper (after referring to such an image in your text, just include a parenthetical reference like Figure 1, or some such).

The films below are on reserve in the basement media center of the undergrad library and must be watched on location (they are classified "non-circulating," which means you can't check them out to take back to your dorm). You may choose whichever one you wish for analysis. Warning: some of these films contain disturbing scenes. If you want to avoid certain kinds of graphic material, find out more about the film under consideration before viewing it.

Options:

• Jim Sheridan's In America (2002)
• Pat O'Connor's Dancing at Lughnasa (1999)
• Peter Mullan's The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
• Jim Sheridan's The Field (1991)

Draft Workshop: Unit Project 1

As stated in class, assess the papers of the first three people below your name (in the class list) WHO ARE IN YOUR GROUP!!

• Is the author's thesis clearly stated and arguable?
• Does the author' actually tie all their main points back to the thesis as they move through the paper?
• Does this paper deal with pathos both as expressed by characters and as evoked in the audience?
• Does the author bolster each point with supporting examples and detail, or do s/he instead make large generalizations without supporting evidence?
• Is the author's language concise and terse, or do they have difficulty with wordiness? You might consider whether they overuse passive voice, allow lengthy series of prepositional phrases to go unreduced, or exhibit other fatal stylistic tendencies that ignore that invaluable maxim by Strunk and White: "Omit Needless Words"?
• Does the author appropriately employ two sources? Do they correctly paraphrase, quote or reference these sources with proper parenthetical citations? Do they include a Works Cited page that lists their sources as well as the movie under analysis?
• Does their argument convince you?
• Does it move you emotionally? In answering this, consider also that paragraph in which they deliberately employed pathos. Were they successful at evoking the targeted emotion in you, the reader?
• Does the paper meet all formatting and MLA style mandates.
• Are their introductions and conclusions compelling and memorable?

Class List

Kirsten Ahlstrom
Victoria Allen
Rhyn Chung
Amanda Corner
Sandeep Daiya
Rachel Dent
Justin Dobies (new)
" Corey" (Chris) Eaton
Richard Haywood
Erin Jones
Katie Lancaster
Simone Martin
Caitlin McShane
Shannon Morrison
Jordyn Saunders
Matt Scarborough
Whitney Scarborough
Michelle Sutton
" Jake" (Jacob) Wilson

Paul Marchbanks
marchban@email.unc.edu