Film Blog Examples

Required Reading/Writing

For this week's assignment, I want you to pick ONE reading from the below list of online articles on film. None of these articles are directly related to the film we watched today -- they are simply examples of what I think is good writing on film. I'm hoping they can provide you with inspiration on ways of writing about or dealing with film -- none of them are really "academic" or "book-report-y," they just show writers who have an interesting perspective, and who are genuinely engaged with their subject matter. Hopefully it will provide some inspiration for your final project. There is no common theme among the writing, and they show various styles, and also various uses of still and film clips, to make their arguments.

Before next week's class, I want you to read one of the below articles, and write a two-paragraph response to the article on the class blog. In the first paragraph, address the content of the article: what do you think are its most interesting points? What do you most agree (or disagree) with? And in the second paragraph, write some remarks on the writer's style. How would you describe their writing style? What are some sentences or phrases that stand out to you, and why?

Here are the articles:

Tom Block on depicting violence:
http://thehighhat.com/Static/007/deadwood_block.html

"Arbogast on Film" on subtext in the 50s "giant bug" horror film Tarantula:
http://arbogastonfilm.blogspot.com/2009/09/unusual-histories.html


Mike D'Angelo on Spielberg's suspense technique in Jaws:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/jaws,45876/

David Bordwell Jackie Chan's action-film editing, versus the lackluster action editing in a late James Bond flick:
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2010/09/15/bond-vs-chan-jackie-shows-how-its-done/

Outlaw Vern on the absurdities of Tron Legacy:
http://outlawvern.com/2010/12/21/tron-legacy/

The "Self-styled Siren" on Paul Newman's acting career:
http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/2008/09/paul-newman-1925-2008.html

Chris Fujiwara on the use of the zoom in different films:
http://www.hermenaut.com/a18.shtml