COMPARATIVE FILM ANALYSIS – “POLTERGEIST” (SPIELBERG, 1982) VS. “THE RING” (VERBINKSI, 2002)

COMPARATIVE FILM ANALYSIS – “POLTERGEIST” (SPIELBERG, 1982) VS. “THE RING” (VERBINKSI, 2002)
In this assignment, you will write a roughly 1800- to 2200-word essay (i.e., around 5 to 7 pages) that compares two texts of your choice from the course (films, radio plays, or television episodes), on one of the following topics. Your essay should engage with the themes of the course by making substantial links to lectures and/or readings. As this assignment is designed to build upon the skills used in your Scene Analysis assignment, your argument should rely on close formal analysis of specific scenes or sequences to explain how these techniques reinforce the film’s themes, using detailed, specific examples. Focus on one or two elements (formal, thematic, or both) or scenes in each text, and examine them in close detail. Make sure to fully analyze your observations and explain their importance to your argument.
Essay topics (PICK ONE):
1. Diegetic audiences and media consumption
How do these texts depict media consumers, either literally or metaphorically? Are they shown as individuals or masses? What formal techniques are used to show consumers and the act of media consumption? Are they associated with specific gendered characteristics (à la Huyssen)? What is our relationship as spectators to the consumers depicted in the film: are we meant to identify with them, to judge them, etc.? What do your chosen texts ultimately say about the role of media consumer?
2. Media in the home
What is the relationship between the home, the family, the outside world, and media technologies in your chosen texts? Are the media shown to be beneficial to the home and the family, to be threatening, or both? What formal techniques are used to demonstrate this relationship? How might this be related to questions of gender?
3. Voices and the authority to tell a story
How do your chosen texts comment on the authority of voices, either literally or metaphorically: who has the power to speak (or control the story), and why? What is the relationship between voices and media technologies: do they amplify some voices and silence others? What are the power dynamics of speaking (or telling a story) and being heard in these texts, and what formal techniques are used to depict these power dynamics?
These questions are meant to help you develop your own argument about the texts. You do not need to answer every question in your essay.