short: You will write a non-researched academic essay that demonstrates your ability to analyze literature and film and compare/contrast these two storytelling mediums. The essay should be about 4 pages long, typed and double-spaced.
In your paper, I do not want you to argue which is better, the movie or the book. Instead, I want you to analyze both texts fairly, discussing the special elements of each medium. For example, when you analyze the literary text, you might discuss a symbol, but when you analyze the film, you might discuss how camera shots emphasize this same symbol. I would LOVE it if your essay included pictures of certain camera shots, for example!
To prepare you to write this essay, I ask you to spend some time brainstorming according to the steps below.
Step 1: Choose a literary text and its corresponding film or show; pick the combination that interests you most, or the one that you think you could write the most about.
Wit and Wit
“The Company of Wolves” and Slut
Kindred and Kindred
“The Minority Report” and Minority Report
Step 2: Select a very specific element that both the literary text and its adaptation share in some way, or something that they do very differently. Think in terms of theme, symbol, scene, character, or prop. Here are just a few ideas:
For Wit and Wit:
dehumanization of _________
dehumanization of patient care or research
empathy or kindness
salvation or redemption
Susie’s hands
breaking the fourth wall
For “The Company of Wolves” and Slut:
dehumanization of _________
vulnerability versus power
vulnerability as power
sacrifice to save oneself
sexual agency
the ordinary versus the extraordinary
the characterization of the “wolf”
feminine symbols of personal agency (flowers and lipstick?)
For Kindred and Kindred:
dehumanization of _________
love
power
white privilege
Dana’s adaptability
Kevin’s characterization
time travel as tool to educate (people from the future or people in the past)
opening scenes that build suspense in their own unique ways
For “The Minority Report” and Minority Report:
