Write a brief film critique essay. Discuss how the selected film addresses a key issue of law and justice in the U.S. and discuss how a film viewed in this course has a similar – or opposite – theme or message.

Assignment Question

All students enrolled in PSC 213 are required to write a brief film critique essay. The essay must contain no less than 1,000 words (not including a title page, the references/bibliography, and/or other identifying information).

Students are free to choose a major motion picture released to a general U.S. audience that they would like to review, with the exception of those shown in this course. .

Your essay should discuss how the selected film addresses a key issue of law and justice in the U.S. *AND* discuss how a film viewed in this course has a similar – or opposite – theme or message. What is your selected movie about, legally speaking?

Your essay should: 1. Articulate what you think is the thesis and/or message of the film. 2. Cite examples from the film to support your argument. 3. Compare or contrast the theme/message of your selected movie with the theme/message of one of the movies that were watched as part of this course (PSC 213 Law and Courts in Film)

The goal of this exercise is to encourage you to develop your analytical skills in evaluating political films. The essay is NOT about summarizing the movie and/or reporting the step-by-step unfolding of the plot. Rather, you should be analytical and critical: THINK about the messages(s) presented in the film. ANALYZE and CRITIQUE the work. COMPARE the message in the film you select to one of the movies viewed as part of this course. It is greatly helpful to watch your selected film more than once, taking notes each time. For an example of a film review that does much more than simply summarize, see the NY Times review of the classic film Star Wars.

Your film review must discuss the law/justice element of your selected film; thus, this NY Times review is not an exact model for this assignment.  The review should contain no less than 1,000 words. You need to cite at least two sources (not including the course textbook) in the review. The two sources may include: 1) academic or professional publications in the area of politics and/or policy; 2) academic or professional publications in the area of film studies; 3) professional film reviews published in major news/current event outlets (i.e. NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, etc.). Additional sources may be cited but at least two of the sources must be from the three categories listed here.

Do not refer to them by first name or as Mr./Ms. (i.e. “The movie by Stanley Kubrick is more convincing. Kubrick suggests that… ”; “The film features veteran actor Jimmy Stewart as Jefferson Smith. Stewart won an Oscar in…”) • Include a bibliography/reference list after the end of your essay citing all publications and reference materials. The list should be in alphabetical order by the last name of the author. • Always underline or italicize titles of movies, book, and/or publication names. (i.e. Stanley Kubrick directed Dr. Strangelove”; “The Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade…”; “John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath…”.; “I read the Boston Globe.”) • As a general rule, you should spell out numbers less than 20 (i.e. “There are nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court”). Large numbers should be cited using the numeral (i.e. “I watched 30 movies this year.”; “There are 320 million people in the U.S.”— NOT “there are three hundred and twenty million people in the U.S.”;) • Any recognized citation style (e.g. MLA, Chicago, etc) is acceptable, but please be consistent with whichever you choose.