Focusing and Rewriting

Taking into consideration my committee's feedback, I've had to really concentrate on articulating my argument to demonstrate how all my research has culminated into the paper as it now stands.  I've realized that what I really need to focus on is connecting certain elements that up till now I've allowed to go on assumed.  Also, I really need to make sure that the chapters don't appear too distinct-they should and do build on one another, and I just need to make that as clear as possible to the reader.  I'm rewriting an introduction that I think will "frame" the argument better and show how all of these pieces are functioning together and not separately.

Also, I want to make the whole project "snazzier."  Thinking about how that can be done without being distracting to the academic focus of the project.

A Self-Reflexive Statement

When I first set out to complete this project, it was my goal to make some sort of positive commentary on the change in film criticism.  I felt that so far there were only really negative things being said and I really believed that this isn’t the end, but hopefully just the beginning of something that could develop into the something just as romanticized and “sexy” as film criticism once was.  Don’t get me wrong–I love the idea of the film critics from the heyday of Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael–but I also think that we have already progressed somewhere past this golden era.  As an admitted nostalgist, I would also like to return to the “way things were” in the twentieth century.  However, in trying to hang on to something that was once beautiful, we’ve been left with a degenerate leftover of that time.  Blogging and new forms of media are not the change, but I think they are part of the bigger change that inevitably must happen.  All in all, I think that it’s much better to have a positive outlook about these changes than just a negative one.  Why be bitter and angsty when something even better may derive from all of these changes?

This particular project didn’t just build on the film courses and other coursework that I’ve completed while at Tufts, it actually forced me to attempt to do many new things as well.  While I’ve done lots of research papers on literary criticism, I’ve never endeavored anything that made a commentary on social studies or related to topics such as agenda setting theory.  In the end, this project has been just as interdisciplinary as my Tufts education and has even included things not included in the scope of my previous studies.  In some ways, I would like to go back and choose a topic that related more to my particular area of expertise, i.e. was more theoretical, but I also value that this project has taught me another way of studying film.

A point not to be overlooked, I’ve also come to really appreciate how much this project has encouraged me to be more socially aware of the film scene.  Since I was following newspaper reviews and blogs, I developed a sense of how to navigate these different forms of media.  Also, my own blog version of this project (http://filmcriticsmfilmcynicism.blogspot.com) made me savvy in the blogging medium.  I not only critiqued the new form of criticism, I engaged with it on its own terms.  For me, this was a rewarding way of participating in the debate on film criticism.  As Harrry Knowles has proven, anyone can be the next big thing if they just put enough heart into it.

Goals for the End of March

1.  Finish section on King's Speech

2.  Edit section on Harry Potter

3.  Consider rewriting problem statement/significance

4.  Contact Committee and set up time for defense in May

5.  Finish Rough Draft of whole thing and have an intelligent reader give feedback

The Second Section

So, it's finally Spring Break and I'm trying to get as many words down on paper as possible.  I've been thinking about the connection between "King's Speech" and "Harry Potter" lately, and I think that it's especially interesting that they are both remakes of sorts–on of history and one of novel.  In that way, they both have a certain obligation to their audiences that they can choose to fulfill or not.  They are also both British films that were able to draw huge U.S. audiences, and in the case of "King's Speech," win the biggest Academy Award.  Perhaps if I have enough material on the both of them I will limit my paper to just these two films because I think that it will ultimately be more cohesive.

Finding a Voice

After a long stall in writing, seeing The King's Speech at Coolidge Corner has definitely inspired me.  I think I'm going to drop Nolan's failed Inception and focus on the English film instead.  I think it might be interesting since HP was an adaptation from a book, and King's Speech is an adaptation from history.  Thus, you'd think that the English film would have had less success as a result of people judging its breaks from historical fact, etc.  Mostly, I just want to write about a film that takes place in England...

A Switch-Up

After seeing The King's Speech take the Oscar for both Best Picture and Best Directing last night, it's made me reconsider my previous overlooking of it.  It seems to me that it might actually make for a much more interesting selection than Inception, which has really slipped under the radar and didn't get a single nod from the Academy last night.  King's Speech is still showing at Coolidge Corner Theater in Boston--perhaps a spontaneous trip out to see it tonight?  We'll see.  How does the Harry Potter, King's Speech, Black Swan combination sound?

A Relatively Productive Day

Success!  Five pages on Deathly Hallows have been completed!  The beginning focuses primarily on the challenges in creating a film adaptation, particularly one on a series that has already been a huge cultural phenomenon.  I began writing about what different reviewers have thought as well, but was only just getting into the meat of it when I reached my goal.  Hopefully, it shouldn't be difficult to wrap up the chapter in another five pages (goal: to be written next Saturday!) and then I will begin the next section on Inception (which possibly should go first to make sense chronologically?).  I'm also considering adding images in an appendix, especially if I'm lucky enough to finish the project early and can consider laying it out using InDesign or some other program.  Note to Self: Look up how to properly cite images.

In which I buckle down and make myself a goal

Five pages.  Today.  I'm going to write about Harry Potter and the difference between blogger and fan perspectives.  This portion of the paper will favor the fan's perspective - loving films simply because they are appealing and considering the question of whether or not that means the film deserves merit.  Probably will end up focusing quite a bit on bloggers in particular. 

Back in the Swing of Things

Just checked in for the new semester!  I think it's about time I really started writing this thing, don't you?  My goal is to have three to five pages of the first section done by next week.  I may reevaluate using Black Swan and try and write about only one or two films.  It would be more cohesive, I think.  But which one is more interesting, Harry Potter or Inception?  Or maybe even Black Swan, which is guaranteed to make a scene at the Oscars?  Certainly, that shows critical acclaim.

More thought is required.

The Movies That Didn't Suck in 2010

On my way home from Boston after watching the New Years Eve fireworks, I pulled over at a fairly generic gas station and picked up the most recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine.  I was immediately interested in one of the articles toward the back by Peter Travers where he praises the "movies that didn't suck in 2010."  Travers ranks Inception as the second best film of year, claiming "Is there a filmmaker less tamed by convention than Christopher Nolan?  Don't think so.  And Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional invader of dreams, is a visionary milestone that gets better and digs deeper each time you see it."  Black Swan also made the listing at position number seven: "Darren Aronofsky directs a fever dream of a ballet thriller with a tour de force from Natalie Portman as a besieged danced whose body and mind are coming apart."  Harry Potter did not receive any mention.

I've also been thinking that because the psychological thriller received so much attention in 2010, having a section on Freud in the literature review may be inevitable.  Certainly, I will have to talk about Freudian theory when discussing the films and how academia approaches them.