Section C: US Cinema Comparative Study

ROBERT MULLIGAN, 1962 JOEL SCHUMACHER, 1996

Two films must be chosen from a specific genre or dealing with a specific theme. The

two films should enable sufficient comparison and contrast to be made

What does this section of the exam paper assess?

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of film as an audio-visual form of creative expression together with its contexts of production and reception and of the diversity in filmmaking across different historical periods

• Be able to understand and discuss how film communicates and create links to circumstances surrounding the film production and observe differences according to the time when the film was made

What does this section of the exam paper assess?

• Apply knowledge and understanding, including some of the common critical approaches that characterise the subject, when exploring and analysing films

• Be able to understand and discuss the structure and style of film and how that gives meaning, also to be able to understand and discuss the ideological messages being communicated

Section C: US Cinema Comparative Study

• Candidates are required to answer one question from a choice of two. Candidates are required to compare and contrast two films either from the same genre or dealing with a specific theme. Both questions will have an emphasis on the relationship between aspects of the films' narrative in relation to generic characteristics. The first question will be based primarily on narrative study. The second will be based on contextual study. Issues of representation will be common to both questions.

US Cinema Comparative Study

• May 2015– Compare how far the openings of the American films you have studied for this topic

establish their messages and values.– How far have your wider contextual studies helped you gain greater understanding of

the similarities and differences in the American films you have studied for this topic?• Jan 2014

– Compare some of the ways in which key characters develop the messages and values of your chosen American films.

– In the films you have studied, compare how the different representations of America are influenced by the times in which they were made.

• May 2014– Compare how far the closing sequences of the American films you have studied for this

topic confirm their messages and values.– Compare how far the actions of the main characters are influenced by the times in

which the American films you have studied were made.

TWO QUESTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM• Narrative Study• Contextual Study

Issues of representation will be common to both questions

US Cinema Comparative Study

• Jan 2013– Compare how one sequence from each of the American films you have studied conveys

the main themes of these films.– Compare how the key messages and values of the American films you have studied

reflect the times in which they were made.• May 2013

– How far do the American films you have studied convey key themes in similar ways?– How far is the representation of characters in the American films you have studied

influenced by the times in which the films were made?• Jan 2012

– What is significant about setting and/or place in your chosen American films?– In the American films you have studied for this topic, how far do the representations of

either women or men reflect the time when they were made?• May 2012

– How do key sequences from your chosen American films reinforce their messages and values?

– ‘Films always reflect the times and places in which they are made.’ How far is this true of the American films you have studied for this topic?

TWO QUESTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM• Narrative Study• Contextual Study

Issues of representation will be common to both questions

PAST EXAM QUESTIONS• When looking at these questions it’s apparent that your knowledge of the

films must cover:

• Key themes/ Messages and Values• Narrative and Genre Conventions• Contextual Knowledge (place and time)• Representation

Start comparing

1. Who are the main protagonists in each film? Compare and contrast them2. What other characters are important in the film?3. What key themes do you think both films share? E.g. Justice & The Law4. TKAM was set in the 1930s what was happening in America at this time?5. Films often reflect the time they were made – TKAM was made in 1962

what was happening in America at this time?6. Two big criminal cases in the 1990s involved O.J. Simpson and Rodney King

– find out about these cases and propose how links can be made to ATTK7. Where are the films set? Why is this important to what occurs in the

narrative of each film?8. In what ways to the films fulfil the genre conventions of Lawyer films?9. How are the themes you have listed communicated to you?10. How do the themes help to communicate massages values?

‘Lawyer Film’ Conventions

• the film’s protagonist, central character, or narrator is a lawyer;

• the film presents the lawyer engaged in professional work;

• the lawyer’s work, his life, and his world, have been significantly disrupted either by a client’s case or cause, or by some feature of the lawyer’s work, or his/her life in the law firm, or by some event in the lawyer’s personal life;

• the ordinary world of the lawyer is subject to a significant threat;

• the threat of confusion, dissolution, loss, uncontrolled outrage, craziness must be addressed, and it gets addressed by the lawyer's resort to professional and personal resources related to the character's work as a lawyer; and in addressing the threat, the lawyer’s work and the meaning of that work is at stake;

• the lawyer may, during the course of the drama that ensues from the upending of his ordinary world, be involved in litigation that culminates in dramatic courtroom scenes;

• the lawyer’s courtroom battles, engagements with clients, and efforts to marshal his or her own psychological resources encounter substantial obstacles, and in the deployment of his/her resources, and the inevitable failures to immediately prevail, we find the lawyer engaged in something akin to a heroic journey.

Atticus Finch Jake Brigance

Bob EwellFreddie Lee Cobb

Professor James R. ElkinsCollege of law West Virginia University

Robert Mulligan, 1962 Joel Schumacher, 1996

When watching the films keep in mind the questions you have written down and also write

down ‘timeline notes’