RATIONALE

This assignment is a broader alternative to the Rotten Tomatoes assignment and skews more literary than rhetorical. It asks—somewhat generically—for students to write a critical analysis essay making an argument about the big idea of a film, TV show, novel, song, or album of their choosing. What made the assignment unique was using Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away to do extensive scaffolding for and modelling of critical analysis and the essay development process.

We watched the film together in class (it’s not available on any streaming services that I know of) and used it as a sample artifact to work through each step of the essay development process together alongside student development of their own topics. The students both enjoyed the film and found it challenging, and they were genuinely curious about what it meant, which set the stage for investigation and analysis.

CORRESPONDING READINGS

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away

David Bordwell’s The McGraw Hill Filmgoer’s Guide, Chapter 1 “Watching Films” and Chapter 2 “Writing About Films”

Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” (I wanted to use a written text in addition to the film that had a similar degree of mystery and interpretative flexibility, but they absolutely hated it, alas)

SUNY Duchess’s handout, “Writing a Critical Essay about Literature (AKA Your Professor Told You to Stop Summarizing and Start Analyzing)”

Materials from Baruch’s Writing Center and the Purdue OWL

SCAFFOLDING

–Read Bordwell’s chapters for homework and discuss how to watch and write about films in class

–Watch Spirited Away over 2-3 class periods; students also use worksheets to take notes on plot sequences, characters, images, oddities, etc. while watching the film and discuss the progress of events intermittently

–Class discussion sessions on critical lenses and brainstorming interpretations of the film

–Class discussion sessions on developing thesis statements; I provide a sheet of sample thesis statements on Spirited Away based on critical lenses

–Prospectus workshop for student paper topics; I provide 1-2 sample prospectuses using Spirited Away for my topic

–Outlining workshop for student paper topics; I provide outline worksheets and a sample

–Student rough draft peer review workshop; I provide a sample rough drafts using Spirited Away for my topic

–Individual 10-minute draft conferences with each student in lieu of class one day

–Organic revision exercises

–Final draft

ASSIGNMENT

Critical Analysis Essay Assignment

For this assignment, your mission is to choose a novel, play, short story, film, TV show, song, or game that conveys a big philosophical idea (or ideas), and to write an essay analyzing the chosen work and the ways it expresses this big idea.

You should examine the work’s form as well as its content. Consider symbolism, metaphor, structure, genre, character, voice, rhetoric, etc., and discuss the ways the work uses these elements to convey its big idea.

Your essay should have a clear thesis statement and should unfold in a series of logically connected paragraphs that continuously develop your argument. It should have a clear introduction and conclusion. The introduction should hook your reader and orient them in the context of your whole argument. Your conclusion should wrap up your argument and leave the reader with something thought-provoking. Your body paragraphs should make ample use of vivid detail and description from your chosen work as evidence for your argument. Body paragraphs should expand and enrich components of your argument but should not stray off topic altogether. You don’t have to do any research for this paper, but if you choose to do so and you want to use additional sources, you should use proper citation format.

How do I choose a good subject?

• Big ideas: The work’s big idea should be big enough to transcend daily life and its challenges. It should say something fundamental about the nature of human existence, consciousness, or relationship to the world. The big idea need not be cheerful and uplifting, although it certainly can be.
• Three categories of works:

1. Some books and movies set out merely to entertain audiences and do not have something deep or meaningful to say.
2. Other books and movies have something deep or meaningful to say, but they say it in a way that is obvious, clichéd, or sentimental. Often these works reflect arbitrary choices by the author or director and contain many fluffy, entertaining elements that do not further the work’s meaning.
3. Still other books and movies have something deep or meaningful to say, and they strive to do so in an original or surprising way. When consuming these works, the audience feels as though the author or director is deliberately guiding them through a carefully planned, tightly woven story. Nothing (or very little) feels arbitrary or accidental, or thrown in simply for entertainment value.

You will probably find this paper easiest and most interesting to write if you choose a work from the third category. You can choose something from the first or second category, but you’ll find you have to work much harder to find things to talk about.

• Personal connection: Choose a work that moves you or resonates with you personally. Choose something that made you think in new or different ways or changed the way you see the world.
• Previous exposure: It is perfectly fine to choose a work you’ve already read, seen, or otherwise experienced (and depending on your schedule, it might be necessary). However, I strongly encourage you to choose a work you’ve encountered outside of the context of school, and I discourage you from using works you were assigned to consume and/or write about in high school. Canned, clichéd essays about standard high school reading material are not acceptable. The prospectus and drafting process will be our shared opportunity to make sure you’re not inadvertently heading in that direction.

Grading:

• 1,500-1,800 words / ~ 5-6 double-spaced pages
• 20% of course grade