Header
Include your name and the date; the film title, director, date, country, and studio (in the form: Title. Dir. NAME. Country: studio, date.)Focus
How [film x] represents [battle, war, situation] for its audience, and what those choices tell the audience about its content -- what case is being made about the justification for, conduct of, success or failure of, or the importance of the event for a particular audience.
Logic and Goal
By comparing [some sets of facts] from [the war, battle, etc. situation depicted in a film] with the historical facts, the biases of the film and the audience toward which it is directed reveal themselves, trying to convince that audience [of what].
Facts in History | Film Representation |
EXAMPLE 1:
Starting date of war (for that country): US entered war after attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941 War ended (for that country): In Europe, May 7-8 1945; in Pacific, 15 August 1945 YOU ADD TWO OR THREE OTHER EXAMPLES: be sure to refer to specifics in the film (scenes, names, framing, lighting . . . ) and wars (central battles, locations, participants . . . ); see the class handouts on how to read films and wars for ideas) | EXAMPLE 1: Film starts = EG: Saving Private Ryan starts on D-Day, 6 June 1944 (the Normandy invasion) Film ends = EG: SPR ends before Hiroshima A-Bomb, 6 August 1945 |
Implication
(address in 1-2 paragraphs what these choices tell us about the filmmaker's agenda and his/her assessment of the audience; what's highlighted, suppressed in this choice, and why that's important):
Picking the window between D-Day and Hiroshima isolates the part of WW II where the US was the unambiguous force for good against Nazi aggression. But this ignores the US's late involvement and its diplomatic failures; it makes the soldiers heroes -- no partisan politics, no allied command.
Considering who is represented . . . , what events and locations are shown . . .