Media and Memory Project

First, you will be asked to see a pairing of one feature film and its accompanying documentary. The feature film is Chicken Run. The Documentary is Food, Inc. Assignment asks you to explore how each film is persuading viewers to interpret historic events. Do a little research to figure out what ways these films are re-writing rather than depicting history (Godfrey and Lilley’s claim). Please take notes about both films and conduct a thorough comparison and contrast of the ways the filmmakers inform their audience, their persuasive appeals, how they create a claim and present evidence, and create a collective memory of the event. This is essay must incorporate your observations of what is happening in each/both films and build toward a clear argument concerning civic identity and public memory.

Please produce a 5-6 page paper (double-space, 12 pt., Times New Roman font) that COMPARES AND CONTRASTS your pairing of films (one documentary and one feature film). Include a works cited page with the films you have selected and any readings you incorporate from class. I recommend that you include Bordwell and Thompson as well as Godfrey and Lilley’s article. Feel free to incorporate other readings!

You will need to incorporate a thesis that makes a claim judging the persuasive techniques of these films (eg. either the feature film is more persuasive than the documentary, vice versa OR neither effectively compels the viewer in comparison with the actual event €” make an assessment and write about what you’ve discovered).

Questions to consider and address:

As persuasive strategies, how do these arguments remain credible while conveying the ambiguity of memory? Who is telling this story and why? What particular version of the past is being told? What reason could be given for the past being reconstructed in the present (why now)? What is each film asking us to commemorate (to privilege, to prioritize)? What ideals, beliefs, narratives are these film affirming or denying for the audience?