Introduction to Film
COMF 220- Book Review and Response
Overview:
Each student will write a response to the book by Robert
Johnston. The response should be about 5 pages in length, double-spaced.
Students should summarize the ideas of the book and discuss their own
agreement or disagreement with
1. Make sure to have read the book as completely as you can.
2. Before writing, make an outline of the ideas presented by Johnston from general to specific. Also, watch a film from the AFI top 100 you have not seen before to use for your dialogue section.
3. You must write your own evaluation and response - do not plagiarize. Copying someone else's paper or work is dishonest and will result in an F for your project.
4. Take the first part of the paper and review what Johnston has said about film (about 2 pages). How should Christians deal with film? How have Christians historically treated film and/or Hollywood in general? What does he suggest about film as having spiritual truth? Is there an ethic one should follow?
5. What is your response to Johnston (about a page)? What do you agree with and what do you not? Whether you agree or not, explain why - present your own argument or support. WRITE IN THE 3RD PERSON, EVEN FOR THIS.
6. Make sure to give specific examples from the Johnston book that reinforce what you are saying about it. Make sure to give the proper citation (page number especially).
7. Watch a film chosen from the AFI top 100 list (not one you have seen before) and use it as an example on how to dialogue with a film. In other words, use the last part of the paper (2 pages) to dialogue with a specific film as Johnston suggests. Explain what you think the film is saying about life, humanity, spirituality, etc. Then respond to that from your own faith and philosophy. You do not need to discuss the film's plot when doing this. Use one or two sentences to give a synopsis of the film before your dialogue.
7. Use proper scholarly format using MLA or APA style as if
this were a research paper. This includes a bibliography. You would list the film and book.
8. Upload your document to Canvas (course commons) before the deadline. Late papers will be penalized - but better late than a zero. Turnitin will be used as a plagiarism check.
Overview:
Five page paper (2 pages what Johnston said, 1 page response, 2 pages dialogue about film from AFI top 100).
Go to https://www.afi.com/100years/ to locate a film for this paper.
Tips on doing well on this:
- Make sure to proofread before submitting to avoid unnecessary errors. Don't trust spellchecker -look it up.
- Write in the third person - even if giving your own views. You wrote the paper, so you never have to say, "I think..." I believe...", etc., as we know it was you who said this.
- In the dialogue, give us the part of the film you are discussing, then tell us your response to it. If you think the film was saying like murder is okay in some situations, then call them out on that theologically. It may not be that dramatic, but look how Johnston described it in the book. Also, if the film did something well, discuss that also.
- The book section of the paper should include the major points of the book. Make sure you know what those are and point them out.
- If you reference the book in quotation or paraphrase, put the page number with that. It can look something like this: (34) This is okay as there are no other books presented or discussed here. You do need to reference the title and author in your introduction. For good measure, write the bibliography at the end. It should include the book and the film you dialogued about.