Movie Review: General Assignment Guidelines
After watching 12 Years a Slave, you will write a brief review that explores the diagetic music and power of the movie as a whole. Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from a source within the film's world. It is sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film. The music is represented as coming from instruments and characters in the story space ( = source music). The characters are aware of the music, perform it, react to it, and hear it.
For this movie review, you will choose two diagetic moments of musical sound. You cannot choose the songs Ann Powers discusses in her analysis (and the ones we discussed at length in class); “Run, --, Run” and “Roll Jordan Roll” are thus exempt, and points will be deducted should these songs be the center focal point of your analysis. You can, however, connect the songs you choose back to how she understand these musical moments. Also, please incorporate source material from Cockrell, Southern, Powers, and Northup as needed to enhance and enliven your analyses.
More to the point, for the musical, diagetic moments you choose, you should model your analysis on the ones completed by Powers:
What does the music sound like? How can you describe? (Instruments, singing voices, structure, lyrics – be specific! – write down anything and everything that you hear both within the song and the sounds happening around it)
How does the music contribute to your understanding of the character(s) and of the particular moment in the movie? What does it say about how this historical person is understood and positioned?
How do your two musical moments work together? How do they work towards Powers’ argument that the music of the film works “as an exposé of the central battle within American popular music, between black freedom and black compromise”?
Formatting & Submission Guidelines
Your essay should be 2-3 pages, doubled-spaced, and typed in 12-point Times, Arial, or Cambria font with 1” margins on each side of the page. Feel free to write in more informal language of a critic – with no fluff! Include media and images to enhance your arguments. Under no circumstances will emailed submissions be accepted. Please submit directly to Blackboard. Please cite all source material appropriately (MLA, Chicago, APA – your style choice!) and carefully proof-read your work.
Grading
Your movie reviews are grading using the following rubric.