What makes Wong Kar-Wai an auteur? Compare specific elements from his films Chungking Express (1994) and In the Mood for Love (2000) and identify three key features of his authorial style.
As stated above, no outside research is permitted for this assignment. However, your paper must make use of the readings associated with your topic.
If you are writing on spaghetti westerns, your essay should reference information from both Bordwell et al.’s chapter on “Film Genre” and the “Introduction” to the Spaghetti Western database.
If you are writing on Wong Kar-Wai’s films, your essay must reference the readings by Andrew Sarris and Peter Brunette.
Please remember that any time you quote, paraphrase, or use information from any of your sources, you must include an in-text citation. Please consult the MLA style guide for information on how to format in-text citations.
Detailed The essay proposal is not an essay. This is why I am providing a worksheet you must use to complete this assignment. This outline will make writing you essay much easier and a more productive exercise. It will allow you to critically evaluate your argument and your evidence before you incorporate them into your final paper.
Please note that the outline has four distinct sections that you must complete. Detailed instructions and advice for each are listed below:
1. Title
Your proposal must contain an original title that summarizes your topic and your main argument. A good title will catch the reader’s attention and make them curious about your topic, but it will also clearly communicate what the topic actually is.
Strong title: “Power and responsibility: Spider-Man (2002) as a coming-of-age film”
This title tells us exactly what ideas, themes, and concerns the paper will be dealing with
It also makes the paper’s main position clear (that Spider-man is a coming-of-age film)
Weak title: “The films of Alfred Hitchcock”
Too vague
Leaves too many questions unanswered (e.g., “What about the films of Alfred Hitchcock?”)
2. Thesis Statement
A thesis statement is the most important part of any essay. Without it, your paper simply is not an essay. The reason a thesis statement is so important is because it contains the central argument your entire paper will be organized around. Every bit of evidence and commentary in your paper must help to support this central argument.
Because both prompts ask you to identify three key ideas about your main topic, your thesis should make clear what three ideas your paper will discuss and why you have chosen them over other options.
Advice for your thesis statement
Think of your thesis statement as a promise to your reader. It should tell them everything they should expect to read about and be convinced of by the time they finish reading your paper. A successful thesis statement communicates three things:
The goal of your paper
Your argument and/or position
How you will support your argument
A weak thesis statement looks like this: “Cats are better than dogs.”
This is an argument, but the thesis does not explain how the writer will support the argument.
A strong thesis statement might look like this: “This essay will argue that cats are superior to dogs as they are intelligent, more curious, and more self-dependent.”
From this, we can expect to see a paragraph on cats’ intelligence, another paragraph on their curiosity, and another on their self-dependence.
This thesis statement contains an argument and the main evidence the writer will develop.
For further help with crafting a thesis statement, please review your notes from our essay writing workshop or visit the WLC.
This resource from the OWL at Perdue (Links to an external site.) may also help you write your thesis statement.
3. Essay Outline
This section of the assignment asks you to create a detailed outline of what your essay will include. Each of your body paragraphs should focus on one of the three ideas mentioned in your thesis statement
The central focus of each paragraph is to be communicated in a Topic Sentence. The topic sentence communicates to the reader what the following paragraph will be dealing with.
Each paragraph also requires several pieces of evidence. For evidence, you should use examples from the two films and the assigned readings. Examples may include specific scenes, shots, narrative beats, sounds, or components of mise-en-scéne. You may also use quotes from your topic’s associated readings as evidence, though your analysis must focus primarily on the films. Include MLA in-text citations for all evidence.
All of the evidence you select must be accompanied by original commentary that explains how your evidence connects to and/or supports your main argument. Commentary is where your own knowledge, insights, and arguments shine through.
4. Works Cited (MLA)
You must include an MLA Works Cited page. This should be on a separate page at the end of the proposal. For this essay, you must cite the two films and the two assigned readings. No other sources are permitted.
As with Assignment 1, use the MLA style guide to help create your Works Cited.
Checklist:
Please review this checklist before submitting your essay proposal.
You have watched both required films.
All sections of the proposal worksheet are complete.
All evidence includes in-text citations (film examples must include time stamps)
The thesis statement is specific and answers your chosen question/topic.
You have compared your worksheet with the sample worksheet I provided.
