Movie Response Paper on “My Beautiful Laundrette”

Writing Film History Response Papers

Because this is a film history class, you need to show how the film you’re writing about is a relevant part of film history. In response papers, it is essential that you do three things:

–provide film historical and cultural context on the movie and the director (referencing and properly citing material from the readings)

–show how this film/director is important in the development of film aesthetics/techniques/industry

–provide close visual analysis of several scenes, employing the terms and concepts we’ve studied (terminology sheet) and showing how the aesthetic choices and form help to convey the theme/topic that is the center of your analysis.

I would suggest that your introduction should be written in two paragraphs–the first outlining the first point (and some of the second point above) in some depth, being certain to reference and properly cite the readings; the second introductory paragraph providing the theme or topic in the film that you will explore. The body of the paper (about four-five paragraphs) should be devoted to close analysis (point three above), with detailed attention to particular scenes that are most relevant and fluidly interweaving specific points from of relevance from the reading. Your conclusion can bring it all together, returning to and in greater depth addressing your paper’s body content, this time from a personal perspective. How do aspects of the movie appeal to you or not; broaden your thinking or not; elicit and emotional response from you or not. Did you like/enjoy/feel interested in the movie? Why or why not?