Rainer Werner Fassbinder Term Paper;See four films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder – flesh out his themes, his point of view, his priorities, his attitudes toward sex and men and women, his visual priorities, and his relationship to the legacy of melodrama or

See four films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder – flesh out his themes, his point of view, his priorities, his attitudes toward sex and men and women, his visual priorities, and his relationship to the legacy of melodrama or “woman’s films.”

You will also write a climactic term paper, double-spaced pages, on a unique topic and written within formal parameters unique to you; this customized assignment, based in part on how your weekly blog writing is progressing and what areas of cinema you are choosing to concentrate on and to avoid.

Critique/interpret/write about a film you’ve seen.
To what degree your writing on film is intelligent, thoughtful, referential, scholarly, creative and/or original is up to you – but your grade will be largely determined by these considerations (as well as by your entries’ punctual posting on Fridays). “Criticism” in these terms does not suggest a mere statement of preference, or a thumbs-up-or-down judgment, but a thorough and insightful dissection of the film in question, taking as many factors into consideration as possible. Your main concerns are: clarity, articulation of your point of view, and keeping your prose interesting, so at least you, as a reader, would not be bored with it and might want to keep reading to the end. Please keep in mind that your readers may not know your personally, and don’t care how you feel, or how tired you were, or what kind of movies you prefer. Do not write about yourself, and do not use the words “me” or “I.” You must make your position understandable and persuasive and interesting to perfect strangers, all of whom we will presume have graduated high school. 
My advice generally is to skip the obvious; think about what the film’s statement is (whether or not it may be intentional); and keep thinking about films as objects with aesthetic values – that is, texts that have meaning – not simply as stories, and certainly not simply as entertainment experiences you’ve had. Of course, reading thoughtful film criticism helps; I would encourage everyone to hunt down work online by J. Hoberman, Chuck Stephens, A.O. Scott, Scott Tobias, Andrew O’Hehir, Andrew Sarris, Geoffrey O’Brien, David Thomson, Dennis Lim, Mark Asch, Peter Keough, J.R. Jones, Nick Pinkerton, Howard Hampton, Melissa Anderson, Jonathan Rosenbaum (try to overlook his first-person narcissism), and Godfrey Cheshire.