Sex Lies and Videotape 1989 Film by Steven Soderbergh Final Assignment
In order to NOT be penalized for a short answer I recommend you have at minimum 250 to 300 words per answer. That gives you a range of 1,250 and 1,500 words, NOT including the actual question you are responding to. You can go over these numbers without penalty, they are there as a MINIMUM guide.
Each answer should follow the rules of Standard Written English (Links to an external site.) for grammar, punctuation and paragraph formatting (Links to an external site.). This means your answer should NOT be one long paragraph (2 point deduction at minimum per question). The paper can be either double or single spaced, but must not have a font larger than New Times Roman 12 and a 1 inch margin. There are additional instructions in the Word document link regarding the content of your answers. Answers less than 250 words will be penalized 1 to 3 points depending on how short it is.
For this final exam project you will be able to choose which movie you would like to write about. Below are summaries of five movies (all summaries come from Rotten Tomatoes) and a brief presentation of what the main theme of the questions will be. The title for each movie is a hyper link to the Word document with the list of questions for that movie. Review the summaries and questions and decide which one you would like to do and submit your paper by the final paper due date that is on your schedule. No Late papers will be accepted since it is the end of the term. All of the movies are on reserve in the Dale Mabry campus library for your convenience.
See this example paper from my Human Sexuality class. They have the same requirements as this class. The film is for Secretary. Please do not copy from this paper if you are in or happen to take that class.
All of these movies will be graded according to the same scale.
Each question is it’s own answer and is worth 20 points for a total of 100 points. The best way to ensure you get the best grade is to use the Word document and put your answer in the space after each question. But make sure you follow proper paragraph formatting, etc. Some students just post one really long paragraph which is not correct format and will cost you at least 2 points per question. You will receive a grade pursuant to the following:
Up 5 points for detailed definitions of the concepts, this means more than just one sentence for the definition and a clear illustration that you understand the concept by providing real world examples. You do not have to use any external references for the definitions, I am looking that you understand the concepts, but if you do offer an “official” definition make sure you properly cite the material, even the text. Correct citation for the text: Strong, Bryan and Theodore F. Cohen. (2017) . The Marriage and Family: Intimate Relationships in a Changing Society. 13th Ed. Cengage Publishing: Boston: MA.
In text citation: (Strong & Cohen, 2017)
Up to 10 points for specific examples from the film for all concepts in the question, specific means description of a particular scene, character, or event that meets the definition requirement, or narration of an over arching idea that fits the parameters. The key word is specific. I need to be able to see that you have indeed watched the film and not just read reviews.
Up to 5 points for paragraph formatting, spelling, grammar, etc. If your answer is too short that is up to 3 points depending on how short it is, if it is only a little short it will be 1 point but if it is less than 200 words it will be up to 3 points. Spelling/grammar/punctuation is up to 2 points depending on how many errors there are (or if I have to take off for all one paragraph). Other items that could count as part of this grade is if I cannot tell where one answer begins and the next one ends and as mentioned above long paragraphs. Paragraphs that are longer than 7 sentences will be penalized by at minimum 2 points.
Check your course schedule for when this paper is due. There is a one day late submission period pursuant to the following late penalty: if one hour late 5 point deduction of overall grade. All others will be 20 point deduction.
Parenthood (1989) PG – 13
Topics include: family dysfunction, family communication, discussion of abortion, divorce, parenting issues and challenges, gender and sexuality issues
This feel-good ensemble comedy tracks a quartet of suburban siblings and their families over the course of a single summer. Hardworking Gil Buckman (Steve Martin) and his stay-at-home wife, Karen (Mary Steeenburgen), have just a few months to help their oldest son, Kevin (Jasen Fisher), overcome his high-strung behavior problems before he’ll be relegated to special-education classes. Gil’s difficult relationship with his own father, Frank (Jason Robards), has led him to become a would-be super-dad for his three kids, so he takes his son’s difficulties more than a little personally. Gil’s sister, Helen (Dianne Wiest), is trying to raise a moody, adolescent son (Leaf Phoenix) and an independent-minded daughter (Martha Plimpton) with no help from her well-off ex-husband, who’s more interested in his new wife and family. Gil and Helen’s sister, Susan (Harley Jane Kozak), meanwhile, must participate in the too-scripted Big Life Plans of her anal-retentive husband, Nathan (Rick Moranis), whose overachiever zeal infects even their toddler daughter. When long-lost brother Larry (Tom Hulce) show up with yet another get-rich-quick scheme, he brings with him a surprise addition to the family. Screenwriters Babaloo Mandel, Lowell Ganz, and Ron Howard negotiate their varied subplots with a deftness and comedic touch that transforms this conflicted clan into a suburban everyfamily. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
Summary by Rotten Tomatoes
Pursuit of Happyness (2006) PG-13
Topics for this film paper are poverty, family dysfunction, homelessness, parenting, impact of work,
Chris Gardner is a bright and talented, but marginally employed salesman. Struggling to make ends meet, Gardner finds himself and his five-year-old son evicted from their San Francisco apartment with nowhere to go. When Gardner lands an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm, he and his son endure many hardships, including living in shelters, in pursuit of his dream of a better life for the two of them. Rotten Tomatoes (Links to an external site.)
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) R rating
Topics include: family dysfunction, adultery, family communication, sex communication, impotance, sex scripts, male and female empowerment
Steven Soderbergh kickstarted the independent film movement of the 1990s with this landmark drama about the tangled relationships among four people and a video camera. John (Peter Gallagher) is an unscrupulous, self-centered yuppie lawyer with a beautiful wife named Ann (Andie MacDowell). Ann feels secure and well provided-for in their relationship, but she has almost no interest in sex; she tells her therapist that she’s more concerned about waste disposal. John, however, is still quite interested in sex and is having an affair with Ann’s sister Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo), whose personality is fire to Ann’s ice; sex is the one area in which she’s been able to best her more successful sister, and she relishes her ability to seduce Ann’s husband. Into this dysfunctional picture comes Graham (James Spader), a college friend of John’s whom he hasn’t seen in nine years. Graham has decided that talking about sex is more interesting than actually having sex, so he meets women and asks them discuss their desires and fantasies as he tapes them with a camcorder. A sensation at the Sundance Film Festival, the film made that festival a synonym for a new brand of low-budget indie dramas about contemporary life and relationships. Together with Quentin Tarantino’s very different Pulp Fiction (1994), sex, lies, and videotape was one of the most influential movies for independent filmmaking of the 1990s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Summary by Rotten Tomatoes (Links to an external site.)
What’s Love Got To Do With It? (1993) R rating
Topics include: domestice violence, family dysfunction, communication issues, parenting issues, female empowerment
What’s Love Got to Do With It? is the filmed biography of R&B/pop singer Tina Turner (Angela Bassett), documenting her efforts to break away from her abusive husband Ike (Laurence Fishburne). After a few scenes detailing Tina’s life as a young singer in Nutbush, TN, she’s discovered by Ike Turner, an already established songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Ike takes Tina under his wing and makes her a star, but her fame makes him jealous and abusive, and she has to struggle to break free of his domination. Rotten Tomatoes (Links to an external site.)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) PG rating
Topics include: divorce, family dysfunction, single parenting challenges for fathers, female and male empowerment and growth
(This film is important because of its dealing with divorce at time right after no-fault divorce became available. It also explores how women struggled with the changing expectations of women entering the workforce and the balance of growing as an individual and balancing family and children. It is important to keep the historical element in mind if you choose to do this film).
Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) walks out on her advertising-art-director husband Michael (Dustin Hoffman). Though he is obviously insensitive to everyone’s feelings but his own, Michael has not lost his wife because of this; she simply wants to go out and “find herself”. Also left behind is the Kramers’ 6-year-old son Billy (Justin Henry), whom Michael barely knows. At first, both father and son resent each other’s company, but before long they have formed a strong bond of love and mutual respect. So devoted a father does Michael become that he begins neglecting his work and loses his job. Suddenly, Joanna reenters his life, announcing that she now has a well-paying job herself, and wants full custody of Billy. During the subsequent court battle, Michael takes a job far beneath his talents to prove that he’s a worthy parent. Still, he loses the case, though the film ends on a note of hope. In adapting Avery Corman’s novel, writer/director Robert Benton wisely altered the character of Joanna Kramer from a spiteful shrew to a well-meaning but confused woman who merely wants what she thinks is best for herself and her child. Benton also sagaciously removed a secondary romance between Michael Kramer and his platonic lady friend Margaret Phelps (Jane Alexander). By refusing to truckle to the Obvious, Benton transformed Kramer vs. Kramer from a standard marital-breakup tale to a film of rare depth and honesty. An incredible moneymaker, Kramer vs. Kramer also did well for itself at Oscar time, winning awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Streep-but who was she supporting?), Best Screenplay and Best Director.
EXAMPLE PAPER IS ATTACHED – SECRETARY. MAKE SURE THAT WORD LIMIT IS NOT EXCEEDED BECAUSE SHE DEDUCTS POINTS.
