Southern Gothic Film Group Blog Assignment Due Dates: 3/29 & 4/15
The SEVEN films below all have “something different” from the traditional films that focus on the South with their usual depiction of racial division/civil rights (“Boycott”, “Mississippi Burning”) or the world of the Southern Belle (“The Help”, “Steel Magnolias”) or the South’s legacy of slavery (“Django Unchained”, “12 Years A Slave” and “Birth of a Nation”).
However, though our films may be rooted in the South they exist in an untraditional landscape: the spiritual and emotional world of Southern Gothic. This means that each one of our SEVEN films has an important element of the Southern Gothic genre. Some of these films also have the added bonus of stories with blacks as main characters – something we have not seen in the literature and which consequently may add another dimension to the genre (as we found in “Pigeons From Hell”). If so you may want to collectively comment on that fact as a group.
DB Assignments: You must select your film asap but no later than 3/29. Post your title to the relevant DB as your subject/thread to allow your classmates to see what titles are still available at a glance. Maximum of three students to a film – however, mathematically there WILL be ONE group of four students. As soon as I have a film group quorum I will set up the Film Group Blog for you to use. You will be able to access it via the Film Group Blog section of our (red) content area.
Film Group Blog Details: Determine a deadline viewing date amongst yourselves. After you have individually viewed your film decide which of you will answer which of the three questions (see a-b-c questions below). Each of you will evaluate or comment on your group member’s answer by stating whether you would have answered the same or differently if it were your question. All of you will weigh in on the “Review” directive.
Question (a): Which South do you feel is being presented in your film, a South similar to what we have seen in our readings (and if so which readings); or a very different South from our readings (and if so, how different)? Exemplify your answer with a scene description. Remember to use “present tense ve
s” in your descriptions of film scenes.
Question (b): Which character captures which element of Southern Gothic? Refer to a scene that illustrates a Southern Gothic element. (See list of Southern Gothic elements below.)
Question (c): To be truly Southern Gothic the film should refer to a particular social condition and/or history of the South for at least some aspect of the story. Does your film meet this extra criteria?
Review Directive This directive is for the entire group: Read the posted review of your movie and decide whether the three of you agree or disagree with the reviewer’s opinion.
THIS FILM GROUP BLOG ASSIGNMENT MUST BE COMPLETED BY APRIL 15. Note that everyone will be graded individually for this assignment (meaning if a group member has not responded that does not affect the other group members’ grade) but if I think the group has communicated particularly well, each member of the group will receive additional point(s).
HERE ARE THE SEVEN MOVIE TITLES:
Film Title_____________________ Location of Film__________
“Angel Heart” (1987) “R” (Louisiana) 113 mins** Amazon & YouTube @$2.99*
“The Beguiled” [1971) “R” (Mississippi) 105min YouTube @ $2.99*
“Eve’s Bayou” XXXXXXXXXXLouisiana creoles) 109 min Amazon & YouTube @$3.99*
"Southern Comfort" (1981) (LA: the Bayou) 105min In our course under “Movies”
“To Kill A Mockingbird” XXXXXXXXXXAlabama) 170 min Netflix Streaming
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” XXXXXXXXXXLA) 93 min YouTube $2.99*
“Streetcar Named Desire” XXXXXXXXXXLouisiana) 167 min In our course under “Movies”
*Not available on Netflix nor NYPL/Kanopy
**Strong sex & violence
SEE BELOW FOR SYNOPSES OF THE SEVEN MOVIES:
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Angel Heart1987R113 mins
A down-and-out 1950s Brooklyn gumshoe is hired to locate a pop singer who reneged on a debt. But each time he makes contact with someone who might know the singer's whereabouts, that person is killed in a ho
ible, ritualistic fashion. Cast: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling, Stocker Fontelieu, Brownie McGhee, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Whitcraft, Eliott Keener, Charles Gordone, Dann Florek Genre: Supernatural Thrillers, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Thrillers
“The Beguiled” XXXXXXXXXXmin. (fictional Southern town) NETFLIX dvd
The Beguiled1971R105 mins
An injured Civil War soldier (Clint Eastwood) takes refuge in a fancy Southern girls' school and quickly becomes the center of attention as the girls clamor for his affections, and the headmistress (Geraldine Page) freely practices her surgical skills on him. A far cry from typical Eastwood films, this moody, atmospheric drama is a tension-filled cult favorite from director Don Siegel (Dirty Ha
y, Escape from Alcatraz). Cast: Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Ha
is, Darleen Ca
, Mae Mercer, Pamelyn Ferden, Melody Thomas Scott, Peggy Drier, Pattye Mattick Genre: Classic Dramas, 20th Century Period Pieces, Period Pieces, Classics
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Eve's Bayou (1997)
Release Date: 1997 Duration: 109 min
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Diahann Ca
oll, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Meagan Good, Kasi Lemmons, De
i Morgan, Jurnee Smollett
A young girl learns some difficult lessons about truth, love, and fidelity in this critically-acclaimed Southern gothic drama. Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett) is a ten-year-old girl whose father Louis (Samuel L. Jackson) is a successful and well-liked... MORE
A young girl learns some difficult lessons about truth, love, and fidelity in this critically-acclaimed Southern gothic drama.
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SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981)
The film, set in 1973, features a Louisiana Army National Guard squad of nine on weekend maneuvers in rural bayou country as they antagonize some local Cajun people and become hunted.
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Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012); PG-13; 93 mins
As a storm approaches a southern Louisiana bayou community called the "Bathtub" (a community cut off from the rest of the world by a levee), six-year-old Hushpuppy and her ailing, hot-tempered father Wink are optimistic about their life and their future. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy; Dwight Henry as Wink.
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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD XXXXXXXXXX2hrs, 10min (black and white film)
Classic movie adaptation from classic novel of same title by Lee Harper (1960)
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MOVIEmete
Up 124 this week
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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Distu
ed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her
utish
other-in-law while her reality crumbles around her. 125 mins.
Director: Elia Kazan
Writers: Tennessee Williams (original play "A Streetcar Named Desire"), Oscar Saul (adaptation), Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter
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