text books:
Kelly, Suzanne and Parameswaran, Gopwri and Schniedewind, Nancy. Women Images and Realities: A
Multicultural Anthology, New York, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., Fifth Edition.
Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory from Margin to Center. Cambridge, MA., South End Press, Second Edition.
video:
In addition to your readings, you will locate and view the first half of a video (Vera Drake). You can find the video at most public venues for renting DVDs. You can also rent them by joining NETFLIX – which I find the most economical way to access the videos. Amazon.com also has many of the videos. Finally, you can “google” the title and some of the videos are available through You Tube or free online.
It is very easy to be distracted by the story itself and lose focus on how the film identifies the role of women in society – but that is why we are watching the video. Keep your focus clear . . . as well as enjoying what the video demonstrates and the historical events shown in the video. In your discussion and essay assignments you will be asked to find specific scenes from that video that illustrate
the issues being discussed in the course that week.
Instructions:
This is the fifth of six essays over the first six weeks of the course which address specific issues which have impacted the identity of women. You must search for the identities of women illustrated in Vera Drake that are related to the issues we are discussion that week. You will use specific scenes (don’t be general) from the films to illustrate the topic under discussion this week and how it represents or does not represent the way our text authors address the same topic.
Please remember – this is not a course about the film. This is a course about how women react to their roles as individuals, members of families, and members of society. The film provides the examples for analyzing the different identities of women in today’s world.
Here is this week’s question for your analysis essay:
Abortion is a very controversial social issue. But abortion is the NOT the focus of this course. How do the disagreements about abortion impact the identity of women? What are the assumptions made about women’s behavior in the arguments about abortion? Why does the abortion issue impact the identity of women?
First, after viewing Vera Drake and reading the assignments for the week, develop your main point (thesis) in answering this question. State your thesis clearly in your opening paragraph. Then write a five hundred word essay (1.5-2 double spaced pages typed) analyzing the validity of your thesis (answer to the question). This is not a long essay – but it has very specific requirements. You do that by using something from the film as illustration of your point, by using statements from the texts that relate to your thesis and then comparing your thinking to the thinking of the text authors.
Next, select a minimum of two quotations from the textbooks (you must use BOTH texts) that relate to the question assigned and the illustration you found in the film. Quote those statements from the texts in your essay and clearly show how the statements compare with your own ideas about the topic assigned this week. You may disagree or agree with the text authors during this analysis, or some of both. COMPARE your own thinking to the thinking of our text authors. This is analysis!
Next, make sure you give proper citation for use of the film and/or the textbook ideas. When you refer to the illustration in the film, you must then enter a citation in parentheses right in that sentence where you use the film reference. (film name, year produced). When you quote or summarize an idea from one of your texts, you must cite the resource in your essay (author, publication year, page number). At the end of your essay you must list ALL resources used in the essay including the film. The bibliography listing at the end of the essay is formatted as follows: Author, First initial, Second initial. (Date). Title of work. Location: Publisher.