watch a film and answer 2 questions
1. Choose a film to watch from the following list. Make sure you view the official, uncut, correct version of the film if multiple films have the same title – check the year and director, when noted. Email me if any doubts:
1970s-1980s:
- 80 Blocks from Tiffany’s
- The Battle of Chile
- Best Boy (1979 film)
- The Blank Generation
- The California Reich – 1975
- Chung Kuo, Cina – 1972
- Derby (1971 film)
- Directed by John Ford
- Faces of Death – 1978
- Gates of Heaven – 1978
- Gay USA (1978 film)
- General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait
- Gimme Shelter (1970 film)
- The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner – full film streaming in online Lecture notes
- A Grin Without a Cat
- Harlan County, USA
- Hearts and Minds (1975 film) – search for it on https://archive.org/
- Humain, trop humain
- Interviews with My Lai Veterans
- Italianamerican – 1974
- Jimi Hendrix (1973 film)
- Land of Silence and Darkness
- Let It Be (1970 film)
- The Man Who Skied Down Everest – 1975
- Manson (1973 film)
- Marjoe
- Minamata: The Victims and Their World
- On Any Sunday
- The Police Tapes
- Pumping Iron
- Sad Song of Yellow Skin
- Scared Straight!
- La Soufrière (1977 film)
- Welfare – 1974, Wiseman
- Winter Soldier (1972 film)
- Woodstock (1970 film) – search for it on https://archive.org/
- Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives
Recommended film – click here to watch on Amazon: Gates of Heaven or Marjoe or Gimme Shelter
- The Atomic Cafe – search for it on https://archive.org/
- Before Stonewall
- Burden of Dreams
- Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
- Chicken Ranch (1983 film)
- Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
- The Decline of Western Civilization
- Document of the Dead
- The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On – search for it on https://archive.org/
- Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
- Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie
- Koyaanisqatsi
- The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter
- Lightning Over Water
- The Making of Fanny and Alexander
- One Year in a Life of Crime – 1989, Alpert – full film streaming in online Lecture notes
- Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate
- Pumping Iron II: The Women
- Return Engagement (1983 film)
- Roger & Me
- Room 666
- Sherman’s March (1986 film)
- Shoah (1985 film)
- The Silent Scream
- Soldier Girls
- Streetwise (1984 film)
- Stripper (1986 film)
- Style Wars
- Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser
- The Thin Blue Line (1988 film)
- This Is Elvis – 1981
- The Times of Harvey Milk
- The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time!
- When the Mountains Tremble
- Who Killed Vincent Chin?
- X: The Unheard Music
Recommended film – click here to watch on Amazon: Burden of Dreams or The Times of Harvey Milk
2. DISCUSSION BOARD 4 1970s-1980s QUESTIONS – choose any 2 to answer in your Post:
1. Identify which Mode this documentary would be, and analyze how well it satisfies the conventions of that Mode or rejects them. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
2. Identify if self reflexive devices are employed in the documentary – are you made aware of the filmmaker making a film? Analyze if this awareness makes the film more honest for you or it detracts from the subject. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
3. Identify if the documentary is Reflexive – discuss if you feel there is too much self-reflection going on. Is the filmmaker getting too subjective, naval gazing too much or veering off course too much? Are they covering the subject in the wrong way or making mistakes? Is their method hard to follow? Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
4. Identify if important social issues are covered in the documentary – analyze if they are covered in complex detail or if they are not fully explored. If the filmmakers represent a new independent voice, does this aid them in covering the subject from a different angle, or does it get in the way? Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
5. Identify if you can ascertain that new technology affect the making of the documentary by allowing for low light, unobtrusive filming following a subject on location – discuss if the use of Portapak video enhances the way the subject is covered, or make it worse. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
6. Identify if the documentary is an example of the modern slideshow approach – a lame compilation history film with cheap music, disconnected footage and no real connection to the reality being discussed. Do you think this is a valid way to get some basic info about the subject when access is limited, or should this approach be changed? Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.