Instructions
As with the Podcast Assignments, you will pick three films from the list below and watch it, for a total of 3 films (plus the first film assignment where you’re all watching Babies). I attached my paper with what I wrote about the film babies. You can google each film title in order to learn more about each of them—I have also included links to each of their IMDb pages. You should choose based on what is most interesting to you. All of these films are excellent but I will say that Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes, Citizenfour, and 13th are widely recognized as extremely good, informative, compelling films.
As you are watching the films, you should take notes on what you learn. In particular, think about the following general questions:
What does this documentary teach us about our society?
What are the perspectives of the film makers?
What social institutions (e.g. prison, family, schools, media, religion, etc. . . ) are featured?
What social groups (e.g. people of color, poor people, queer people, etc. . . ) are represented?
What social problems (e.g. crime, violence, hunger, discrimination, etc. . . ) are revealed?
What did you learn? What will you remember?
For each film response paper, write a 1-2 (double spaced) page reflection on these questions. Some of these questions will be more relevant to some films than others. These are broad guidelines. Essentially, you should summarize what you learned from the film about the society that we live in. It should be obvious from your reflection that you actually watched the film. Don’t plagiarize the internet.
You are responsible for locating, acquiring, and watching whichever films you choose. They are widely available on places like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Vimeo, and libraries. Depending on what you have access to, you may need to pay a small rental fee in order to watch some or all of them—in the range of $2-$10. If you need help accessing the films you should contact your local public library and/or the BMCC library or any other CUNY library.
CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST:
13th https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5895028/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
American Factory – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9351980/
Babies – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020938/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Black power mixtape https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1592527/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Bowling for Columbine – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310793/
Boys don’t cry https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171804/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Citizenfour https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4044364/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Enron: the smartest guys in the room https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Faherenheit 9/11 – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361596/
Gender revolution katie couric https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6508408/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Hip hop: beyond beats and rhymes https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976039/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
How to survive a plague https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124803/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
I am not your negro https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5804038/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Inside job https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The mask you live in https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3983674/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Miss representation https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1784538/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Paris is Burning – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100332/
Sicko https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386032/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
We were here https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787837/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
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