Posted: June 3rd, 2016

What is the effect of combining history and fantasy on screen? Answer in relation to Pan’s Labyrinth

Choose one question from the list below.

Your answer should refer to at least one of the films in the course. You may also refer to other films/ screen media in your response. Some of the questions below can be applied to several of the films and you may refer to more than one of the films in your answer if appropriate. Your topic for this assignment should not overlap with your class presentation or critical analysis.
1. Is Boy a nostalgic film and what are the potential problems with using nostalgia to represent the past?

3 What can autobiographical ‘micro’ histories teach us about ‘macro’ histories? Answer in relation to Persepolis and another film of your choice.

4 In what ways have white histories been challenged on screen? Refer to Belle and another film of your choice in your answer.

5 How can historical events be turned into cinematic language, and what are the effects of doing so?

4. How does Lore challenge the conventions of Hollywood WWII films?

5. What’s the role of the witness in telling history on screen?

6. What kinds of devices can be used to ‘authenticate’ history on screen? Discuss in relation to Battle of Algiers.

7. How does on-screen history engage with the senses and what are the effects?

8. What is the effect of combining history and fantasy on screen? Answer in relation to Pan’s Labyrinth.

9. How has Queer history been expressed on screen?

10. What is the role of collaboration in writing and screening history?

11. Is the past overly aestheticised in City of God and does this diminish the potential political aspect of the film?

12. What is the effect of the screen spectacular in screening the past? Refer to Curse of the Golden Flower and one other film in your answer.