Guidelines for Core Reading Responses

 Your core reading responses must do the following:


1. Identify and engage with the author(s)' main ideas and arguments. You should be able to summarize the author(s)' main ideas in your own words in a few sentences and then engage with them by discussing those ideas in relation to the screenings in class.  Be selective: you probably can't cover every idea in the readings, but you should be able to pick out the central ones.


2. Apply the author(s)' ideas to the screening for the week.  Consider how screenings reinforce what the author(s)' say and consider whether the screenings bring up issues that challenge or contradict the readings.   Be sure to include specific examples from the films (describe scenes, characters, costumes, narrative arcs etc.) to make your points. You must address the screening for the week but you can also bring in examples from other texts (films not screened in class, stories in the news, other stars from the past or present etc.)


3. Propose at least three questions for the class discussion.