Short essays (100 points each, approx. 400 words per essay). Please write concise and cogent responses to two of the following four prompts.

Short essays (100 points each, approx. 400 words per essay). Please write concise and cogent responses to two of the following four prompts. Whenever possible (OR unless noted otherwise), please also include in your discussion references to two

films we have studied so far as well as pertinent course materials (readings, handouts, and lectures).

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Films been studied:
-Gone With the Wind
-The Wizard of Oz
-Scarface
-Citizen Kane
-Casablanca
-Easy Rider
-Years of Our Lives
-Detour
-High Noon
-The invasion of the Body Snatchers
-A Face in the Crowd
-The Manchurian Candidate
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Handouts will be attached
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1. How, according to Robert Warshow, does the impact of the gangster film extend beyond moviegoers' literal interest in crime to "speak for us," that is, to express an important aspect of the American psyche?

2. Compare the different analyses of Gone With the Wind written by J. E. Smyth and Melvin B. Tolson. Which reading do you find more persuasive--and why?

3. Outline Michael Rogins thoughts on motherhood and put it in dialog with another required reading.

4. In what ways, and for what reasons, does Professor Rentschler discuss the relevance of symptomatic criticism for our course interests? Please provide two distinct instances in which this approach yields crucial meaning.


Part II.
Long essay (200 points, approx. 6-800 words). Please write a thoughtful and lucid essay on one of the following two questions. Please be sure to draw on relevant course materials in your response.

1. In what ways does "demonology," the aesthetics of othering, become pertinent for our investigation of American dreams? Please provide some general and theoretical reflections before commenting more specifically on three exemplary course films made between 1932 and 1969.

2. Please reflect on the dichotomy between the individual and the community within the film history of American dreaming. You are asked to provide some general and theoretical reflections before commenting more specifically on three variations in this regard offered in the films we have studied.