Practice reading, analyzing, and synthesizing a variety of sources
Provide appropriate evidence to support a scholarly argument
Prompt:
How is gender deployed in the film you choose, and what historical concepts and/or examples can help us interpret the film’s gender portrayals?
Directions:
Read chapters 4 and 5 of Gender Rules. Choose one of the films (listed at the end of this assignment) to watch. As you watch it, pay close attention to the ways in which gender is depicted within the particular imperial moment the film portrays.
Your paper should include a central argument (an answer to the question in the prompt above). Your first body paragraph should be a very short synopsis of the film (a good 8-10 sentence paragraph) so your readers become familiar with the basic plotline, time period, location, imperial activity and so on. In the rest of the body paragraphs, pull out specific storylines, scenes, and/or dialogue that reveal the gender assumptions the film portrays. Consider the time period in which the film was made as well as the perspective of the film maker (i.e. what country was it produced in and how might that inform our interpretation of gender depictions).
Use evidence from Gender Rules to support your arguments and provide context for your analysis in the body paragraphs. The film you choose might not be set in one of the time periods or imperial locations examined in the book; however, there might be common themes between the examples in the book and the film. In other words, how did what you learned in Gender Rules help you better understand the gendered aspects of the film? What concepts from the book’s historical examples, regarding how Europeans enacted and imposed (or circumvented) their gender norms on themselves and on the colonial subjects do you see in the film? And what about the colonized? How do they adopt new gender norms, reject them, or synthesize them with their own culture’s gender norms? What assumptions are made in the film and who is making them? Where do you see gender cut across lines of race and class in the film, under the umbrella of imperialism?
Papers should employ proper mechanics of writing, be double-spaced, 12-point font, use footnote citations, and be 2-3 pages long. Headings, subtitles, and a bibliography are not required.
In general, these films are set in an imperial context or history in the 19th and early- to mid-20th centuries, so your use of the book will likely focus on those chapters that cover that time period as well (though some themes from gender history certainly carry across centuries). Use Chapter 5 as a model for how to write a film analysis paper.
You may be able to find these films on any number of streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and more. Also consider checking out the DVD or streaming service at your local public library.
Clive of India (1935)
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Gunga Din (1939)
Black Narcissu (1947)
The River (1951)
Jhansi Ki Rani/The Queen of Jhansi (1952)
Bhowani Junction (1956)
Something of Value (1957)
Northwest Frontier (1959)
The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Battle for Algiers (1966)
The Wind and the Lion (1975)
Shatranjke Khilari/The Chess Players (1977)
Junoon/The Obsession (1979)
Manganinnie (1980)
We of the Never Never (1982)
Heat and Dust (1982)
Utu (1983)
A Passage to India (1984)
Ghare Baire/The Home and the World (1984)
Out of Africa (1985)
Tai Pan (1986)
The Deceivers (1988)
White Mischief (1988)
Indochine (1992)
Heaven & Earth (1993)
Lagaan/Tax (2001)
The Quiet American (2002)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
The Tracker (2002)
River Queen (2005)
The Rising: The Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005)
Before the Rains (2007)
Small Island (2009)
Viceroy’s House (2017)
The Nightingale (2018)
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