Rough Draft Workshop

ROUGH DRAFT WORKSHOP GUIDELINES

DIRECTIONS: Take time and care in responding, as you will be graded on this assignment. Make sure to write about 3-5 sentences in response to each section; you should be addressing all questions within a given section with specific answers. “The essay looks organized to me,” is NOT a specific answer—for example, if the essay is that organized, then you should be able to tell me what specifically is so organized about it.

Questions:

1) Does the writer introduce their topic clearly and succinctly, providing the necessary historical, cultural, and other background information to contextualize their topic? Give one or two suggestions for improvement in this area (do not skip).

2) Please note any places in the essay where further clarifying details could be added. Is the writer clear about how the teenage girl's body is "hell"? Do they share enough of the plot from both stories so that the reader is not confused? Who are the characters involved, how are they defined, etc? Make sure historical context information is also provided.

3) Is the writer incorporating research from an outside source into the essay? If so, do they use proper MLA formatting? 

4) Does the writer have plenty of strong quotes and examples from the two stories in the essay, that they then analyze? They should! (Quotes, paraphrases, and summaries are needed for a successful paper).

5) Does the writer have sufficient analysis for their quotations and examples? Remember, analysis is even more important than the quote itself. Make sure the writer is not simply explaining the quote in a summarizing fashion, but connecting it to its larger significance.

6) Is the essay organized? Do the body paragraphs seem to build logically upon one another? Give at least one suggestion for improving the organization of the essay (do not skip). Chronological order is often a good order to use.

7) Do the "horrors" or "fears" that the essay analyzes connect to specific cultural and historical situations and contexts? Remember, this is really important in terms of creating a successful essay. You don't want to simply discuss generalized fears or issues--you need to be able to tie them to a social-political-historical context. 

Final Project

Paper 3: Your Horror Story

Please write a horror story that is 7-10 pages long, typed and double-spaced. The story should deal with contemporary horrors--things that are scary about our current cultural and political situation. You may want to spend some time browsing news sites to become inspired. You may base your story on "true events" if you like. Make sure you format the story following standard fiction guidelines for dialogue, etc.

Some examples: Student loans have reached epic proportions, with many students never getting out of debt. You could write a horror story where a desperate student becomes a killer in order to steal from the rich in order to pay back his student loans.

The climate is in desperate conditions. You could write a narrative about a monster that represents environmental destruction in some way or another, such as Godzilla or The Host.

Please also include a two page critical analysis of your story. You will essentially analyze your own work, as you have analyzed the works of others on a daily basis. Please approach it critically, and look at the contemporary fears and situations that your work examines. This paper should follow MLA guidelines, and should be typed and double-spaced.

When you present your work to the class, you will be required to share some kind of a visual component.It could be a poster board, a video, a website, a video game, an app, or some other creative approach. It's great if you can create a visual aide that is conceptually in line with the fears that your story unpacks. 

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY STUDY QUESTIONS

1) How does the "meta" filming or found footage structure contribute to the overall effect of the film?

2) How is surveillance itself a form of horror? Or, put another way, why does this particular genre work as a horror genre? Is there something scary about surveillance itself?

3) What parallels do you see between this and The Exorcist?

4) Discuss the role of photographs in the film. How is "the image" a form of haunting?

5) How is the camera a character in the film? What roles does it play? How does it contribute to the haunting?

6) What role does the house play?

7) Why are the suburbs--and tract homes in particular--a great setting for a horror film?

8) How does Katie's body become a battleground? Bring in parallels to The Exorcist and Jennifer's Body where you can.

90 Discuss the role of the male characters in the film. How do they contribute to the situation? From a feminist perspective, how do they reflect certain cultural attitudes toward women? Do they fall into any cliched horror tropes?

10) How is the camera an extension of the body? How is the house?

11) Analyze the final scene in the film, considering all that you've talked about in your prior answers.

Weird instances in The Exorcist

Keep listing the unusual incidents in the novel. What makes them threatening? How do they shake up the status quo?

Essay 1: Hell is a Teenage Girl

Essay 1: "Hell is a Teenage Girl"

The sub-genre of horror that focuses on possession narratives often centers on the female body. Discuss how the line "hell is a teenage girl" from Jennifer's Body applies to both Reagan--who is approaching teenagehood--from The Exorcist and Jennifer the "hot girl" from Jennifer's Body. How is the teenage girl's body "hell," culturally and metaphorically? What issues and problems does it bring up, and why? Feel free to bring in any historical references that might be relevant. Use plenty of examples from the book and film to support your argument. At least two scholarly outside resources from the library's databases are required; please cite these (and the film and novel) on your Works Cited page.

MLA Formatting required; 4-6 pages

Reading Q's for The Exorcist

Exorcist reading questions

1) Discuss the role of science in the book. Is it able to help Reagan with her problem? How would you characterize the doctors in the book?

2) Now, do the same thing with religion. Initially, is religion able to help Reagan? Why or why not? 

3) How is Reagan an "empty vessel"?

4) What are several ways of looking at the main "battle" of this novel? What is it battle over? Who is the primary victim or victims? 

5) List all of the unusual occurrences in the book. What makes them threatening?

6) How is Reagan's body a "problem"? Compare and contrast the problem of Reagan's body with Jennifer's body.

7) Characterize the demon in the novel. What do we know about it so far?

Twice Weekly Analysis Assignment

For two class periods per week of your choice, please bring in an analysis of a recent horror movie, tv show, or book. For your analysis, you will write approximately one page. For the first paragraph, summarize the movie, tv show, or book. For the latter paragraphs, please discuss which current cultural problems, fears, or horrors, the work deals with. The more you can tie it into current events, both social and political, the better. Please be specific to the time and place the work came out of: for example, Willow Creek is a contemporary horror movie about Bigfoot that takes place in the Pacific Northwest of California. The film deals with contemporary anxiety around marriage, in particular, the ways in which marriage has ancient and barbaric roots. It also deals with our anxiety with the natural world, which we are becoming increasingly alienated from, even as it is being increasingly destroyed.

Please note how these fears/horrors relate to our specific time period, and the state of the world today. Any papers that are too general, dealing solely with fears that are broad or could be placed in any time period, will receive a lowered score. It's not that horror doesn't deal with timeless fears, and it's not that you cannot talk about those timeless fears (of the unknown, or of death, for example), it's that I want you to take note of how specific horror films deal with particular times and places, and fears that are at the forefront for specific political and social reasons.

You will be asked to share some of your examples with the class, aloud. Be prepared to do so.

Please include an image of the work on a separate sheet of paper. 

Total length: 1 page, typed, double-spaced