Comparison Paper: We learn by comparing. Part of learning to read carefully, write clearly, and think critically means noticing thematic and structural similarities while also seeing how the power of these films often comes from how they differ from some expected form. Each week we have a required film to view and a few suggested ones. For this assignment, watch two of the films in the same weekly unit and compare them. (That is, you'll need to watch at least one of the suggested films.) By comparing the films, you will advance an interpretive argument about what viewers learn about one specific scene in one specific film by comparing it to another specific scene in another specific film. The interpretation of the scenes you choose should reflect some broader theme or point in each movie. A comparison, moreover, should do more than set out parallel interpretations. It should lead to your own informed position on an underlying premise of the films. (E.g., what do Persepolis and A Separation say about the construction of an "ideal woman" in the lead-up to the Iranian Revolution? Or how, if at all, do Spider-Man and Batman Begins deal with the undemocratic nature of superheroes?) How does the seeming difference give way to a common theme, or how does a generic similarity allow for meaningful difference? What might audiences expect based on the films' genre or conventional forms, and what do their breaks from expectations teach us about their larger projects? The movies I choose are A serious man and Paris is Burning. • Watch • ° Film: Paris is Burning (Livingston) • Suggested: Fiddler on the Roof (1971); Babette's Feast (1987); Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring (2003); Blue Velvet (1986); Fight Club (1999); Midsommar (2019) Watch 。Film: Serious Man (Coen Brothers) 。 Suggested: Siddhartha (1972), The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), The Life of Brian (1979), Simon of the Desert (1965), Ben- Hur (1959); Dune (2021)

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