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Please respond to one of the following prompts. 1. A Serious Man is a retelling of the book of Job, and like most retellings, there are some major differences between the original and the retelling. Discuss one difference between the biblical story and the Coen- brothers movie. What does that difference tell us about the Coen brother's project. 2. One thing the Coen brothers tend to do in their films is to let the setting describe the character. Often the "deep-focus" helps us pay attention to the "background" as much as the characters. Pick one setting from the movie (e.g., a rabbi's office, the lecture hall, etc.). Describe it and discuss what the setting helps us understand about the character in that particular scene. 3. The song "Don't you want somebody to love" repeats throughout the movie. Discuss the role of the song. 4. What does it mean to be a "serious man"? How is that related to the Judaism depicted in the movie?/nPlease respond to one of the following prompts: 1. Francis Ford Coppola writes, "[T]he essence of cinema is editing. It's the combination of what can be extraordinary images, images of people during emotional moments, or just images in a general sense, but put together in a kind of alchemy. A number of images put together a certain way become something quite above and beyond what any of them are individually" (57). Discuss the juxtaposition of two scenes in Paris is Burning. What do we learn from putting them back to back that we might not have individually. (Or you can write about the juxtaposition of two scenes in Baraka, if you'd prefer.) 2. Plate writes, "through framing and selecting colors, sounds, and synchronized movements, film brings the cosmos into the present space and time, allowing people to interact with the alternative world, enacting the myths that help establish those world structures" (44). Select a frame, color, sound, and set of movements from Paris is Burning. How do they re- create a world within the movie and/or for us? 3. Here's one definition of ritual: "Ritual defined in the most general and basic terms is a performance, planned or improvised, that effects a transition from everyday life to an alternative context within which the everyday is transformed.... Traditional religious rituals open up ordinary life to ultimate reality or some transcendent being or force in order to tap its transformative power" (46). Would you describe the balls in Paris is Burning a ritual? What makes them a ritual? 4. Plate discusses the importance of space in ritual. Why is space so important for Plate? Describe one space in Paris is Burning in as much detail as you can. What can we learn about the world of the movie from that space?

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