1. Intro 2016 (FM2 (Section C)

1. Section C: US Cinema
Comparative Study
ROBERT MULLIGAN, 1962 JOEL SCHUMACHER, 1996
Two films must be chosen from a specific
genre or dealing with a specific theme. The
two films should enable sufficient
comparison and contrast to be made

2. What does this section of the exam
paper assess?
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of film
as an audio-visual form of creative expression
together with its contexts of production and
reception and of the diversity in filmmaking across
different historical periods
• Be able to understand and discuss how film
communicates and create links to circumstances
surrounding the film production and observe
differences according to the time when the film was
made

3. What does this section of the exam
paper assess?
• Apply knowledge and understanding, including
some of the common critical approaches that
characterise the subject, when exploring and
analysing films
• Be able to understand and discuss the structure and
style of film and how that gives meaning, also to be
able to understand and discuss the ideological
messages being communicated

4. Section C: US Cinema Comparative
Study
• Candidates are required to answer one question
from a choice of two. Candidates are required to
compare and contrast two films either from the
same genre or dealing with a specific theme. Both
questions will have an emphasis on the relationship
between aspects of the films' narrative in relation to
generic characteristics. The first question will be
based primarily on narrative study. The second will
be based on contextual study. Issues of
representation will be common to both questions.

5. US Cinema
Comparative Study
• May 2015
– Compare how far the openings of the American films you have studied for this topic
establish their messages and values.
– How far have your wider contextual studies helped you gain greater understanding of
the similarities and differences in the American films you have studied for this topic?
• Jan 2014
– Compare some of the ways in which key characters develop the messages and values of
your chosen American films.
– In the films you have studied, compare how the different representations of America are
influenced by the times in which they were made.
• May 2014
– Compare how far the closing sequences of the American films you have studied for this
topic confirm their messages and values.
– Compare how far the actions of the main characters are influenced by the times in
which the American films you have studied were made.
TWO QUESTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
• Narrative Study
• Contextual Study
Issues of representation will be common
to both questions

6. US Cinema
Comparative Study
• Jan 2013
– Compare how one sequence from each of the American films you have studied conveys
the main themes of these films.
– Compare how the key messages and values of the American films you have studied
reflect the times in which they were made.
• May 2013
– How far do the American films you have studied convey key themes in similar ways?
– How far is the representation of characters in the American films you have studied
influenced by the times in which the films were made?
• Jan 2012
– What is significant about setting and/or place in your chosen American films?
– In the American films you have studied for this topic, how far do the representations of
either women or men reflect the time when they were made?
• May 2012
– How do key sequences from your chosen American films reinforce their messages and
values?
– ‘Films always reflect the times and places in which they are made.’ How far is this true of
the American films you have studied for this topic?
TWO QUESTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
• Narrative Study
• Contextual Study
Issues of representation will be common
to both questions

7. PAST EXAM QUESTIONS
• When looking at these questions it’s apparent that your knowledge of the
films must cover:
• Key themes/ Messages and Values
• Narrative and Genre Conventions
• Contextual Knowledge (place and time)
• Representation

8. Start comparing
1. Who are the main protagonists in each film? Compare and contrast them
2. What other characters are important in the film?
3. What key themes do you think both films share? E.g. Justice & The Law
4. TKAM was set in the 1930s what was happening in America at this time?
5. Films often reflect the time they were made – TKAM was made in 1962
what was happening in America at this time?
6. Two big criminal cases in the 1990s involved O.J. Simpson and Rodney King
– find out about these cases and propose how links can be made to ATTK
7. Where are the films set? Why is this important to what occurs in the
narrative of each film?
8. In what ways to the films fulfil the genre conventions of Lawyer films?
9. How are the themes you have listed communicated to you?
10. How do the themes help to communicate massages values?

9. ‘Lawyer Film’
Conventions
• the film’s protagonist, central character, or narrator is a
lawyer;
• the film presents the lawyer engaged in professional
work;
• the lawyer’s work, his life, and his world, have been
significantly disrupted either by a client’s case or
cause, or by some feature of the lawyer’s work, or
his/her life in the law firm, or by some event in the
lawyer’s personal life;
• the ordinary world of the lawyer is subject to a
significant threat;
• the threat of confusion, dissolution, loss, uncontrolled
outrage, craziness must be addressed, and it gets
addressed by the lawyer's resort to professional and
personal resources related to the character's work as a
lawyer; and in addressing the threat, the lawyer’s work
and the meaning of that work is at stake;
• the lawyer may, during the course of the drama that
ensues from the upending of his ordinary world, be
involved in litigation that culminates in dramatic
courtroom scenes;
• the lawyer’s courtroom battles, engagements with
clients, and efforts to marshal his or her own
psychological resources encounter substantial
obstacles, and in the deployment of his/her resources,
and the inevitable failures to immediately prevail, we
find the lawyer engaged in something akin to a heroic
journey.
Atticus Finch
Jake Brigance
Bob Ewell
Freddie Lee Cobb
Professor James R. Elkins
College of law
West Virginia University

10. Robert Mulligan, 1962 Joel Schumacher, 1996
When watching the films keep in mind the
questions you have written down and also write
down ‘timeline notes’