My strengths as a writer are research and organization/structure. My writing process usually starts with researching the topic and continues with determining how best to structure the paper. Throughout the Cluster, I have found ample research for papers and have organized the research into a logical format. This makes my writing easy to follow, almost to a fault because, at the same time, this process leads me to focus substantially on the the facts I have researched, and the result is often a summary-laden and non-argumentative paper. Over my writing career, I have learned how to minimize this problem by incorporating more analysis, especially when the subject is literature. However, when I write about media for the first time, I tend to revert to this poor technique. A lack of experience and confidence are the likely cause of this reversion. I experienced it last quarter when I wrote about video games, and I am experiencing it again this quarter as I write about movies. Although this may seem like a step in the wrong direction, it also helps me to know that I am making progress as a writer. These new tests of my writing ability allow me to determine what writing skills I am capable of applying in any context and those that I still need to improve.

I think having the same GSI for the first two quarters of the Cluster and a different GSI for the last quarter helped me improve my writing greatly. During that time, my GSI provided feedback regarding the problems that recurred throughout my writing, which allowed me to focus on certain aspects of my writing. This most recent quarter with Griffin provided me a chance to display my improved writing.

To Mr. Mundt.

Using an archetypal approach to market Lady Bird is a good financial decision because it will allow adolescents and adults to recognize the value of the movie. As you know, Mr. Mundt our marketing company cannot succeed without high sales to both adults and adolescents. This will be easily achieved with Lady Bird if we focus on the universal and archetypal coming-of-age experience that is at the core of the movie.  My work-in-progress slogan is “Whether you’re coming-of-age or age is coming for you, you’ll love Lady Bird.” The overall goal of this campaign will be to convince adults that there is more to the story than teenage angst. We could do this, for example, by highlighting the archetypal conflict between mother and daughter. Whether the audience is closer in age to the mother or the daughter, there will be a connection. Of course, this may lead the audience to consider Lady Bird a “chick flick,” but I have a solution. We can use the critical acclaim for Lady Bird to refute such a claim. In particular, we can use A.O. Scott’s review that claims “What Ms. Gerwig has done… is to infuse one of the most convention-bound, rose-colored genres in American cinema with freshness and surprise.” This quote not only prevents the audience from dismissing Lady Bird; it also entices long-time viewers of the genre. As you can see, Mr. Mundt, an archetypal approach will attract the viewership the company will need by tapping into the universal appeal of the movie. I am sure that this will be more successful than whatever Dave has proposed, so I look forward to discussing this marketing campaign in our meeting tomorrow.

Best,

Elija

As I reread my first draft, I notice that I did not successfully incorporate myth into my essay, Since I have gotten most of the remaining content more or else squared away, in my next draft, I want to actually discuss the coming-of-age as a mythical archetype. To accomplish this goal, I will invest ample time into locating and examining the Eliade text from fall quarter. If I recall correctly, this reading was particularly lengthy and dense. However, I do not suspect this will be a big problem now that I have more time to dedicate to this essay.

Another transformative change I want to make is regarding the thesis of the paper. In parts of my essay, I tried to create a sense of continuity through references to Gerwig’s motivations. Particularly in the introduction paragraph but throughout the entire essay, these references varying in effectiveness and in presence. I plan to incorporate references to motivation in my analysis of quotes and into the introductory and conclusion paragraphs. I am also open to other ways that I could create a sense of continuity but perhaps through a different idea.

The last transformative change I am considering involves improving my usage of sources. I used plenty of sources in my essay, but I feel that often I only used a source in a very surface, or otherwise not very enlightening, way. Other times, I used two sources to discuss one topic, and the second source did not add much to the essay.  In both situations, I will decide on a case-by-case basis to find a better source of information, to simply remove the redundant sources, or to leave the section as is.

Dear Great-Aunt Helga,

I cannot wait to visit you in Orlando this summer, but as you know, I still have plenty of schoolwork to complete including my final paper for CLUSTER 30CW- Never-Ending Stories: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Myth–Special Topics: Uses and Misuses of Mythic Storytelling in Hollywood. As per your request, I will share some problems I have been facing and possible solutions to these problems, but first, I will share a little bit of my paper as a whole.

The subject of my paper is the comedic drama Lady Bird, which—if you remember—we watched together with Elvin before I left for college. When choosing a movie, I was drawn to this movie because I noticed that something special empowered the storytelling of the movie but could not identify it. After some research, I found out that this ‘something’ was the writer/director’s personal connection with the setting and events of the movie. At this point, I realized that Lady Bird fit well with the prompt, and so, I established the foundation of my paper.

I started encountering problems when I began attempting to connect my foundation to mythic storytelling, where ‘myth’ has a definition closer to “a traditional story” than to “a widely held but false belief.” The problem was that I could not figure out how to make any such connection. My solution was to turn to articles written by film critics under the impression that these people would be much more capable of making this connection. Esther Zuckerman did not disappoint as she positioned Lady Bird among the two mythic traditions that we discussed in class. I will use Esther Zuckerman as a guide down a path exploring coming-of-age as a universal experience. However, I now wonder if my paper’s reliance on Zuckerman’s argument undercuts my paper since the foundation is another person’s thoughts. I still have not thought of any good solutions to this problem, and I will likely write my first draft without addressing this problem.

I hoped you enjoyed this look into my writing process.

Love,

Great-Nephew Elija

The limitation of the cast of The Terminator to only three main characters creates a lack in the skeptical perspective that most people would have in response to the plot of the movie, which creates disorder in the plot and neglects a potentially interesting side plot.

The criminal psychologist Dr. Silberman fills this role for most of the movie, and through his interrogation of Kyle Reese, he creates an opportunity for Kyle Reese to answer some of the many questions that the audience might pose regarding time travel. For example, he clarifies that there will be no other time traveling events besides the ones involving him and the Terminator. However, after the Terminator assaults the police station, Dr. Silberman longer provide an opportunity for Kyle Reese to answer questions about time travel. This opens the door to a series of questions that poke at the foundations of the plot as the intensity of the plot increases. Kyle Reese’s revelations about the future can be easily dismissed by a psychologist designating him a loon, but it is less clear how the destruction at the police station and along the path of the Terminator would be dismissed.

The side plot involving the police attempting to solve what they believe to be a serial killing case provides a more practical motive to contrast the somewhat convoluted motives involved in the main plot. Now You See Me exemplifies how a bewildering main plot can be tied into a straightforward side plot. In this movie, the actions of enigmatic magicians are thematically juxtaposed but narratively linked with the criminal investigations of the FBI. This enhances the plot by representing two perspectives on the plot. The Terminator receives a similar boost until the characters providing the boost die, which creates an absence in the final minutes of the movie.

Lady Bird is the movie I propose as the subject of my expository paper. Lady Bird is a 2017 semi-autobiographical dramedy written and directed by Greta Gerwig. The plot of Lady Bird follows the coming-of-age of a senior in high school with a particular focus on her family relationships.

My argument will first focus on the the influence Gerwig had as a result of the independent film production structure and how she used it to tell her deeply personal story. The former part of this section will encompass Gerwig’s input during development, casting, and filming. The latter part of this section is inspired by a quote from Gerwig that reveals “nothing in the movie literally happened in my life, but it has a core of truth that resonates with what I know.” Then, my argument will discuss the public and critical reception of the finished product as a vehicle to analyze the success of various aspects of Gerwig’s vision. In this section, I plan to incorporate ideas related to archetypal and nationalist myths as they appear in opinion pieces.

Concerns:

(Structure) The structure I proposed in the previous paragraph is the first one that came to mind. Do you think that that structure is satisfactory or not? If not, what could/should I change about it?

(Content) Do you think there will be enough content to fulfill the page constraints and will it be interesting enough? Based on preliminary research, I think the answer is “Yes,” but I would love additional input.

(Sources) I used the references on Wikipedia as a starting point to locate some sources. How should I continue my research?

The symbolic usage of weather in The Graduate supports the contextualization of the movie within the archetypal tradition. According to Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, rain invokes the Biblical story of Noah and with it the fear of drowning and the promise of beginning anew. The Graduate features rain in the scene where Mrs. Robinson’s threatens to reveal her relationship with Benjamin to Elaine. The narrative context of the scene captures both aspects of rain. On one hand, Benjamin fears facing the consequences of his affair but also hopes that telling the truth will be the best option.

Additionally, Mike Nichols uses the rain to intensify the scene by changing the physical appearance of Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson and establishing a contrast between these characters and Elaine. Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson appear drenched and physically exhausted representing the toll the affair has had on these characters.

The culturally specific usage of automobiles in The Graduate places the movie in the nationalist tradition. Automobiles in American culture are symbols of freedom and signifiers of wealth. The car gifted to Benjamin plays a substantial role in advancing the plot. For example, it facilitates the affair, and it allows Benjamin to follow Elaine to Berkeley. In a thematic sense, the car symbolizes the freedom Benjamin now has but also serves as a reminder that he cannot escape the materialism that paid for it.  

Benjamin’s car appears in many scenes where he is free to make decisions for himself. Thus, it is interesting to note that in the wedding scene, Benjamin’s car is absent because it ran out of gas earlier. In this scene, Benjamin continues to exercise his freedom to decide, so perhaps, the abandonment of his car represents Benjamin’s separation from materialism, which he accomplishes alongside his love, Elaine.

In both Sunrise and Red River, scenes of physical confrontation play important roles in the narrative. However, differences regarding the extent of violence depicted in the scenes in the context of their movie’s genre and the themes encapsulated by the scenes lead to variation in the effectiveness of the scenes.

The scene of physical confrontation in Sunrise does not display any acts of violence because the husband stops himself before doing such acts. On the other hand, the analogous scene in Red River includes the usage of firearms and fisticuffs. The extent of violence is much larger in Red River, but this is to be expected due to the presence of violence in the western genre. Conversely, the threat of violence in Sunrise is unexpected, which adds to the effectiveness of the scene.

In both scenes of physical confrontation, there are thematic stakes hidden within the narrative stakes. Both scenes involve betrayal albeit different aspects of it, and these distinctions lead to differences in stakes and scene effectiveness. During the first boat crossing scene, the Man from Sunrise has an internal conflict between remaining faithful to his wife and betraying her, which exemplifies the premeditation involved in betrayal. In contrast, Dunson—in the fight scene from Red River—has already experienced betrayal and must figure out how he will react now that he is face-to-face with his betrayer. This is representative of the response to betrayal. Since the fight scene from Red River occurs after betrayal has occurred, it has higher stakes involved. The scene occurs after Matt alienates Dunson, but as the audience discovers, it is not too late for forgiveness. The high stakes and comforting resolution lead to a very effective scene.

After an unfortunate turn, Joy and Bing Bong find themselves where memories are sent to be forgotten—the Memory Dump. The tears staining Joy’s hopeless face disheartens the audience, but the light radiating from Joy’s body evokes a different emotion—hope. This visual imagery of hope persists through the scene; however, it takes the characters a while to realize that even in their predicament, there is hope.

Once they do, the score transitions from melancholic to adventurous and revisits the main theme along the way. At this point, two pieces of contrasting imagery are presented to the audience: the dark, towering cliff face and the rainbow-colored exhaust of the Rocket Wagon. This imagery further emphasizes the dichotomy of hopelessness and hope.

After a few attempts at escape fail, the music returns to a subdued texture as, unbeknownst to Joy, Bing Bong starts to dematerialize. Perhaps acknowledging the inevitability of his fate and the light of hope that always surrounds Joy, Bing Bong suggests, “One more time. I got a feeling about this one. Sing louder!” In this suggestion, Bing Bong refers to a previously established detail that his Rocket Wagon runs on “Song Power.”

Some audience members recognize the change of music or Bing Bong’s facial expressions as a hint that something heartbreaking is about to happen. Others—who naively and wholeheartedly believe in the power of hope and “Song Power,” like Elija Balanga—are taken aback when Bing Bong jumps out of the Rocket Wagon so that Joy can escape the Memory Dump and fulfill her mission. As Bing Bong dematerializes completely, he requests Joy to take Riley to the moon for him. This adds to the emotional impact of the scene by illustrating how much he cares for Riley even after several years of separation.

Although Bing Bong disappears from Riley’s memory, he etches a tearful moment into the memories of the audience.