My greatest strength, or at least greatest improvement, over the course of this school year would have to be my skills in organization and research. I feel like the hardest part about writing is finding the meat of what you’re going to write about and this is what intimidates me the most. But I feel like over time, I’ve gotten better at finding scholarly sources (bless JSTOR) and quote weaving important details into my essay. The research that I come across also determines the structure and ideal format of my essay which plays into my love for outlining. Outlining is the only thing I enjoy about writing essays and is key to my organization. Before this class, I would write my essays Introduction to Conclusion and do my research along the way, but now I put effort into outlining before I even write. Over time, I’ve become obsessed with making lists and sorting so I spend most of my time splitting my thesis into buckets and putting key points and research into each one. It makes my essay seem well assembled and put together so that it is easy to follow for the reader.

I would say my greatest weakness for writing essays in general is adding unnecessary fluff sentences in between my research and key points. My subconscious thinks that I’m adding academic analysis, but to an outsider reading, it comes off as if I was just BS’ing my way to the minimum page count. I feel like the only way to add credibility to my writing is if I sound like I’m a scholar by adding more and more information (that is really just pointless details), but it comes off hard to read and I realize I lose purpose in what I’m writing about. In my head, I’m thinking, “This is what a confident writer would say,” but instead, I just confuse the reader. With this essay however, I’ve been trying to remind myself with every sentence and ask “Does this even answer the prompt? Does this directly relate to my thesis?” to keep my essay concise. I think this tactic contributes to the major difference that will be seen between my first and final draft. Another weakness I have (but is not my fault since no one taught me) is writing conclusions. In my opinion, the conclusion is the most useless part of the essay so why even include them? My writing professor last quarter said we’re not supposed to recap what we wrote??, but we’re also supposed remind the reader of the thesis ,?? but also not provide new details?? like what am I supposed to actually say? Send help.

To Mr. Mundt,

Using an archetypal and religious approach to mythology to market Se7en is a good financial decision because the theme which this movie focuses on makes it unique from other movies and appeals to all audiences. This movie draws intensely from literature which show to be influenced by biblical mythology such as Paradise Lost, Dante’s Purgatory, and more to expound on the seven deadly sins which this movie uses as a motif. The serial killer, John Doe, puts people through judgement and punishment based on the sin they represent, thinking he is some sort of supreme power entitled to do this. This religious approach in the movie makes it distinctive from others because it hints to being a story of the gods (which most myths are), but still manages to be free from bias towards a specific religion. Therefore, you can advertise the movie as a film about judgment yet is still free from religious bias, making it attractive to all audiences. The archetype which this movie poses is also an attractive feature of the movie. The setting of the movie is never specified and lifestyle of the main characters are pretty basic. The serial killer’s name, in fact, is John Doe, a name given to the unidentifiable. This vagueness and lack of specificity makes the movie comes off as an archetype applicable to reality or other plot structures. This isolates the movie from others, since most are specific about their settings, characters, etc. It would be a good investment because it meshes the film’s plot with what viewers might experience themselves instead of isolating the movie from reality. Viewers will question whether the screenwriter intended the movie to be so vague to underscore the message that humanity can be put through judgement like in the story whether that is by a supreme power or not. A movie about the seven deadly sins may intimidate viewers who don’t have religious background, but even though this movie is influenced by biblical mythology, it doesn’t credit a specific religion for this. Additionally, it appeals to those who do have religious background and believe that humans are judged based on a dogma similar to the seven deadly sins, making it in total worthwhile to all audiences.

The first problem in my draft is the research involved to relate the movie to different myths. I would either have to dig deep and scratch the surface to get my answers. However, I feel like I ended up with a lot of information and needed to condense it since I ended up writing a 8 full pages. I just felt that I wasn’t proving that these sins related to myth enough so I provided a lot of concrete details from a myriad of sources. I simply have to dissect what is important and what isn’t so I can provide more argument on other things.

I actually, also, want to include more about how John Doe considered himself as some sort of supreme power and how that also ties into mythology as well. When I finished my essay, I realized that like in many religious pieces of mythology, there was a some supreme power that put people through judgment, which is almost what John Doe does. He punished people based on the sins which they committed which is almost similar. I feel it would make my essay more interesting and show that I put more insight into my work by going beyond just the seven deadly sins.

My argument in regards to tying the production history with what ended up on screen is a part of my essay that isn’t quite opaque. I provide a paragraph discussing Andrew Walker’s (screenwriter) interview where he talks about the research he had to do to write this movie and my discussion of the myths he used/what ends up on screen is what the rest of my essays are about. But, I would like to also talk about the production for each crime scene in the movie (in relation to myth) and what ended up on screen as well. Of course, again, I would have to condense my first draft hella.

Dear Great-Aunt Helga,

I hope you’re having the time of your life in Orlando! I am writing to you to tell you about my time as of now at UCLA. Currently, I just finished a paper for my class on mythology. My paper is about the movie Se7en (that one movie you like cuz it has Brad Pitt in it) and its relation to ancient myths and it’s production history. If you don’t know, mythology isn’t what you think it is. The mythology I’m learning about isn’t just false beliefs or misconceptions. It’s stories relating to the gods and goddesses and attempts to explain natural phenomena but, most importantly, was believed to be true in its time. I am relating my movie to biblical mythology, like that in literature like Dante’s Purgatory and Milton’s Paradise Lost (you’re gonna have to look those up if you don’t know, 😦 sorry). On the other hand, production is just the making of the movie and I’ll be mainly talking about what the screenwriter had intended for the movie, the research he must have done to make it, and comparing that to what ended up on screen. Anyways, since the movie revolves around the seven deadly sins, I’m writing about the implementations of them in relation to religious beliefs from the past. Except, I realize the more I write my paper, the less I feel like it relates to mythology. The more I prove it, the more I question “Wait, is this even like mythology or..?” even though I know it is because my TA told me. Maybe I’m just overthinking, but when I do peer review, my classmates can tell me if it all makes sense. Also, I feel like my essay is hella messy with myths from multiple sources. Like they’re just everywhere and it might be confusing to a reader. I also wanna talk about how John Doe, the psychopathic killer, thought of himself as some supreme power that was placed on Earth to put people through judgement like a higher power would do in the afterlife in early mythology (think of like Judaism or the ancient Egyptians). I feel like this is important but I’d be going over the page limit so I’d have to cut down a lot. I’ll probably end up doing it later, but not today, I need sleep.

Lost of love,

Lumbini

An obvious absence in the film is high-quality action scenes with the help of better special effects. It is understandable given the time which this movie was made (1984), that the crew did the best they could with the technology they had in the 80’s. But for the sake of the audience’s enjoyment, the movie would have been better if it had come off more realistic. Again, there was little that could be done to help this though. Another item that ties into this is editing. There are moments where the voice overs don’t overlay properly with the lip movements of the actors. This could be when the Terminator is speaking or simple action scenes where the actors cannot be heard during shooting and require voice overs to be done. For instance, when the Terminator impersonates Sarah’s mom, his actions are not in sync with what is heard.

Plot-wise, I think the audience might appreciate more development of the romance, especially since it is the product of Kyle and Sarah’s love that start this entire thing. More development between the two would have added more flavor to the plot and the movie would have been more worthwhile. I also did not like how the Terminator did not die in the fire –  the audience could have easily assumed that he was a robot made out of cheaper metal and that would’ve been the end of the movie. I felt the audience already understood that he is practically indestructible and him surviving the fire was redundant. Additionally, I think another necessity would be more background information on the future in 2029 and the whole concept around Skynet and John himself. It would have made the movie more cohesive and easy-to-follow if they included scenes of the future featuring John in the apocalypse. It would be nice if the audience was given knowledge fortifying why this chaos is going on in the first place.

Se7en (1995) is an American crime thriller directed by David Fincher, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, and produced by Arnold Kopelson. It is a story of two detectives, David Mills (Brad Pitt) and William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), who attempt to track down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as a motif in his murders. Coming from a screenwriter and director who weren’t doing so great in the industry, the movie exceeded expectations by making a profit ten times its budget of $33 million and being highly recognized in the 1990s. The creation and production of the film is the direct reason for the movie’s success and the methods used be emulated in all films of the mystery/crime genre since they are so heavy on plot and the tone which they set.

The movie has many references to mythology and other pieces of literature which are directly referenced throughout the movie (Dante’s Inferno, Paradise Lost, etc.) which support the seven deadly sins making this movie unique in its time. The “head in the box” plot twist ending also sets the movie far apart in originality and brilliance from other films. With this, the movie launched careers for the screenwriter, Walker, and director, Fincher, along with the actors many are aware and still active today such as Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey. The shooting of it also plays an important role from the setup of the murders and the color palette which they use to support the movie’s miserable and mysterious tone. The film was meant to be quite distinct from other movies made in its time and even controversial due to its bleakness, but still managed to be a great success making about $13 million its opening weekend and close to $327 million total in the box office. With this I will be arguing why a movie of this genre with such harsh murder mysteries appealed so well to its audience in the 90s unlike the movies before it and how the production made it such a success.

Concerns for paper:

• The story has an incredible plot, especially one that can be tied to the course on mythology, that should be talked about. How much of the essay should be focused on plot analysis and the screenwriter’s intentions of the movie?
• The movie did propel the careers of those that worked on and off camera. Is it relevant to the prompt to talk about the movie’s impact on their lives?
• If I were to run out of content (to fill up 6-8 pages), which movie would be good to compare to this one? Should I choose something that came from the same time period (like Showgirls which competed with it the same weekend) or genre (such as The Silence of the Lambs)? Do you recommend the movie not be as successful as this one to set up an argumentative contrast in production methods in correspondence to the film’s success?

The Graduate (1967) is a film central to social themes on gender and marriage roles in suburban America while depicting a story on the 60’s generation gap. Earlier films in the 50’s depicted the stereotypical submissive housewife, but the 60’s became a time of a new archetype that was stripping away from a wife who manages the household, does her husband’s biddings, and isn’t preoccupied with her own problems or leisure. This is represented by Mrs. Robinson who is empowered with her own independence as she goes outside of social norms and pairs herself with a younger man out of wedlock: an act that seems quite taboo. Through this, the film isn’t necessarily fitting itself into social customs, but rather being part of the 60’s movement away from the standard archetype of the “Stepford wife” and a new one that revolutionizes women.

Another archetype which this film represents is the situation in life many face in early adulthood. Benjamin Braddock is faced with the ongoing pressure and expectations of him graduating out of college and is confused on what he should do next, like most youth. Viewers often find him in his pool between scenes idling or staring into an aquarium identifying himself with a fish. The older and younger generation face this barrier of misunderstanding as Ben is constantly smothered with what is expected of him as he goes through initiation as an adult. He finds himself lost and unmotivated to go about the next stages in his career and would rather pause and soak in freedom.

The film even incorporates an essence of Americanism through Ben as well. Ben’s graduation from college can represent the termination of events such as the Civil War or (more recently) the Great Depression. Ben is a sensitive individual struggling to adapt and rebalance himself which is reflective of America’s readjustment after these events. When he goes about his own path, he seeks individual liberation outside of social customs. This freedom which he seeks by doing what he wants is characteristic of the American youth.

The first crossing in Sunrise and the the fistfight between Dunson and Matt in Red River are similar in the essence that they both involve the a struggle between two people who love each other dearly. The man in Sunrise and Matt in Red River both aggressively confront their problems by either attempting to kill the other or by revolting against their opponent’s original plans and doing the opposite. They differ in plot, however, because in Sunrise the man fails to carry out his plan while Matt actually executes it and gets others to eagerly join him. Yet, in the end, these crises provide the same results as both pairs eventually reconcile and forgive each other.

Most importantly, both share the theme of a pair who have worked hard towards a goal and lifestyle, only to have it turned around because one person loses faith. The couple in Sunrise lose their love for each other, and with that, the man decides to throw all that they have established together (a living, a farm, and a child) to pursue another lady from the city. On the other hand, Matt from Red River opposes his long-time companion by pivoting his team to Abilene, Kansas instead of the place Dunson had long planned to head all because of rumors that the railroad had reached there. Both characters were willing to give up everything to go towards unknown territory and set up a new entire future hastily all because of something that seemed a little more tempting in the moment. This provides an element of doubt in the plot, as the audience doesn’t know whether the pair will move on positively from this.

Lion is a movie about a boy, Saroo, who is separated from his family at a young age and gets adopted, but desires to go back to where he came from and see how his original family is doing. The parts that provoked Lumbini’s sadness were all the elements which the movie touched base on, not necessarily the heart-breaking plot. Saroo’s family is incredibly poor and there was a scene where Saroo and his older brother were stealing coal from a moving train only to get two handful-sized servings of milk. When Saroo accidentally falls asleep on a train while his brother leaves him to work a night shift he tries to seek help from adults along all the stops but no one helps him. This is because everybody is too poor themselves, since the setting is throughout India which is a third world country, so everybody is trying to survive and are apathetic to this poor 5-year old boy who is lost. When he gets off the train alone, a crowd of adults stampede nearly trampling him, giving no care to the fact that he is a small, fragile child. This is how it is in other countries: people don’t have room in their heart for a child that isn’t theirs because they have their own very severe problems. When he tries to talk to the adults working at the ticket station for the train he struggles to get any help as people in every line for every window push him out of the way and even hit him because they do not take him seriously. He resorts to a group of homeless children and the audience realizes that he is not the only one. In fact there are plenty of homeless kids no one is willing to help. When these kids go to sleep, they get kidnapped by men and the police only watch and don’t do anything about it. Throughout the movie there are also suggestions of rape. Even when the children manage to get put into an orphanage, a relieving point in the movie, their caretakers “spend the night” with them. All these elements in this movie together make Lumbini realize that the things people in other countries go through are beyond what one had ever assumed and this movie does an amazing job at painting this. This has inspired Lumbini to potentially set up an orphanage in a third world country when she has the money.