The Film Analysis consists of selecting a film and writing a 900-1200 word (roughly 2-4 pages) criticalanalysis/assessment of the degree to which the film accurately reflects U.S. history as we havestudied it in our class. You should devote the first part of your essay (approximately one-fourth) tosummarizing the plot of the movie. But the bulk of your essay (approximately three-fourths) shouldoffer a “history versus Hollywood” critique of the film. It should not discuss items such as how well itwas directed, the quality of the acting, the musical score, or what movie critics thought of the film. Thefocus should be on the historical accuracy of the film.A list of movies to choose from is available on Brightspace under the Extra Credit link. See “ExtraCredit Film List.” If you wish to do your assignment based on a movie that is not on the list, you must5first ask for permission from the instructor. Essays written on history documentaries will receive agrade of zero. Assignments containing plagiarism will receive a grade of zero, so be sure to includeboth parenthetical references and a “Works Cited” page to avoid accidentally plagiarizing. Becauseour course ends in 1877, you cannot do your extra credit assignment on a film based in a time periodafter that year. Films must also be based on events in U.S. History, not other countries or regions ofthe world.You may use outside sources, but if you do, be careful to rely on the work of scholars and subjectarea experts rather than on movie reviews or critiques, which as you know are all over the internet.(For example, if you watch The Revenant (2015), a useful source would be the Museum of theMountain Man’s website about the true story of Hugh Glass: Hugh Glass: Fact versus Fiction.)Another potentially useful source is the History versus Hollywood website. Students may not usewebsites such as Internet Movie Database or Rotten Tomatoes. (And again, be sure to include yoursources in your essay!)
