Compare and contrast the significance of the final scene in two of the following films (High Noon, On the Waterfront, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Invasion). What does this scene mean? If these films were fables, how would you summarize their moral prescriptions? How do these endings reflect the era in which they were created?
Discuss On the Waterfront and High Noon in the context of claims offered in Ellen Schrecker‘s article, “McCarthyism: Political Repression and the Fear of Communism.” In your conclusion, include a commentary on whether you agree or disagree with Schrecker’s analysis and why, or provide a critique of either film’s message.
Discuss On the Waterfront in the context of the claims offered in Kenneth Hey’s essay, “Ambivalence as a Theme in ‘On the Waterfront.'” Use specific examples from the film and the essay to inform your analysis. In your conclusion, include a commentary on whether you agree or disagree with Hey’s analysis and why.
Discuss the key claims Susan Sontag makes in her essay, The Imagination of Disaster, and relate them to your analysis of a contemporary disaster film or horror film. How are the cultural fears conveyed in the contemporary film you have selected similar and/or different to the cultural anxieties relayed in classic postwar science fiction films? What do these similarities and differences reveal about the historical contexts in which the films were created?
Discuss the significance of sleep and sleep deprivation in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Invasion(2007). What does Loock say these themes and the emphasis on medication symbolize relative to the cultural contexts in which the films were created?
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