Prompt for Essay 2
HMS 201A Professor Kramer Spring 2023
For Essay 2, you will be writing about Laura Mulvey’s essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” and two other texts that we’ve read (or watched) together during this second part of the course. For this essay, you will be exploring the ways in which desire and power dynamics are portrayed in the narratives you’ve chosen to write about. Your theoretical framework should be informed by Mulvey’s essay, and you are welcome to (but not required) to include additional theoretical texts to support your readings.
In her essay, Laura Mulvey argues that “the unconscious of patriarchal society has structured film form” (833). Mulvey further claims that:
[t]he magic of the Hollywood style at its best (and of all the cinema which fell within its sphere of influence) arose, not exclusively, but in one important aspect, from its skilled and satisfying manipulation of visual pleasure. Unchallenged, mainstream film coded the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order (834-5).
Writing about literary texts (and possibly also the film, Life Lessons), you will explore whether you see the language of the dominant patriarchal order in your two narratives. Does the phallocentric gaze permeate the narrative, or do the narratives provide readers/viewers with tools with which to critique and question the dominant patriarchal order? Is there a power imbalance in the narrative, and if so, how is this conveyed? Mulvey argues that cinema provides the ultimate conditions for coding “the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order” in part, because of “its skilled and satisfying manipulation of visual pleasure” (834-5). In your essay, consider whether you agree with Mulvey, and if so, whether literature provides more possibilities for critiquing the objectification of women. Or, if you disagree with Mulvey, explore how the narratives you are writing about might show different power dynamics at play. Is the gaze as present in the literary texts (and possibly the film) you are writing about as it is in Hollywood film? Do you think that literature might be equally capable of presenting a perspective that is complicit with objectification of women, or do the texts you are writing about challenge the objectifying gaze?
Methodology:
—Reread Mulvey’s essay, and choose passages and claims that you agree with, and which you can demonstrate with support from your narratives. You can also choose passages that you disagree with, and argue against some of the points Mulvey raises. You are welcome to show how the two narratives you’ve chosen function differently from one another. The important thing is to support your claims with textual evidence.
—Make sure you write a thesis statement so that it is as specific and original as possible. (Even though the essay prompt is already quite specific.)
—This essay requires you to do some close-reading, and to spend time interpreting the narratives you’ve chosen to write about. Make sure you integrate your quotations, and that you write MORE than you quote. Thus, if you quote for two lines, make sure you comment on the passage for approximately 4 lines or so.
Texts:
You’ll be writing about Laura Mulvey’s article, and TWO of the following narratives: * “The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allan Poe
* Life Lessons by Martin Scorcese
* “A Letter About Emilia” by Adolfo Bioy Casares
* “The House Made of Sugar” by Silvina Ocampo Format:
Your essay should be well developed with an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion. In addition, you should have a separate Works Cited page. All pages, except for the Works Cited page, should be numbered.
What you must do in this essay:
1) Have a clear and original thesis statement.
2) Present a close-reading of at least two scenes or passages from each text.
3) Make sure that each paragraph is argumentative.
4) Number all your pages except for your Works Cited page
5) Write in the MLA Style: size 12 font, Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
6) Indent your paragraphs.
7) Write a title that is both catchy and informative (Have some fun with it!)
What you should AVOID:
1) Do not add extra space between paragraphs.
2) Do not quote for over two lines at a time unless it is absolutely necessary to your argument.
3) Do not hand in your essay without proofreading it. There shouldn’t be more than 2 or 3 typos
in the entire essay.
4) Avoid writing in the passive voice.
5) Avoid writing in the first person.