Critical Responses

Critical Responses should:

Be typed (double spaced)

Unless otherwise noted, be a minimum of 700 words (please provide your word count at the end of your paper)

Have an introduction wherein you state the idea, speculation, or question with which your working; a body where you explore that idea, speculation, or question; a conclusion that gives your reader something to think about. Generally, you will examine the ideological disposition of the texts we read. Alternatively, I will ask for a comparision of text and adaptation wherein you examine the ideological shifts.

Include quotations from the text (and the film if your paper includes discussion of the film and you have access to the script) that advance/support your idea, speculation, or question. If your response does not have quotations from the text, do not expect an A on it.

Follow MLA style which means you should include the page numbers of your quoations and a works cited entry. If your response does not include page numbers and the works cited entry, I will return it to you without grading. You must turn in the corrected paper the next class period. The grade will be lowered a letter grade, for I will consider it a late paper.

Go beyond the obvious

Avoid generalizations

Critical Response #1, Due Tuesday, July 11 (700 words):

Critical response over "Snow White" (Grimm version): Compare and contrast the roles of the mother and Snow White in Grimm's "Snow White." What are their goals? What kind of people do they seem to be? Make certain that you support your observations with quotations from the text. Be careful not to confuse the film with the Grimms' telling.

Critical Response #2, Due Thursday, July 13 (700 words):

Critical Response over The Witches: Explain how The Witches is and is not a sexist novel.

Critical Response #3, Due Thursday, July 20 (700 words):

Claudia Card, in an analysis of Disney's and Collodi's Pinocchio, claims that "the moral substance of the stories had been [removed] with the violence" in the Disney version (63). She believes that the "Violence in the Italian fantasy of the 1880s is not [excessive or unnecessary] but serves as a vehicle of the knowledge and sensitivity required for the transition from puppet to person" (63). Disney, on the other hand, offers a "moral distortion of what it means to grow up. Growing up, in the Disney version, is not only becoming tamed but also learning to please others and learning to follow orders" (63)

We'll be looking at these very issues, at how Collodi provides moral instruction and how Disney very possibly doesn't. Thus, your assignment is to explain how the violence "serves as a vehicle of the knowledge and sensitivity required for the transition from puppet to person" in Collodi's Pinocchio (63). What does Pinocchio learn from his violent experiences? See any contradictions?

Works Cited

Claudia Card. "Pinocchio." From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Ed. Elizabeth Bell, Lyhda Haas, and Laura Sells. Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1995. 62-71.

Critical Response #4, Due Wednesday, July 26 (700 words):

Examine the shifts in the Willy Wonka character in ONE of the following:

1. The book to the 1971 Gene Wilder film

2. The book to the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp film

3. The 1971 Gene Wilder film to the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version

Take both text and visual imagery into account as you examine the ways in which the character shifts and how Willy Wonky can disturb some of our expectations of what a children's book character/film character should be.

Critical Response #5, Due Tuesday, August 1(700 words)

Discuss how "home" is depicted in Baum's text. As the novel begins, what does it look like? What is life like there? What are Aunt Em and Uncle Henry like? Explain why Dorothy should (or should not) want so desperately to return home.