Dr Tim Barnard

A/P  Ian Gordon

History

NUS

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GEM 2005/ HY2243

FILM AND HISTORY

 Feedback on Essay 2005-06
 

Poor grade, 45 and below:

Some students who received this grade could have done better by following the instructions for the essay. It states clearly on the essay page that footnoting is required. It is not rocket science, it just takes some time and energy. Other students turned in essays with word counts far below the word min/max of 2000. These essays were also usually not well-written or thought-out.

Fair grade, 50 – 65:

The majority of students fall into this category. There are a couple of reasons for the essay being “fair”: 

-   You gave us the “real” story.
If you have not already noticed, throughout the semester the objective of the class has not been to compare “fictive cinema” with “real-life history/events”. The project on the similarities between narrative and documentary/factual forms of giving information should have given you, at very least, a hint. Thus, when the essay asked you to “examine what the film tells you about the study of history”, we are not asking you to tell us the “real” story behind consumer culture, criminal organisations, or 19^th century New York. Many students who took this route wrote essays lacking in critical perspectives. “The study of history” does not necessarily mean “what really happened”; it is the way the author/film-maker represents what s/he thinks happened and why.

-  You stuck to the obvious.
Students who chose to write about Memento, Rashomon, or Eternal Sunshine were less likely to fall into the trap mentioned above. However, since these films obviously discuss elements in the study of history (memory, different narratives, evidence), many students took insights straight from the movie and did not necessarily develop those ideas further. There was also the tendency for students to talk about the nuances in the film without linking it to “the study of history”.

-   You had some good insights on the study of history, but the essay was not well-written or argued. Some students tried talking about how the viewpoints in the film shed light on the way history is studied, but there were times when the argument was not carried through properly (there were contradictory parts in the essay). Some students did not know what to write after 1200 words and for the next 800 words talked about something not quite related to their argument. Students also mostly stuck to the subject of the project question for the movie they chose. This is not necessary; the essay question in some cases is different and much broader than the project question for the movie.

Good grade, 70-90:

There were good essays for almost all the movies. No matter which movie you picked, a good analysis is possible. It all depends on what you make of the movie. What we are looking for in general are critical perspectives, meaning that you think things through and ask more questions. Students who received this grade gave us a variety of good arguments and insights: how the film-maker of Merchants already had his mind made up and historians may be similar in the way we represent our studies; that facts and conclusions are tailored individually (Memento/Rashomon), producing a variety of histories; how Orientalist/Eurocentric frameworks pervade depictions of Asia/ns on cinema, giving a particular perspective, and written histories also do the same; how the Godfather brings up issues of representation of minority Italians and who can “speak” for them in film and history, and so on. The arguments were clear, cogent, and in some cases original. You did not just stick to the issues brought up in lecture for that particular film, but took a broader view of the things learned in class.