tdge

5 full pages minimum + a work cited pages,

12 pt. font, double-spaced, following MLA formatting style.

Worth 40%

 

For your final paper, choose 2 of the following short films by the Wapikoni Mobile project:

• • Marie-Eve Aster (Innu): The Encounter https://www.nfb.ca/film/netshishkatutau_the_encounter/
  • Real Jr. Leblanc (Innu): Uprooted Generation.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgbjOiUg1g4&t=3s
  • Craig Commanda (Anishinaabe): The Weight.
    
  • Kevin Papatie (Anishnaabe), The Amendment. 
  • Gloria Morgan (Secwpemc) Auntie’s hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhbQowf8VBM

Write a persuasive essay in which you compare and contrast the two films you have chosen. As you build your thesis statement, reflect on some of the following questions (you do not have to answer all questions, this is to get you going). 

• • How are these films challenging/resisting/ harnessing the concept of the Imaginary Indian or what Neil Diamond refers to as the Reel Injun in his film? How are images, sound, and/or words employed by these filmmakers to challenge stereotypes? To confront audiences?
  • What kind of aesthetic diplomacy (to borrow from Michelle Rahejas concept) are these films performing? In other words, to what end are these filmmakers using the art of filmmaking? Are they acting as a bridging device? Are they performing a form of ethnographic refusal (see Audra Simpson)?
  • How are these films exploring the concept of survivance?
  • How are these films carving spaces of visual sovereignty?

As you write, use specific examples (images, scenes, sounds, words) from the films. It will help your essay and make it more convincing. Also, be sure to think about the conditions of production as well as the film itself. Research the Wapikoni Mobile, their mission, their ways of doing films.

Furthermore, draw from at least two of the assigned readings to support your analysis, using proper in-text citations. You can also cite other films we have examined in class but you MUST engage with a minimum of two readings as well. Failure to do so will impact your grade. Examples of proper citations:

Citing a reading:

As Michelle Raheja argues in her book Reservation Reelism, redfacing signals the ways in which the work of Indigenous performers, like that of a trickster, is always in motion and therefore creates acts that operate ambiguously, acts that open themselves up for further reading and interpretation (Raheja 21). 

If citing a scene from one of the chosen films to support your argument, adopt the following format:

In this scene, we see a the young girl and her aunt make tea together (Auntie’s hands). OR In Auntie’s hands, we see a the young girl and her aunt make tea together… So either cite in parenthesis if you don’t name the film in your sentence, OR name the film in your sentence and omit the parenthetical citation.

Also, check out this handy website: 

Finally, your essay should have an introduction with a clear thesis statement that you then support through well-crafted paragraphs before ending with a short conclusion. Your paper must be a minimum of 5 full pages. Your work cited page does not count toward this minimum.

 

A note on plagiarism: READ CAREFULLY.

Every year, students plagiarize, some consciously and some because they are not aware of proper citation practices. If you are unclear about what counts as plagiarism, consult this webpage:

https://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu/faq/index.html