You hear the phrase, 'food film' or 'food movie' used to describe many popular movies in which food appears prominently. But just what is a food film? How do we define food films, or, how can we tell which ones are good food films, or bad food films?
For this assignment, you will select a film from a List page and write a definitional or evaluative argument corresponding to one of the following two formulas: x film is a good/bad food film because of A, B, and C criteria; or, x film is (or is not) a food film because of A, B, and C criteria.
Your rough drafts and final versions of this project should be in the form of a website with 1200-1500 words. The website will have at least six pages. You should have an introductory page where you introduce your film, present your thesis, and give an overview of your argument; three pages in which you develop criteria for your definitional or evaluative argument; a Works Cited page; and, an Image Gallery page. You will need to have at least four images: you can use images from the film or images that correspond in some way to the criteria that you are developing.
Choose a film that you feel makes for a compelling definitional or evaluative argument. You will notice I've divided the films into 'Canonical' and 'Borderline' classes. Canonical food films would seem to invite an evaluative argument, as their status as food films is fairly well-established. Borderline food films, on the other hand, seem to invite a definitional argument.
For example, if you were to make the claim that 'Tampopo' is (or is not) a good food film, the main argumentative challenge posed to your essay would be to create strong and valid criteria that back up your claim by stating the qualities of a 'good' food film. 'Pulp Fiction,' on the other hand, is less evidently a film about food; so, if you claim that 'Pulp Fiction' is a food film, your challenge would be to define 'food film' with criteria that 'Pulp Fiction' meets.
Your topic proposal should contain the following items: a thesis statement that identifies the film you've decided to use; a claim about the film (whether it is a food film, a good food film, etc.); and, well-presented criteria that back up your claim.
Your rough draft should already have the Web site structure that you are going to use in your final draft of this project; in other words, it should be six pages long and have each of your criteria well-presented on each page.
Your main page ('index.html') should have the following elements: a brief introduction to the film, a well-developed thesis statement that contains your basic claim about the film you are analyzing as well as your three criteria for either evaluating or defining the film, and an introductory splash picture of the film (this picture simply needs to be referenced on your Image Gallery page, but does not need to be defended or discussed in the same way as your other images).
Your three criteria pages should have the following elements: a clear description of the criterion that appears on that page, at least one citation from a text source, an image that relates to that criterion, and an analysis of a scene or two from the film that backs up the criterion you are exploring through the textual sources you use on that page. These pages are the most critical pages of the assignment: in your analysis, you will need to creatively and persuasively connect the scene from the film with your sources through a convincing and well thought-out analysis. There are no right or wrong types of argument; I will be evaluating your ability to make a persuasive connection between the scenes from the film and the sources you have chosen. Of course, this doesn't mean that just any argument will work, but you will have a great deal of leeway for making your case. From the rough draft to the final draft, I will be helping you to make the arguments that you are developing, rather than telling you what you should or should not do.
For the Works Cited page, you will need to have at least three sources that will be used to expand upon and back up the criteria that you will be developing.
Whenever you cite a source in your website, it should be in the form of a hyperlink to the source in your bibliography. Here is an example:
According to Lester Faigley, "any given debate will have its own specific set of opponents" (Faigley 278).
Your Works Cited page, or bibliography, should have at least three sources, in MLA format (see Good Reasons, pages 304-309).
Here is one online version of MLA citations and here is the DRC website documentation page.
For the Image Gallery, you will need thumbnail versions of the four or more images you placed on your introductory and criteria pages. Your image gallery page will be, in essence, a virtual annotated bibliography for all of the images that you use in your website.
Like the Works Cited page, you should have your images hyperlinked to the Image Gallery Page, providing the address of the page from which you took the image or its source. Unlike the Works Cited page, however, you'll need to provide a brief rationale explaining why you've decided to use the image in your page. You may use images from the film or images that contain within them a reference to the basic idea of your criteria. Here's an example:
Peer Review CHECKLIST for websites: evaluate the website of your peer review partner and send an email to them with your responses.
On the site as a whole:
1. Make sure that there is only ONE folder with all of your pages in it (no multiple folders within the main folder)
2. Make sure that the structure of the site is readable (images are clearly marked, pages are named clearly and easily identifiable)On the index page:
1. There should be a title for each page
2. Text and image should be clean, neatly presented and readable
3. There should be no broken links for the images or citations
4. Is the thesis well-presented and well-written?
5. Is there a basic summary of the film? Do you have a sense of what the film is about?On each criteria page:
1. There should be a title for each page
2. Text and image should be clean, neatly presented and readable
3. There should be no broken links for the images or citations
4. Read through the criteria: do they make sense? What suggestions do you have?On bibliography:
1. Make sure that it appears in MLA format (see this example)On image gallery:
1. Make sure that the links work
2. Make sure that the description fits the picture