The Seeing & Knowing Review (25%)
Your goaI is to write a thoughtfu I, compIex review of a fiIm, deveIoping an idea about the reIationship between seeing (observing, intuiting, feeIing, etc.) and knowing (Iearning, cuIturaI conditioning, habituation, programming, etc.).*
Your review may consider questions such as: How does our knowIedge about or expectations of someone/something, or the way we’ve been conditioned to respond affect what we actuaIIy see一 the very person/phenomenon in front of us? WhatIs the impact of the tension between these processes? How is our sight affected by the various roIes we pIay (scientist, poIitician, Iaw enforcement, etc.)? Is it possibIe to change the way we see?
You’II put the fiIm into conversation with at Ieast two anciIIary sources 一 used for their creators’ ideas 一 that wiII act as Ienses to he Ip you to re-see your fiIm and its ideas in different ways. At Ieast one of these sources must be an essay assigned in cIass or from the Tandon Reader. YouIII a Iso need background sources (as many as it takes) for facts, historicaI context, etc.
Length (finaI draft): 6-8 pages
• Separate Works Cited page.
• MLA styIe for Works Cited page and parentheticaI cites. There must be page cites for every written text you quote from/paraphrase; if the text itseIf doesnIt have page numbers, save it as a pdf and use those page numbers. There must be timestamps for all films except the primary documentary.
* Don’t get hung up on the phrase “seeing and knowing”; these words are reaIIy just pIacehoIders for the more deveIoped ideas youIII get at in your exercises, and your review may never use
these terms at a II.
What the professor desires
you’ll consider a tension between what we see and how we understand it, and develop an idea about the relationship between these states of perception and discernment. In the simplest terms, this progression is about how we see, what we don’t see, what we try really hard not to see, and Why?
Skills Practiced:
● Identifying ways in which perception is directed, enhanced, obstructed
● Using evidence to craft and complicate an idea ofyour own
● Cultivating an awareness of audience
● Developing literacy in a variety of modes