COMPARATIVE ESSAY

Comparative Analytical Essay

Write an essay comparing and contrasting some specific aspect of two or three of the readings and/or films that we have studied related to dictatorship in Argentina and Chile. The following are only suggestions of some possible topics; if there is another topic you would like to pursue, please check with me. By noon on Wednesday, March 8, please submit for peer critique your working title,  introduction, including an underlined thesis statement, and  list of Works Consulted.  By 7 pm on Monday, March 13, please upload your completed essay, 4 to 6 pages long, to Canvas for grading.

1.    Analyze the representation of coming of age in a time of political crisis in the novel and film versions of Kamchatka, or in one or both of them and the film Clandestine Childhood.
2.    Examine the symbolism of enclosure and escape in two of the texts and/or films that we have studied.
3.    Compare and contrast the representation of the moral implications of a citizen’s actions under dictatorship, in two of the texts and/or films that we have studied.
4.    Compare Marcelo Figueras’ novel Kamchatka (2010) with Marcelo Piñeyro’s 2002 film of the same title (for which Piñeyro and Figueras co-wrote the screenplay). What aspects of the characters and the story did Figueras have an opportunity to elaborate on, in writing the novel after the screenplay? What elements do the cinematography and sound track add to the film version and how are these compensated for in the novel?
5.    Compare Eduardo Sacheri’s novel The Secret in their Eyes (2005/translation 2011) to the 2009 film adaptation with the same title, directed by Juan José Campanella (for which Sacheri and Campanella co-wrote the screenplay). What important differences are there in the plot and how does this affect: a) the respective development of characters and their relationships; b) the respective ‘lessons’ offered by the two texts; and c) the comparative emphasis on romance and political thriller in each case?
6.    Examine the two film versions of The Secret in their Eyes as studies in what constitutes ethical behavior in a dysfunctional or charged political context.

Give your essay a catchy title, a pointed and succinct thesis statement, a strong introduction and conclusion, and a coherent and substantial development of ideas, citing the appropriate sources. Avoid description and plot summary; remember that I, your audience, have seen the films and read the texts in question. Write four to five typed, double spaced pages, plus a list of Works Consulted. (Please call it Works Consulted rather than Bibliography.) Place the items in your Works Consulted in alphabetical order and don’t number them. Please incorporate into your analysis references to at least two scholarly book or journal articles, not including short film reviews, in addition to the course readings.
Follow the MLA guidelines and use their parenthetical citation method. Please let me know if you have any questions; your work will be marked down for not following these guidelines:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_style_introduction.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
 Happy writing!