3T&T (Three Threads and a Thesis)

For this assignment, you will be asked to come up with three interesting “threads” and then create an analytical thesis out of these threads. These must reflect an understanding of the film text and a narrowly focused “point of entry” for analysis. You should choose very specific and material points in the text. Films offer thousands of possibilities for subject matter, and your threads must each tackle only one at a time. You will probably want to focus on a particular issue, theme, or symbol from the film you select. A good way to approach this assignment is to try and find a common thread within a film text, either in plot, dialogue, or in visual or auditory devices (sound effects or music). Do not summarize the film. I am not assessing your comprehension of the films, but rather your analysis of them.

The Three Threads

The three threads you select can be virtually anything of importance (or that you think you can make important) that catches your attention in the piece. In particular, look for patterns, such as

• a metaphor that recurs (images of birds flying at moments when freedom is questioned)
• something unexpected within the context of the film (characters who don’t seem to fit into easily recognizable archetypes)
• an apparent conflict or contradiction in the terms that the text seems to be setting up (is the film text sympathetic to its villain?).

For visual threads, consider color, framing, backgrounds, camera angles, characters isolated on screen or in groups, lighting, costume, appearance, props, and distance from the camera.

For audio threads, consider background music, sound effects, and also the voices of the characters themselves (ranging from accents to volume to tone).

Avoid what would be normative or expected in the genre:

• simply identifying the presence of violent images or sounds in an action film
• the way light and shadow are used to show good and evil, respectively, in a black and white film (especially film noir).

A thread should notice something about the film text, not just explain the plot or mention some event or fact. Phrase it so that we can tell why it struck you as interesting, unexpected, odd, or worthy of notice. The best way to prepare for this assignment is to keep a piece of paper next to you as you watch to jot down ideas, tensions, repetitions, quirky thoughts, etc. Or you may want to write down things you noticed as soon as the film is over. Either way, you’re encouraged to keep thorough notes on the film as a way to help you recall more minor elements. When you’re trying to remember visuals, audio content, plot, and dialogue, it’s easy to forget details.

Contrary to the belief that this takes time, it will save you time in the long run when you are writing responses or papers. You should get in the habit of watching everything with an eye to the “threads” you can find. Be interesting. Challenge yourself. Surprise yourself with your own intellectual capacity and wit. Have fun.

The Analytic Thesis

After you have developed a stimulating list of threads, writing the thesis is the next and most important step. The thesis should be a thoughtful argument/critique of the film that shows the depth of your thinking process. You want to develop analytic, argumentative claims about the material, rather than merely offering descriptive statements. In other words, instead of reporting on the film (“There is a pattern in the film, and that pattern is X.”), writing opinion pieces (“This film text argues X, and I [dis]agree”), or noting similarities or differences between older cultures and our own (“Hollywood in the ’40s did X and today we do Y.”), I will expect you to analyze the material and argue about the significance of the pattern(s) you have discovered.

An analytic thesis statement will offer the following information and might take this form: “Pattern X reveals Y about Z,” or, “Although it seems that X, in fact Y, which proves Z about the film.”

A good thesis statement must be (1) interesting, (2) concrete and specific, and (3) narrowly focused. It must also demonstrate that you’ve watched the film. If you have watched the film, and the thesis doesn’t make this clear, it’s likely not a specific enough thesis.

In order to effectively convey your point in a single sentence your language must be very specific – not just “ideology” but what kind of ideology? Not just “negative” but negative in what way? Not just “contradicts itself” but what contradicts what, exactly?

Ask yourself:

Why? So what?

Why does one of the threads you’ve identified (a pattern/character/ theme/system) operate the way it does, and what does that operation reveal?

What structure does this behavior create?

Who benefits from these patterns?

What is revealed by what is left unsaid here?

What do the surprises, tensions, frictions, or contradictions suggest when analyzed?

Is a repetition or a pattern serving as a screen for something else?

What does the insistence on a certain pattern suggest?

What does this thread show about the film? about its culture? about its view of its culture? about its imagined audience? about the expectations of that audience?

Remember that a director chooses to make characters, situations, events happen in a certain way, and can choose to make anything happen. S/he can use any device to communicate this series of ideas. Why these particular events? Why these words? Why in this frame? What possible function could this serve? What might it accomplish for the film?

Sample threads and how to push them to analysis:

• “Violence appears often in this film about relationships” does not tell us what the significance of that pattern is. Make a claim about how violence operates, especially in context to the relationships on screen. Explain why it is significant.
•  ”I disagree with X” is not an argumentative claim about the text. Why is X wrong and how? What does this “error” reveal about the period? the director? the culture? etc.
• “X says A, I think we need to instead consider B.” Why? What does the fact that X only considers A mean?
• A statement like “A shift in cultural values causes tension” is relatively obvious. What specifically shifts here? Why is that particular kind of shift revealing and important?

 

 

Evaluation:

Your 3T&T will be evaluated on the following 10-point scale:

0-4: No clear evidence that the writer watched or comprehended the piece; fails to fulfill assignment; makes erroneous claims about the piece or period.

5-7: Demonstrates that the writer watched and understood the piece, but threads remain superficial and thesis is descriptive, rather than analytic; narrates or provides narrative “plot” and no more; suggests analysis, but makes erroneous claims about the piece or period.

8-9: Suggests good understanding of the piece; discovers interesting threads; analyzes a theme or themes present; indicates an understanding of the period, director, issue, etc.; offers an appropriate theoretical framework for the claims.

10: Provides a sophisticated analysis of the piece; demonstrates exceptional insight into the material and/or the period, director, issue, etc.; shows conscious and appropriate choice of theoretical framework best suited to piece and claim.

Sample 3T&T for Sunset Boulevard:

It is possible, though certainly not necessary, to use more than one thread in making your thesis. You should star the threads that feed into your thesis.

 

1. * Many of the physical barriers in the film are permeable. The doors in Norma Desmond’s house have no locks or knobs, creating holes between rooms; the supports for the banister on her staircase are incredibly thin, allowing full view of the person walking down them; the front door of her home is just a gate. Likewise, her car is usually seen with the top down. So many different physical barriers are designed to put people on display, which also makes them vulnerable.

2. * Attention and recognition are coded with light throughout the film. Joe’s initial apartment is brightly lit and he is found there by his creditors. When he hides at Norma’s, the spaces he enters are dark, a sign of Norma’s reclusiveness, but as she starts to engage more with the world, her home brightens. When Norma visits the Paramount lot, in bright sunlight, she’s recognized by one of the guards and her fame and importance are reasserted; she enters the dark studio, where her age is mocked, until a spotlight is placed on her. The removal of the light also removes her admirers. Joe and Betty meet on the darkened Paramount lot to work: their quest for fame through writing is brightly lit in Betty’s office, but their romantic walks take place in darkened alleys and sets.

3. Romantic entanglements are depicted as impermanent, but the film suggests women are the ones responsible. Betty falls out of love with Artie for Joe, who rejects her—but the film strongly implies that this is merely to protect Norma from her suicide threats. Norma had three husbands, at least one of whom she left (Max), though her inability to cope with rejection makes it plausible that she left all of them. There is no lasting love in the film, except for Max’s devotion to Norma (a crippling, enabling devotion).

Thesis: Through its use of lighting and set design, Sunset Boulevard frames its characters in direct relation to their attention-seeking behavior. As they retreat from attention, they find themselves in dark spaces, blocked in by solid barriers, but lighter, open spaces draw attention to them. Over time, as characters feel more confined by their lives, they find themselves more exposed, rather than less, suggesting that no one can truly hide from attention forever, and that the more exposed one is, the more vulnerable to disappointment, heartbreak, or even death.

The thesis above responds to the first two threads (which is why they’re starred). It pulls together elements from both to make a strong thesis. However, all of your threads should be able to develop into a thesis. You should only write one (1) thesis. As an example, however, see how the third thread could turn into an entirely different thesis on its own: The impermanent and hollow romantic relationships in Sunset Boulevard suggest that romantic love is not a real thing that endures through time, but is instead only the stuff of Hollywood scripts, a bit of artifice and make believe that fades as people’s attention is drawn elsewhere.

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1. One of the major recurring themes that I have found throughout the movie “God Bless America” (2011), is the yellow mustang. Which is introduced from the beginning of the movie as Frank’s neighbor’s car and until Frank steals it and uses it as his means of transportation for the rest of the movie. The car represents the stereotype of American culture.
2. The American flag and its colors are constantly used through the film. Whether it be an American flag or support the troops ribbon, the theme colors for the TV. shows Frank watches, or the flag in the restaurant that Frank and Roxy dance at.
3. Besides when being used to envoke patriotism the color red is used many times for the signal of violence that the movie is trying to show. Red for all the blood, also the whole screen goes red when the news in the movie depicts Obama as a Nazis.

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