4-6 pages
2 sources, one the movie, and one more
First option. Analyze and review F For Fake. As well as you are able, summarize the plot, discuss what you think the theme might be, and describe your overall experience of watching this movie. What types of symbols recur in this movie? What are the problems you experience as a viewer? Why might an author or director intentionally do that to an audience? Since all writers literally make things up for a living, are there any writers that are necessarily more trustworthy than Orson Welles in this role? What makes you think any writer in particular might be trustworthy?
Some things to think about. What sort of room is he narrating from in the beginning? Is the fact that he opens the movie by performing a magic trick related to the structure of the movie? In the party scenes, are you sure that all of the people are in fact in the same room?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIVgUjj6RxU
Second option:
Analyze and review Maybe Logic. What is this documentary about? If there are things discussed that you are not familiar with (quantum jumping or Chapel Perilous, for example), look them up. What is your experience as a viewer? Consider all of the aspects of being a writer/director that arise for F For Fake and apply them to Maybe Logic. Do you consider Robert Anton Wilson to be trustworthy as the writer/narrator of Maybe Logic?
Some questions to help guide you in this. These are taken from an article about making a rhetorical analysis, so substitute film for writing, director/narrator for writer, dialogue or speech for text, etc.
1.What is the thesis, what is the overall argument the author presents?
2.What did the author choose to study? Why?
3.What is the writers purpose? To inform? To persuade? To criticize?
4.Who is the authors intended audience?
5.How does the writer arrange his or her ideas?Chronologically?
6.How does the writer use diction? (Word choice, arrangement, accuracy, is it formal, informal? Technical versus slang?)
7.Does the writer use dialogue? Quotations? Why?
8.Are important terms repeated?
9.What is the sentence structure of text? Are there fragments, run ons? Is it declarative, imperative, exclamatory? What effect does this have?
10.Does the writer use punctuation to create an effect? Italics, underlining, parentheses? Which marks does the writer use, and when?
1.First, youll need to come up with your own thesis for your
rhetorical analysis. What point do you want to make about the authors rhetorical choices?Do the authors rhetorical strategies make his/her article a strong argument? A weak one?
2.After identifying your thesis, try to arrange the rhetorical strategies youve identified in a logical way. For example, you could start by identifying the purpose of the intended
audience and why the author chose to write about their topic. Next, you could identify specific stylistic choices, such as word choice, formal/informal language, etc. The idea is to logically transition from analyzing one rhetorical strategy to another. Stay on topic with the strategies that the author uses often and actually has a purpose for using.
3.With each point you make, have a strong topic sentence declaring the overall purpose of the rhetorical strategies you are about to discuss. This will help identify the argument you are making, transition your ideas, and add fluidity.
4.Keep in mind that while authors use different strategies to achieve their purposes, you also need to be making points and evaluations about these strategies, not simply summarizing them. For example, instead of simply stating the author uses formal language in his essay, state what effect is created by using formal language. By doing this you are not only identifying the rhetorical strategy, by analyzing its purpose.
