Film Research Guide: COMM-220 Research Project
Research Assignment Overview
As part of its narrative language, Hollywood has an unfortunate, damaging history of using types and stereotypes for characterization. However, many independent filmmakers have provided alternatives to these types and tropes since film’s earliest days. You will use the film analysis skills you’ve developed and the cultural knowledge you’ve built to analyze a contemporary American independent film that tells a story of people and places seldom represented fully on film.
Assignment Components
- 1250-1750 word essay, with a minimum of two scholarly sources.
- 350-500-word reflection (three – four paragraphs, double-spaced)
Film Options (Fall 2024)
- Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015) Chloe Zhao
- Tangerine (2015) Sean Baker
- Minari (2020) Lee Isaac Chung
- Real Women Have Curves (2002) Patricia Cardoso
See your Canvas assignment page for more details.
Recommended Resources
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowMultidisciplinary database including journals and popular periodicals.
- MasterFILE Premier This link opens in a new windowMultidisciplinary database with mainly general interest periodicals.
- ProQuest Newspapers This link opens in a new window
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times This link opens in a new window
- Film QuarterlyScholarly journal about cinema and media.
Requires Carroll login.
- Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowAuthor biographies and literary criticism.
- The Film Genre Reader IVUse your Carroll log in for electronic access off-campus. Print version is on Reserve at the library Circulation Desk.
- The Oxford history of World CinemaUse your Carroll log in for electronic access off-campus. Print version is on Reserve at the library Circulation Desk.
- Race In American FilmUse the "Search Within Publication" feature on the righthand side of main page. NOTE: Try multiple searches using different variations, such as as "Native American" and "Indian," or "African-American" and "Black."
- Cinema's Original Sin: D. W. Griffith, American Racism, and the Rise of Film Culture.Follows racism in film through today. Ch. 6 discusses 21-century films.
Requires Carroll login.
- Diversity in Entertainmentoverview article from Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection
Print Film Books on Reserve in Library
Ask for these titles at the library's Circulation Desk. They are filed by class - COMM-220.
- Colorization: 100 Years of Black Films in a White World by
- Hollywood at the Intersection of Race and Identity by
- Transgender Cinema byIn ebook format, also.
- Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and growing up Latina byCall Number: Print book on Reserve at Circ Desk
- Hollywood Black: the Stars, the Films, the FilmmakersCall Number: PN 1995.9 N4 B594 2019Print book on Reserve at Circulation Desk
Film Research Tips
Tips for finding articles
- Use the advanced search mode so that you can search multiple terms at once
- Think of related words you could try in different combinations.
- For example: "western films" AND gender
- Search Academic Search Premier, Literature Resource Center, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times for criticism and reviews of your film/director.
- To read the whole article, look for a button that says PDF Full Text or HTML Full Text. Sometimes you'll see a link that says Full Text Finder. You can click this to pull up articles in other databases.
Tips for finding books
- Think generally when you use the catalog.
- For instance, a book about Science Fiction films may not include your specific director or film but would give you background about the genre.
- The library owns many books on specific directors, so be sure to also look for him/her/them, too.
- You don't have to read the whole book to use it as a source! Look at the table of contents or index and jump to the chapter/pages that relate to your topic. To search the contents of ebooks, use the Search within book feature.
- To read e-books off-campus, you'll need to use your Carroll email and login.
Need Help?
Need help from off-campus?
There's multiple ways to find answers to your questions:
Reference Desk: 410-386-8340
Text: 410-983-3542
Chat
Email
Schedule a Meeting
Other Contacts:
- Circulation Desk: 410-386-8330
Songs My Brothers Taught Me
In addition to the following, check the Recommended Sources and Print Film Reserves boxes for more resources. Check out the Film Research Tips box for ideas on how to find articles.
- Visualities: Perspectives on Contemporary American Indian Film and ArtPart One focuses on Native Americans in film
- Native Americans on Network TV: Stereotypes, Myths, and the Good IndianThe main focus here is television, but much content about stereotyping is relevant to film as well; especially theIntroduction.
- Structure and Content of Native American Stereotypic Subgroups: Not Just (Ig)nobleScholarly journal article not specific to film/mass media
- Guardians of the Indian ImageScholarly journal article focusing on Native American stereotyping in TV but applies to film as well.
- 'Frozen in Time': The Impact of Native American Media Representations on Identity and Self-UnderstandingScholarly journal article focuses on the lack of contemporary representation of Native Americans in media
Tangerine
In addition to the following, check the Recommended Sources and Print Film Reserves boxes for more resources. Check out the Film Research Tips box for ideas on how to find articles.
- Gender Violence at the U. S.-Mexico Border: Media Representation and Public ResponseEspecially look at Ch. 1: Violence and Transvestite/Transgender Sex Workers, which talks about Tijuana but has also relates to general topic.
- Transgender CinemaPrint version on Reserve at Library Circulation desk also.
- (Trans)gender Stereotypes and the Self: Content and consequences of Gender Identity StereotypesScholarly journal article about negative stereotypes of trans- vs. cisgender people (not specific to film studies)
- Brandon Goes to Hollywood: Boys Don't Cry and the Transgender Body in FilmScholarly journal article on the cinematic representations of transgender characters; Effect of the motion picture on contemporary U.S. culture; Information on films with transgender representation
- Trans Women Live and in ColorDiscusses violence facing BIPOC transgender sex workers
- Melancholy, respectability, and credibility in Sean Baker’s TangerineIn-depth scholarly article
- Transgender CinemaPrint version on Reserve at Library Circulation desk also.
Real Women Have Curves
- "Real Women Have Curves."Encyclopedia article from Books to Film: Cinematic Adaptations of Literary Works
- Gender Meets Genre in Post-War CinemasCh. 6 - Bodies and Genres in Transition: Girlfight and Real Women Have Curves
- Latinos and Latinas in Hollywoodarticle in Race in American Film: Voices and Visions That Shaped a Nation
- Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and growing up Latina byCall Number: Print book on Reserve at Circ Desk
Minari
- Arkansas Settler: Minari and Movies About Immigrants to the Heartlandscholarly journal article
- Minariin-depth review in Cineaste
- A24 and the Asian American Prestige Filmdiscusses movie studio that produced Minari and other successful films
- Asians in American Filmencyclopedia article in Race in American Film
- Identity, Multiple: Asian-Americansfrom The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
- Making Asian American Film and Video : History, Institutions, Movementsprovides some historical context illuminating the difficulty of getting films made
- Ghostlife of Third CinemaMs. Wallace recommends the Introduction and 1st chapters for discussions of representation.
- The Slanted Screen: Asian Men in Film and Televisiondocumentary film available through Films On Demand streaming service
- Yellowfaceavailable through Kanopy streaming service; account registration required