film study assignment

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Film Lesson Library

Critical Thinking and Viewing: The Grapes of Wrath

This lesson on critical thinking and viewing is from "Portraits of America: Democracy on Film," a comprehensive curriculum using classic movies to explore ideals and challenges of our society.   

Lesson Material:

• Lesson Plan
• Film Reader

"Red River Valley" from The Grapes of Wrath (1940, d. John Ford)

"Ma's Memories" from The Grapes of Wrath (1940, d. John Ford)

"Crossroads" from The Grapes of Wrath (1940, d. John Ford)

HAROLD LLOYD'S THE FRESHMAN

The activities in Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman (1925, directed by Sam Taylor and Fred Newmeyer) help students discover how to decode this silent film comedy, practicing their inference skills as they learn to identify nuances of meaning within the moving images. The lesson also explores the historical and cultural context of the film -- college life in the 1920s.

• Teacher's Guide

Exploring Chinese Cinema (Grades 5–8)

The stories the world tells through film transcend news of current events and help us to understand the many ways people are alike, despite the barriers of language and political and religious ideology. The U.S. shares a rich cinematic history with other countries. This shared heritage is a foundation on which our countries can build a relationship of cultural understanding, one that will directly affect the youth of each nation.

Film is a powerful and visual language. It is also a universal language. The International Film Classroom was developed by The Film Foundation in cooperation with IBM and the United States Department of State. The program engages middle and high school students in the study of exceptional foreign films.

The goals of these teaching units are:

- to increase awareness of and appreciation for foreign and American culture through meaningful film study in the classroom;

- to initiate relationships and to promote ongoing partnerships between arts and educational institutions both in the United States and in foreign countries;

- to introduce students to foreign language film study, providing visual literacy skills to assist in reading and interpreting moving images of other cultures.

Although these films are quite different in content and cinematic style, each reflects China’s changing society. The Film Foundation and its Chinese partners selected these films based on the following criteria: age-appropriate content, excellence in filmmaking, and educational value.

This unit is intended as an introduction only and not as an in-depth study of China or China’s rich film heritage. Each lesson has multiple activities that can be taught over 3–5 days. The lessons are interdisciplinary in approach, both reinforcing and challenging students’ knowledge of literature, history, geography, art and music.

Featured film lesson:

The King of Masks  (1996, directed by Wu Tianming)

Teachers will need a DVD copy of the film to correspond with the written lesson material. The King of Masks may be rented or purchased for use in the classroom.

• Student Activity Booklet
• Director Wu Tianming and China’s Generations of Filmmakers
• Extension Activity

Exploring Chinese Cinema (Grades 7–12)

Beijing Bicycle (2001, directed by Wang Xiaoshuai)

Teachers will need a DVD copy of the film to correspond with the writte n lesson material. Beijing Bicycle may be rented or purchased for use in the classroom.

• Director Wang Xiaoshuai and the Sixth Generation

Exploring Chinese Cinema (Grades 9–12)

Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004, directed by Lu Chuan) 

Teachers will need a DVD copy of the film to correspond with the written lesson material. Kekexili: Mountain Patrol  can be rented or purchased for use in the classroom.

The Film Piracy Problem

A Problem-Solving Activity recommended for students in grades 8–12. What we have in America is a whole generation of consumers who believe that because material is available on the Internet, that it’s free and fair game. . . . I have a 23-year-old son who has this mindset. He and his friends don’t believe it’s wrong to, in effect, steal copyrighted material.     —LeVar Burton, Director

Recent developments in digital technology make file sharing on the Internet convenient and relatively fast, and have contributed significantly to the film piracy problem. This teaching unit introduces students to the technology, as well as to U.S. copyright laws, which protect the creative works of artists.

The Film Piracy Problem includes both a teacher’s guide with lesson plans and glossary, as well as student reading and research activity sheets. To complete the problem-solving process, students must tap their knowledge of multiple subject areas, including math and social studies. The teacher’s guide provides a cross-curricular applications chart.

INTERPRETING A SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM

The Library of Congress began collecting films, including many of those produced by Thomas Edison, in the 1890s. Many of these early motion pictures were not traditional narratives but rather actuality films that documented the American way of life at the beginning of the twentieth century. They are valuable historical and cultural resources. Today, the Library of Congress houses thousands of films within its archives. This activity introduces students to this rich repository of early motion pictures. Students research, then screen one of the short documentary or actuality films from the Library of Congress collection. This activity challenges students’ chronological thinking and historical comprehension skills, while at the same time integrating social studies/history with language arts.

WRITING ABOUT HISTORY USING MOVING IMAGES

This lesson introduces students to archival collections of documentary videos from the early 1900s through the 20th century. Students select a video for study. They analyze the historical value of the video using document-based questions (DBQs), then write a short paper on their interpretations. The goal of this lesson is twofold: (1) to introduce students to the concept that history is argument, or interpretation, based on evidence; and (2) to show that moving images can be an effective tool for presenting evidence.

NOMINATING A FILM TO THE NATIONAL REGISTRY

Of the more than 21,000 feature-length films produced in the United States before 1951, less than half exist today. Seventy-five percent of all silent films no longer exist. To safeguard the country’s film heritage, the United States Congress passed the National Film Preservation Act in 1988. This law authorizes the Librarian of Congress to select up to 25 films each year for preservation. In this activity, students join the debate and nominate films of their choice to the National Film Registry. This activity provides an excellent real-world connection between your students and our country’s national library.

• TEACHER REGISTRATION
• PRIVACY POLICY
• TERMS OF USE

A program of THE FILM FOUNDATION in partnership with the Directors Guild of America

Film & Media Studies Resources: Researching a Film

• Researching a Film

Types of Film Analysis

• Finding Books
• Journals & Articles
• Finding Films

Watching Film Analytically

1. start with the assignment..

Review the assignment prompt and identify the tasks your instructor has asked you to perform and the questions you've been asked to address. Write them out at the top of your notes before watching the film.

2. Review film terms.

Review the terms you've learned in class and practice applying them while watching your film. Studying these terms before you begin watching can help you develop abbreviations and avoid searching for these words while you watch.

3. Watch the film.

Watch the film at least once without once before (unless you've seen it before) to watch uninterrupted. When you take notes, be sure to pause when writing. This disrupts the viewing experience. 

Starting the Film Analysis Essay

4. brainstorm.

After you've watched the film at least twice, it's a good idea to brainstorm ideas based on the notes you took. Cluster your ideas around the themes or topics that emerge in your notes, possible in a concept map. If you're writing an argumentative essay, your brainstorming ideas can be used to draft your thesis statement or research question.

Things to remember:

• Use your assignment prompt as a guide.
• Write about the film in the present tense in your essay. (i.e., “In  Vertigo , Hitchcock employs techniques of observation to dramatize the act of detection.”)

5. Make a research plan.

• Review your brainstorming notes and decide what type of analysis you want to write.
• Do you need research or other background information for your essay?
• Do your sources need to be scholarly or can you use critics' review?

6. Find Sources and Reviews

• Finding a screenplay/script of the movie may be helpful and save you time when compiling citations. But keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!). The Popular Culture Library has a great collection of movie scripts. 
• Reading reviews and other analysis essays between viewings can help your own analysis of the film.  Search in Summon or subject databases listed below for the film's title and the ideas you brainstormed to look for sources.

Symbolic Analysis

Symbolic (or semiotic) analysis is the interpretation of signs and symbols, usually involving metaphors and analogies to both inanimate objects and characters in a film. Because symbols can have multiple meanings, you will need to determine what a particular symbol means both in the film and in a broader context, whether in other films, or in other disciplines, like literature. 

Be sure to bring the analysis back to your thesis, or why this symbolism matters.

Some questions you could ask when writing a symbolic analysis essay:

• What images or objects are repeated in the film?
• What colors, clothing, or food is associated with a character?
• How does a symbol or object relate to other symbols and objects?

Narrative Analysis

Narrative analysis is an examination of the narrative structure, character, and plot of a film (i.e., the story elements). This analysis considers the story the film seeks to tell. 

Questions to consider when writing a narrative analysis:

• How does the film fit into the Three Act structure?
• How does the plot differ from the narrative of film? Or, how is the story told? (i.e., Are events presented out of order or chronologically?)
• Does the plot revolve around one character or multiple? How do these characters develop across the film?

Cultural or Historical Analysis

In this type of analytical essay, you examine a film's relationship to its broader cultural, historical, theoretical contexts. Sometimes films intentionally comment on these contexts, but even if they don't, they are still a product of the culture or time in which they were created. This type of analysis asks how the film models, challenges, or subverts these relationships.

Questions to ask for a cultural or historical analysis:

• How does the film comment on, reinforce, or critique social and/or political issues at the time it was released, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality?
• How might a biographical understanding of the film's creators and/or screenwriters and their historical moment affect the way the film is viewed?
• How might a specific theory, such as Queer Theory, Structuralist or Marxist Film Theory, provide a way of analyzing or viewing the film?

Mise-en-scene Analysis

A mise-en-scene (French for "putting on stage") analysis looks at the compositional elements of a specific scene or even a single shot, as well as the how those elements come together to produce meaning. You can focus on anything in the scene, including blocking, lighting, design, color, costume, and how these work in conjunction with other elements, like sound, cinematography and editing.

Questions to ask when analyzing a scene:

• What effects are created in a scene and what is their purpose?
• How does this scene represent the theme of the movie?
• How does a scene work to express a broader point to the film's point?

More Links of Interest

• BGSU Department of Popular Culture
• BGSU Department of Theatre and Film
• BGSU American Culture Studies Program
• Film Resources in the BPCL

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This guide was adapted from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Writing Center's Film Analysis and Watching Film Analytically .

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• Last Updated: Nov 20, 2023 9:08 AM
• URL: https://libguides.bgsu.edu/film

Film Analysis

What this handout is about.

This handout introduces film analysis and and offers strategies and resources for approaching film analysis assignments.

Writing the film analysis essay

Writing a film analysis requires you to consider the composition of the film—the individual parts and choices made that come together to create the finished piece. Film analysis goes beyond the analysis of the film as literature to include camera angles, lighting, set design, sound elements, costume choices, editing, etc. in making an argument. The first step to analyzing the film is to watch it with a plan.

Watching the film

First it’s important to watch the film carefully with a critical eye. Consider why you’ve been assigned to watch a film and write an analysis. How does this activity fit into the course? Why have you been assigned this particular film? What are you looking for in connection to the course content? Let’s practice with this clip from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). Here are some tips on how to watch the clip critically, just as you would an entire film:

• Give the clip your undivided attention at least once. Pay close attention to details and make observations that might start leading to bigger questions.
• Watch the clip a second time. For this viewing, you will want to focus specifically on those elements of film analysis that your class has focused on, so review your course notes. For example, from whose perspective is this clip shot? What choices help convey that perspective? What is the overall tone, theme, or effect of this clip?
• Take notes while you watch for the second time. Notes will help you keep track of what you noticed and when, if you include timestamps in your notes. Timestamps are vital for citing scenes from a film!

For more information on watching a film, check out the Learning Center’s handout on watching film analytically . For more resources on researching film, including glossaries of film terms, see UNC Library’s research guide on film & cinema .

Brainstorming ideas

Once you’ve watched the film twice, it’s time to brainstorm some ideas based on your notes. Brainstorming is a major step that helps develop and explore ideas. As you brainstorm, you may want to cluster your ideas around central topics or themes that emerge as you review your notes. Did you ask several questions about color? Were you curious about repeated images? Perhaps these are directions you can pursue.

If you’re writing an argumentative essay, you can use the connections that you develop while brainstorming to draft a thesis statement . Consider the assignment and prompt when formulating a thesis, as well as what kind of evidence you will present to support your claims. Your evidence could be dialogue, sound edits, cinematography decisions, etc. Much of how you make these decisions will depend on the type of film analysis you are conducting, an important decision covered in the next section.

After brainstorming, you can draft an outline of your film analysis using the same strategies that you would for other writing assignments. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind as you prepare for this stage of the assignment:

• Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment, so your thesis should answer what the prompt asks. Check with your professor if you are unsure.
• In most cases, the director’s name is used to talk about the film as a whole, for instance, “Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo .” However, some writers may want to include the names of other persons who helped to create the film, including the actors, the cinematographer, and the sound editor, among others.
• When describing a sequence in a film, use the literary present. An example could be, “In Vertigo , Hitchcock employs techniques of observation to dramatize the act of detection.”
• Finding a screenplay/script of the movie may be helpful and save you time when compiling citations. But keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
• Go beyond describing basic film elements by articulating the significance of these elements in support of your particular position. For example, you may have an interpretation of the striking color green in Vertigo , but you would only mention this if it was relevant to your argument. For more help on using evidence effectively, see the section on “using evidence” in our evidence handout .

Also be sure to avoid confusing the terms shot, scene, and sequence. Remember, a shot ends every time the camera cuts; a scene can be composed of several related shots; and a sequence is a set of related scenes.

Different types of film analysis

As you consider your notes, outline, and general thesis about a film, the majority of your assignment will depend on what type of film analysis you are conducting. This section explores some of the different types of film analyses you may have been assigned to write.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is the interpretation of signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors and analogies to both inanimate objects and characters within a film. Because symbols have several meanings, writers often need to determine what a particular symbol means in the film and in a broader cultural or historical context.

For instance, a writer could explore the symbolism of the flowers in Vertigo by connecting the images of them falling apart to the vulnerability of the heroine.

Here are a few other questions to consider for this type of analysis:

• What objects or images are repeated throughout the film?
• How does the director associate a character with small signs, such as certain colors, clothing, food, or language use?
• How does a symbol or object relate to other symbols and objects, that is, what is the relationship between the film’s signs?

Many films are rich with symbolism, and it can be easy to get lost in the details. Remember to bring a semiotic analysis back around to answering the question “So what?” in your thesis.

Narrative analysis

Narrative analysis is an examination of the story elements, including narrative structure, character, and plot. This type of analysis considers the entirety of the film and the story it seeks to tell.

For example, you could take the same object from the previous example—the flowers—which meant one thing in a semiotic analysis, and ask instead about their narrative role. That is, you might analyze how Hitchcock introduces the flowers at the beginning of the film in order to return to them later to draw out the completion of the heroine’s character arc.

To create this type of analysis, you could consider questions like:

• How does the film correspond to the Three-Act Structure: Act One: Setup; Act Two: Confrontation; and Act Three: Resolution?
• What is the plot of the film? How does this plot differ from the narrative, that is, how the story is told? For example, are events presented out of order and to what effect?
• Does the plot revolve around one character? Does the plot revolve around multiple characters? How do these characters develop across the film?

When writing a narrative analysis, take care not to spend too time on summarizing at the expense of your argument. See our handout on summarizing for more tips on making summary serve analysis.

Cultural/historical analysis

One of the most common types of analysis is the examination of a film’s relationship to its broader cultural, historical, or theoretical contexts. Whether films intentionally comment on their context or not, they are always a product of the culture or period in which they were created. By placing the film in a particular context, this type of analysis asks how the film models, challenges, or subverts different types of relations, whether historical, social, or even theoretical.

For example, the clip from Vertigo depicts a man observing a woman without her knowing it. You could examine how this aspect of the film addresses a midcentury social concern about observation, such as the sexual policing of women, or a political one, such as Cold War-era McCarthyism.

A few of the many questions you could ask in this vein include:

• How does the film comment on, reinforce, or even critique social and political issues at the time it was released, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality?
• How might a biographical understanding of the film’s creators and their historical moment affect the way you view the film?
• How might a specific film theory, such as Queer Theory, Structuralist Theory, or Marxist Film Theory, provide a language or set of terms for articulating the attributes of the film?

Take advantage of class resources to explore possible approaches to cultural/historical film analyses, and find out whether you will be expected to do additional research into the film’s context.

Mise-en-scène analysis

A mise-en-scène analysis attends to how the filmmakers have arranged compositional elements in a film and specifically within a scene or even a single shot. This type of analysis organizes the individual elements of a scene to explore how they come together to produce meaning. You may focus on anything that adds meaning to the formal effect produced by a given scene, including: blocking, lighting, design, color, costume, as well as how these attributes work in conjunction with decisions related to sound, cinematography, and editing. For example, in the clip from Vertigo , a mise-en-scène analysis might ask how numerous elements, from lighting to camera angles, work together to present the viewer with the perspective of Jimmy Stewart’s character.

To conduct this type of analysis, you could ask:

• What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
• How does this scene represent the theme of the movie?
• How does a scene work to express a broader point to the film’s plot?

This detailed approach to analyzing the formal elements of film can help you come up with concrete evidence for more general film analysis assignments.

Reviewing your draft

Once you have a draft, it’s helpful to get feedback on what you’ve written to see if your analysis holds together and you’ve conveyed your point. You may not necessarily need to find someone who has seen the film! Ask a writing coach, roommate, or family member to read over your draft and share key takeaways from what you have written so far.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. 1988. L’analyse Des Films . Paris: Nathan.

Media & Design Center. n.d. “Film and Cinema Research.” UNC University Libraries. Last updated February 10, 2021. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/filmresearch .

Oxford Royale Academy. n.d. “7 Ways to Watch Film.” Oxford Royale Academy. Accessed April 2021. https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/7-ways-watch-films-critically/ .

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Film Analysis Essay: Examples, Outline, & Tips

A film analysis essay might be the most exciting assignment you have ever had! After all, who doesn’t love watching movies? You have your favorite movies, maybe something you watched years ago, perhaps a classic, or a documentary. Or your professor might assign a film for you to make a critical review. Regardless, you are totally up for watching a movie for a film analysis essay.

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However, once you have watched the movie, facing the act of writing might knock the wind out of your sails because you might be wondering how to write a film analysis essay. In summary, writing movie analysis is not as difficult as it might seem, and Custom-writing.org experts will prove this. This guide will help you choose a topic for your movie analysis, make an outline, and write the text.️ Film analysis examples are added as a bonus! Just keep reading our advice on how to get started.

❓ What Is a Film Analysis Essay?

• 🚦 Film Analysis Types

📽️ Movie Analysis Format

✍️ how to write a film analysis, 🎦 film analysis template, 🎬 film analysis essay topics.

• 📄 Essay Examples

🔗 References

To put it simply, film analysis implies watching a movie and then considering its characteristics : genre, structure, contextual context, etc. Film analysis is usually considered to be a form of rhetorical analysis . The key to success here is to formulate a clear and logical argument, supporting it with examples.

🚦 Film Analysis Essay Types

Since a film analysis essay resembles literature analysis, it makes sense that there are several ways to do it. Its types are not limited to the ones described here. Moreover, you are free to combine the approaches in your essay as well. Since your writing reflects your own opinion, there is no universal way to do it.

• Semiotic analysis . If you’re using this approach, you are expected to interpret the film’s symbolism. You should look for any signs that may have a hidden meaning. Often, they reveal some character’s features. To make the task more manageable, you can try to find the objects or concepts that appear on the screen multiple times. What is the context they appear in? It might lead you to the hidden meaning of the symbols.
• Narrative structure analysis . This type is quite similar to a typical literature guide. It includes looking into the film’s themes, plot, and motives. The analysis aims to identify three main elements: setup, confrontation, and resolution. You should find out whether the film follows this structure and what effect it creates. It will make the narrative structure analysis essay if you write about the theme and characters’ motivations as well.
• Contextual analysis . Here, you would need to expand your perspective. Instead of focusing on inner elements, the contextual analysis looks at the time and place of the film’s creation. Therefore, you should work on studying the cultural context a lot. It can also be a good idea to mention the main socio-political issues of the time. You can even relate the film’s success to the director or producer and their career.
• Mise-en-scene analysis . This type of analysis works with the most distinctive feature of the movies, audiovisual elements. However, don’t forget that your task is not only to identify them but also to explain their importance. There are so many interconnected pieces of this puzzle: the light to create the mood, the props to show off characters’ personalities, messages hidden in the song lyrics.

To write an effective film analysis essay, it is important to follow specific format requirements that include the following:

• Standard essay structure. Just as with any essay, your analysis should consist of an introduction with a strong thesis statement, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The main body usually includes a summary and an analysis of the movie’s elements.
• Present tense for events in the film. Use the present tense when describing everything that happens in the movie. This way, you can make smooth transitions between describing action and dialogue. It will also improve the overall narrative flow.
• Proper formatting of the film’s title. Don’t enclose the movie’s title in quotation marks; instead, italicize it. In addition, use the title case : that is, capitalize all major words.
• Proper use of the characters’ names. When you mention a film character for the first time, name the actor portraying them. After that, it is enough to write only the character’s name.
• In-text citations. Use in-text citations when describing certain scenes or shots from the movie. Format them according to your chosen citation style. If you use direct quotes, include the time-stamp range instead of page numbers. Here’s how it looks in the MLA format: (Smith 0:11:24–0:12:35).

Even though film analysis is similar to the literary one, you might still feel confused with where to begin. No need to worry; there are only a few additional steps you need to consider during the writing process.

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Need more information? It can be found in the video below.

Starting Your Film Analysis Essay

There are several things you need to do before you start writing your film analysis paper. First and foremost, you have to watch the movie. Even if you have seen it a hundred times, you need to watch it again to make a good film analysis essay.

Note that you might be given an essay topic or have to think of it by yourself. If you are free to choose a topic for your film analysis essay, reading some critical reviews before you watch the film might be a good idea. By doing this in advance, you will already know what to look for when watching the movie.

In the process of watching, keep the following tips in mind:

• Consider your impression of the movie
• Enumerate memorable details
• Try to interpret the movie message in your way
• Search for the proof of your ideas (quotes from the film)
• Make comments on the plot, settings, and characters
• Draw parallels between the movie you are reviewing and some other movies

Making a Film Analysis Essay Outline

Once you have watched and possibly re-watched your assigned or chosen movie from an analytical point of view, you will need to create a movie analysis essay outline . The task is pretty straightforward: the outline can look just as if you were working on a literary analysis or an article analysis.

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• Introduction : This includes the basics of the movie, including the title, director, and the date of release. You should also present the central theme or ideas in the movie and your thesis statement .
• Summary : This is where you take the time to present an overview of the primary concepts in the movie, including the five Ws (who, what, when, where, and why)—don’t forget how!—as well as anything you wish to discuss that relates to the point of view, style, and structure.
• Analysis : This is the body of the essay and includes your critical analysis of the movie, why you did or did not like it, and any supporting material from the film to support your views. It would help if you also discussed whether the director and writer of the movie achieved the goal they set out to achieve.
• Conclusion: This is where you can state your thesis again and provide a summary of the primary concepts in a new and more convincing manner, making a case for your analysis. You can also include a call-to-action that will invite the reader to watch the movie or avoid it entirely.

You can find a great critical analysis template at Thompson Rivers University website. In case you need more guidance on how to write an analytical paper, check out our article .

Writing & Editing Your Film Analysis Essay

We have already mentioned that there are differences between literary analysis and film analysis. They become especially important when one starts writing their film analysis essay.

First of all, the evidence you include to support the arguments is not the same. Instead of quoting the text, you might need to describe the audiovisual elements.

However, the practice of describing the events is similar in both types. You should always introduce a particular sequence in the present tense. If you want to use a piece of a dialogue between more than two film characters, you can use block quotes. However, since there are different ways to do it, confirm with your supervisor.

For your convenience, you might as well use the format of the script, for which you don’t have to use quotation marks:

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ELSA: But she won’t remember I have powers?

KING: It’s for the best.

Finally, to show off your proficiency in the subject, look at the big picture. Instead of just presenting the main elements in your analysis, point out their significance. Describe the effect they make on the overall impression form the film. Moreover, you can dig deeper and suggest the reasons why such elements were used in a particular scene to show your expertise.

Stuck writing a film analysis essay? Worry not! Use our template to structure your movie analysis properly.

Introduction

• The title of the film is… [title]
• The director is… [director’s name] He/she is known for… [movies, style, etc.]
• The movie was released on… [release date]
• The themes of the movie are… [state the film’s central ideas]
• The film was made because… [state the reasons]
• The movie is… because… [your thesis statement].
• The main characters are… [characters’ names]
• The events take place in… [location]
• The movie is set in… [time period]
• The movie is about… [state what happens in the film and why]
• The movie left a… [bad, unforgettable, lasting, etc.] impression in me.
• The script has… [a logical sequence of events, interesting scenes, strong dialogues, character development, etc.]
• The actors portray their characters… [convincingly, with intensity, with varying degree of success, in a manner that feels unnatural, etc.]
• The soundtrack is [distracting, fitting, memorable, etc.]
• Visual elements such as… [costumes, special effects, etc.] make the film [impressive, more authentic, atmospheric, etc.]
• The film succeeds/doesn’t succeed in engaging the target audience because it… [tells a compelling story, features strong performances, is relevant, lacks focus, is unauthentic, etc.]
• Cultural and societal aspects make the film… [thought-provoking, relevant, insightful, problematic, polarizing, etc.]
• The director and writer achieved their goal because… [state the reasons]
• Overall, the film is… [state your opinion]
• I would/wouldn’t recommend watching the movie because… [state the reasons]
• Analysis of the film Inception by Christopher Nolan .
• Examine the rhetoric in the film The Red Balloon .
• Analyze the visual effects of Zhang Yimou’s movie Hero .
• Basic concepts of the film Interstellar by Christopher Nolan.
• The characteristic features of Federico Fellini’s movies.
• Analysis of the movie The Joker .
• The depiction of ethical issues in Damaged Care .
• Analyze the plot of the film Moneyball .
• Explore the persuasive techniques used in Henry V .
• Analyze the movie Killing Kennedy .
• Discuss the themes of the film Secret Window .
• Describe the role of audio and video effects in conveying the message of the documentary Life in Renaissance .
• Compare and analyze the films Midnight Cowboy and McCabe and Mrs. Miller .
• Analysis of the movie Rear Window .
• The message behind the film Split .
• Analyze the techniques used by Tim Burton in his movie Sleepy Hollow .
• The topic of children’s abuse and importance of trust in Joseph Sargent’s Sybil .
• Examine the themes and motives of the film Return to Paradise by Joseph Ruben .
• The issues of gender and traditions in the drama The Whale Rider.
• Analysis of the film Not Easily Broken by Duke Bill.
• The symbolism in R. Scott’s movie Thelma and Louise .
• The meaning of audiovisual effects in Citizen Kane .
• Analyze the main characters of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .
• Discuss the historical accuracy of the documentary The Civil War .
• Analysis of the movie Through a Glass Darkly .
• Explore the core idea of the comedy Get Out .
• The problem of artificial intelligence and human nature in Ex Machina .
• Three principles of suspense used in the drama The Fugitive .
• Examine the ideas Michael Bay promotes in Armageddon .
• Analyze the visual techniques used in Tenet by Christopher Nolan.
• Analysis of the movie The Green Mile .
• Discrimination and exclusion in the film The Higher Learning .
• The hidden meaning of the scenes in Blade Runner .
• Compare the social messages of the films West Side Story and Romeo + Juliet .
• Highlighting the problem of children’s mental health in the documentary Kids in Crisis .
• Discuss the ways Paul Haggis establishes the issue of racial biases in his movie Crash .
• Analyze the problem of moral choice in the film Gone Baby Gone .
• Analysis of the historical film Hacksaw Ridge .
• Explore the main themes of the film Mean Girls by Mark Walters .
• The importance of communication in the movie Juno .
• Describe the techniques the authors use to highlight the problems of society in Queen and Slim .
• Examine the significance of visual scenes in My Family/ Mi Familia .
• Analysis of the thriller Salt by Phillip Noyce.
• Analyze the message of Greg Berlanti’s film Love, Simon .
• Interpret the symbols of the film The Wizard of Oz (1939).
• Discuss the modern issues depicted in the film The Corporation .
• Moral lessons of Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond .
• Analysis of the documentary Solitary Nation .
• Describe the audiovisual elements of the film Pride and Prejudice (2005) .
• The problem of toxic relationships in Malcolm and Marie .

📄 Film Analysis Examples

Below you’ll find two film analysis essay examples. Note that the full versions are downloadable for free!

Film Analysis Example #1: The Intouchables

Raising acute social problems in modern cinema is a common approach to draw the public’s attention to the specific issues and challenges of people facing crucial obstacles. As a film for review, The Intouchables by Oliver Nakache and Éric Toledano will be analyzed, and one of the themes raised in this movie is the daily struggle of the person with severe disabilities. This movie is a biographical drama with comedy elements. The Intouchables describes the routine life of a French millionaire who is confined to a wheelchair and forced to receive help from his servants. The acquaintance of the disabled person with a young and daring man from Parisian slums changes the lives of both radically. The film shows that for a person with disabilities, recognition as a full member of society is more important than sympathy and compassion, and this message expressed comically raises an essential problem of human loneliness.

Movie Analysis Example #2: Parasite

Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller movie directed by Bong Joon-ho and is the first film with a non-English script to win Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020. With its overwhelming plot and acting, this motion picture retains a long-lasting effect and some kind of shock. The class serves as a backbone and a primary objective of social commentary within the South Korean comedy/thriller (Kench, 2020). Every single element and detail in the movie, including the student’s stone, the contrasting architecture, family names, and characters’ behavior, contribute to the central topic of the universal problem of classism and wealth disparity. The 2020 Oscar-winning movie Parasite (2019) is a phenomenal cinematic portrayal and a critical message to modern society regarding the severe outcomes of the long-established inequalities within capitalism.

Want more examples? Check out this bonus list of 10 film analysis samples. They will help you gain even more inspiration.

• “Miss Representation” Documentary Film Analysis
• “The Patriot”: Historical Film Analysis
• “The Morning Guy” Film Analysis
• 2012′ by Roland Emmerich Film Analysis
• “The Crucible” (1996) Film Analysis
• The Aviator’ by Martin Scorsese Film Analysis
• The “Lions for Lambs” Film Analysis
• Bill Monroe – Father of Bluegrass Music Film Analysis
• Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’ Film Analysis
• Red Tails by George Lucas Film Analysis

Film Analysis Essay FAQ

• Watch the movie or read a detailed plot summary.
• Read others’ film reviews paying attention to details like key characters, movie scenes, background facts.
• Compose a list of ideas about what you’ve learned.
• Organize the selected ideas to create a body of the essay.
• Write an appropriate introduction and conclusion.

The benefits of analyzing a movie are numerous . You get a deeper understanding of the plot and its subtle aspects. You can also get emotional and aesthetic satisfaction. Film analysis enables one to feel like a movie connoisseur.

Here is a possible step by step scenario:

• Think about the general idea that the author probably wanted to convey.
• Consider how the idea was put across: what characters, movie scenes, and details helped in it.
• Study the broader context: the author’s other works, genre essentials, etc.

The definition might be: the process of interpreting a movie’s aspects. The movie is reviewed in terms of details creating the artistic value. A film analysis essay is a paper presenting such a review in a logically structured way.

• Film Analysis – UNC Writing Center
• Film Writing: Sample Analysis // Purdue Writing Lab
• Yale Film Analysis – Yale University
• Film Terms And Topics For Film Analysis And Writing
• Questions for Film Analysis (Washington University)
• Resources on Film Analysis – Cinema Studies (University of Toronto)
• Does Film Analysis Take the Magic out of Movies?
• Film Analysis Research Papers – Academia.edu
• What’s In a Film Analysis Essay? Medium
• Analysis of Film – SAGE Research Methods
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Have you ever read a review and asked yourself how the critic arrived at a different interpretation for the film? You are sure that you saw the same movie, but you interpreted it differently. Most moviegoers go to the cinema for pleasure and entertainment. There’s a reason why blockbuster movies attract moviegoers – cinema is a form of escape, a way to momentarily walk away from life’s troubles.

It’s an interesting point of view. Thank you for your opinion, Sourav!

EXCELENT COVERAGE!

Thank you, Mike!

Hi Rebecca,

Glad you liked the post. Sure thing, feel free to share the link with your audience!

All the best.

Film Studies Writing Guide

• Before you begin
• Understanding film assignments
• Format issues
• Things to keep in mind as you write

Before You Begin

• Background reading, It's important to become familiar with the film's development, director, and political contexts.
• Terminology. Before you can write a film paper, it's really necessary to know your terminology. This includes language created to describe lighting, shot formation, etc.
• Watch the movie more than twice, looking at different aspects each time. It always helps to watch critical moments shot by shot and jot notes about everything that happens. Try not to get sucked into the narrative. Pause and rewind to aid your critical thinking.
• Internet resources. If you need some basic factual information about a film, there are fairly reliable internet resources such as the Internet Movie Database .

Understanding Film Assignments

• Understanding the discipline. It may be helpful to think of film as a language. Elements of film are analogous to elements of language; just as a sentence can be broken into phonetic, semantic, and morphological elements, a film can be broken into its component parts. Film Studies papers often involve looking at the message of the film in relation to the means (component parts) by which it is conveyed.
• Common elements of a film paper. Most film papers have two elements: a shot-by-shot analysis and an interpretation of that analysis. First, you analyze what the form is, and then you analyze what the form does. In the interpretation section, it's important to form an argument that draws on_rather than restates_the shot-by-shot breakdown of a scene. The shot-by-shot analysis provides material for you to cite as you form an argument about the way the formal aspects of the movie relate to a theme or message.
• Constructing an argument. Analyze certain aspects of the mise-en-scène instead of only the dialogue. Find something idiosyncratic about how the filmmakers chose to express their message. Don't just pay attention to random elements when they happen to validate an argument about a film's theme. Choose 1, 2, or 3 elements of the film (such as camera angle, lighting, camera movement, sound, distance, etc.) and follow the usage of those elements throughout the film.
• Ask your professor how formal your paper's tone should be. Swarthmore film professors differ over their acceptance of colloquialisms and first person usage.

Format Issues

• Citations. Film titles should be italicized. When citing films, list the director and date of release in parentheses, e.g. The Crying Games (Neil Jordan, 1992).
• Shot-by-shot breakdown. For this section, you can use an Excel chart, draw pictures, grab stills, or describe each shot in words. As long as you provide enough information in an organized way, any format is fine.

Things to Keep in Mind

• Self-reflexivity. Remember that film is a reflection of pop culture just as pop culture draws on film. Film is a self-reflexive medium. Many films (for example, Singing in the Rain) comment on other films or on the process of filmmaking.
• Don't interpret the film in a vacuum: consider the film's message in the context of its cultural, social, and political context. Remember that filmmaking is usually a collaborative process. Focus on a few specific elements of each film, but nevertheless be aware of how other aspects of the film relate to those elements.

Compilers' note: We gathered the information for this handout from interviews with Professor Sunka Simon and Film Studies majors Gabe Hankins and Kathleen O'Hara.

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• Introduction to Film Studies (Video) 
• Co-ordinated by : IIT Madras
• Available from : 2013-05-10
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150 Amazing Film Research Paper Topics for Students

Table of Contents

If you are a film student, then often you will have to work on film research papers. But for writing a research paper, you must have a good topic. Right now, do you want to prepare a film research paper? Are you looking for the top film research topics? No worries! We know how hard it is to come up with the right topic for a dissertation. So, to help you out, here, we have prepared a list of the best film research paper topics for you to consider. Continue reading this blog post and get exclusive film dissertation topic ideas.

How to Find a Good Topic for a Film Research Paper?

In film studies, there are plenty of film research paper topics available. Out of those topics, you will have to identify a good topic for your assignment. The topic selection becomes easier if your professor gives a set of ideas or themes for you to choose from. Sometimes, your professor will ask you to create your own idea for research. At that time, choosing one right topic from endless topics would become hard.

Are you confused about how to identify the right film research topic? Don’t worry! Here is what you will have to do to find out a good film dissertation topic of your choice.

• Create a list of your favorite filmmakers, films, or genres. Then, based on your interest or category, narrow down your search.
• It is not necessary to go with topics related to your favorite filmmaker or film. You can also think about a certain film history period and research the film techniques, themes, etc. used in that period.
• Deep research is necessary to identify the right topic. By exploring credible sources such as literature, books, media platforms, and published research papers, you can collect more research or dissertation ideas.
• From the list of ideas gathered, you can choose a topic that matches your area of interest and has a wide research scope.
• If the topic is too broad, make sure to narrow it down. Because the narrow topic will help you cover all the major points before the deadline and keep your readers engaged.

Also, before finalizing the topic, check whether your selected topic stands in line with your professor’s research paper writing guidelines.

List of Excellent Film Research Paper Topics

Film studies is a broad field of study where you can conduct research on any areas such as film technology, film history, film genre, music, sound design, etc. Here, we have listed some best film research paper topic ideas in various categories. Go through the whole list and pick an ideal film topic for writing your academic paper.

Film History Research Paper Topics

• Movies about the history of religions.
• The importance of representation in movies.
• African-Americans in cinematography.
• Science-fiction movies- History
• The globalization of popular culture: Hollywood vs. Bollywood.
• Discuss the contribution of Fellini to cinematography.
• How technology has transformed the art of filmmaking?
• Discuss the contribution of women in the film industry.
• Hitchcock’s sacred power.
• The progress of animation in movie production.
• The effect of the film industry on different generations.
• Analyze the life before CGI.
• War Justification in American Cinema
• Charlie Chaplin and the Silent Movie Era.
• Changes in Hollywood and its dominance of cinematography.
• Evolution of Hollywood movies  
• Discuss the cinematographic excellence of Roger Deakins  
• History of British Cinema  
• The Lion In Winter – A movie that nailed historical accuracy  
• Discuss the contribution of Steven Spielberg  
• Song of the Road – The first Indian movie at the Academic Award  
• Analyze the impact of LGBTQ+ Representation in Contemporary Cinema.
• War Justification in the worlds’ Moving Pictures
• Changes in Hollywood and Its Dominance of the Cinematography

Horror Film Research Paper Topics

• Special effects in horror films.
• Explain the Folklore elements in the screenplay.
• Discuss the popular fear elements used in horror films.
• Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense.
• Psychological and behavioral responses to horror films.
• The fusion of comedy and horror.
• Racial discrimination in horror films.
• The use of religion in horror movies
• The youngsters’ perception of horror films.
• The idea of suspense in horror films.
• George Romero: The greatest director of horror movies of all time  
• Compare the works of Sam Raimi and John Carpenter  
• Michael Myers: The most famous killer in horror movies  
• Chucky: One of the most scariest movies have ever made  
• Discuss the use of Psychopathy and Delusions in horror films with examples  
• A side effect of watching horror movies  
• The reflection of society’s fears in horror movies
• The specific use of genre theory in the horror game
• The human fondness for horror movies
• Monster creatures from horror movies
• Stephen King and his legacy in the genre of horror

Film Music Research Paper Topics

• The use of music in modern movies.
• The power of recorded nature sounds.
• The art of sound design in movies.
• The progress of music in films.
• The effects of music on movie perceptions.
• Bollywood-made musicals.
• The art of storytelling with sound
• Picture versus sound.
• Broadway musicals are made into movies.
• The development and cultural influence of musicals in the 20th century.
• Christina Aguilera’s career in musicals.
• Classical Opera versus Modern Music on Screen
• Analyze the soundtrack and music in films.
• Cradle of future pop stars.
• The mental effects created by music in movies.
• Theoretical aspects of studying film music.
• Music in cinema as a director of the semantic series.

Monster Film Research Topics

• Mythology in monster movies.
• The aspects of human monstrosity in films.
• The history of monster movies.
• The science behind Hollywood’s movie monsters.
• Explore fear in monster movies.
• Vampires through history: The evolution of the undead cinema.
• Examine the portrayal of aging in Cinema.
• The Monster vs. Frankenstein: Who Is More Human?
• The psychological appeal of movie monsters.
• Discuss the monster movie culture in the 21st century.
• Compare Prophecy (1979) and It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)  
• Discuss the first monster film  
• Impact of monster movies on children  
• A side effect of watching monster movies  
• Use of VFX and Special Effects in monster films  

Outstanding Film Research Paper Topics

• TV shows: A new film franchise.
• Masculinity and violence in films.
• Movies through the eyes of their directors.
• What are the effects of censorship on films?
• The role of colors in movies.
• Comics and Superheroes in films.
• The role of animals in movies.
• Investigate the Use of AI in Film Production, Visual Effects, and Storytelling.
• Animation: Giving life to sketches.
• The cultural effects of war movies.
• The power of documentary movies to change the world.
• Walt Disney and the psychosocial implications of his characters.
• The ethical issues involved in documentary filmmaking.
• The effects of Hollywood stereotypes.
• The art of creating stories using video editing.

Unique Film Research Paper Topics

• The role of film directors in giving life to stories.
• The important qualities of a successful movie director.
• The role of film critics and reviews on box office performances.
• Transitions and visual effects in movie editing.
• The social and cultural effects of movies .
• Contribution of Arthur Conan Doyle to detective movies  
• Good versus Evil: A classing theme of the movie  
• Discuss the cinematic innovations that have changed the movie industry  
• Discuss the most important inventions the movie industry experienced within the past two decades  
• The directorial debut of Tom Hanks  
• How depression years are depicted in American movies?
• Discuss the technological evolution of the global film industry from 1975 to 2022
• The Works of Christopher Edward Nolan and Sam Raimi: A comparative analysis
• Evolution of Indian cinema from 1950 to 2022
• Discuss the contribution of Edgar Allan Poe to detective movies
• Compare and contrast European and Asian horror movies
• Discuss the comparative mythology and dark side in screenwriting
• Critical analysis of the silent era of the movie industry
• How African-Americans get represented in American movies
• Analyze the evolution of the zombie in contemporary cinema

Interesting Film Dissertation Topics

• The importance of a character in a film.
• The influence of the digital revolution on the film industry?
• Drama as a cultural phenomenon.
• Diverse film elements are needed for creative writing.
• The evolution of urban filmmaking.
• Difference between commercial cinema and non-commercial cinema.
• The usage of irony in films.
• Discuss the popular cinema genres in the world.
• Analyze the localization efforts of Hollywood films.
• The relationship between literature and film.
• Explore the role of men and women in blockbuster movies.
• Assess the importance of global film awards in improving the quality of filmmaking.
• Analyze the roles given to black actors and white actors in Hollywood movies.
• Study the key differences between theater performances and film shooting.
• Analyze the principles of filmmaking with respect to casting and editing.
• Discuss the impact of online streaming services on the quality of traditional cinema content.
• Study the impact of film in a rural area.
• Explain the role of a short film in making a feature film.
• Research the cultures of theater and film in the big city of a country.
• Explain the economics of cinema.

Read more: Demonstration Speech Topics and Ideas That Will Impress the Audience

Brilliant Film Research Topics

• The art of cinematography.
• Indie Movies: An attitude or a genre?
• Good versus Evil concept in movies.
• The cinema of shortcuts.
• Multiple actors play a single role.
• The influence of social media on movie results.
• What makes a great film director?
• Humanity versus technology in modern films.
• The role of fashion design in the film industry.
• Video streaming platforms and the future of cinema.
• Success factors of the American film industry.
• The influence of movie genres on different audiences.
• Film Noir: A style expanding through genres.
• Comics in the film industry.
• The persuasive effectiveness of shortcuts.
• Freudian Practice in Cinematography.
• The effects of streaming platforms on cinematography.
• The idea of drama in movies.
• The psychological aspects of filmmaking.
• The art of storytelling in modern movies.

Impressive Film Research Questions

• Different Types of Narrative Structures in Screenplays and Books
• Violence and Masculinity in Hollywood Blockbusters.
• Looking for Truth in Film: Observational vs. Direct Cinema.
• Reconstructing atmospheres using ambient sounds: Recorded Nature Sounds.
• Comedy and horror combined in a chaotic genre mashup.
• History of the Vampire: The Cinematic Evolution of the Dead
• Using the content of documentaries, kids may develop their interethnic tolerance.
• The Cultural and Educational Project of the Cinema Museum and Its Importance in Historical Education.
• The history of development and current status of the post-apocalyptic storyline in American movies.
• The characteristics of contemporary cinema in relation to the development of historical politics.

Awesome Ideas for Film Research Paper

• Digital Storytelling: Narrative Elements from Hollywood.
• Analyze the Personality Traits of the Best Film Directors.
• Musicals: from stage to screen.
• Analyze the animation in the Movies Frozen and Zootopia.
• Share your viewpoints about the use of mythology in horror movies.
• Analyze the hidden elements in Disney movies and their effects on children.
• Write about the history of the Japanese animation industry and new technology.
• Historical and Mythical Time in the Marvel and DC Series.
• Analyze the new developments in the area of illustrations.
• Explore the phenomenon of visiting film locations and the economic impact on local communities.

The Bottom Line

Film studies basically approach movies from historical, theoretical, and critical perspectives. To write a brilliant film research paper, from the list of 150+ topics recommended above, choose the best topic that matches your interest. In case, you are not sure what film research topic to select or how to write an informative film research paper, then contact us for help.

We have a team of experienced writers who are masters in film studies to assist you in writing film research papers on the best topics. Based on your specifications, our experts will prepare a plagiarism-free research paper and deliver it to you on time at a low cost. As a part of our film research paper help service , we also offer unlimited revisions and 24/7 customer support.

Without any hesitation, just take our film studies assignment writing help by submitting the order form.

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film studies Assignment

Jett Palframan Ms. Nicolson Film Studies Connected This short drama film follows two protagonists and their struggles with bullying, social media and trust. The “popular” girl Abby Hull is beautiful, seemingly confident and can be very mean when she wants to be. Although she has no trouble being a bully in the really world, Abby prefers to do it behind the protection of her computer. Abby picks on numerous girls over social media because of dark issues that reside inside her due to her everyday struggle with her home life.

Abby has no control at er house so she feels the need to make others lower than her so she can feel more powerful. When Abby begins to feel more than ever helpless with her home issues she picks a new victim, Erin Geller. Erin is almost the opposite of Abby as she is very self-conscious and is a daily victim of bullying. Because Erin is very critical of herself and is “different “she proves to be the perfect target for Abby to pick on. Abby begins her quest to make Erin’s confidence drop by commenting, messaging and posting awful things on Erin’s profile.

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After numerous cyber-attacks by Abby, Erin finally decides that enough is enough and takes action. One of Abbrs traits is that she is very boy crazy so Erin devises a plan to attack her weakness. Erin creates a fake boy profile named Alex Sivan with the attributes that Erin knows Abby would love. Slowly Erin starts talking to Abby through Alex’s profile to gain her trust. Eventually, after numerous online chats, Abby believes that her and her newly found cyber friends are dating. Abby tells all her friends that she and Alex re dating but some of them are skeptical.

The friends try to warn Abby to be careful but she has no doubt in her mind that the person she spilt all her secrets to have a true relationship. Abby begins to feel very upset because her friends don’t believe that Alex is a true person. When Abby gets home she immediately goes to talk to Alex for comfort and support but Alex/Erin had other ideas. As Erin’s final plot to “destroy’ Abby she plans on using the Alex account to get promiscuous pictures and secrets from Abby and eleasing them on the internet.

When Alex asks for pictures Abby has no hesitation and immediately gives him what he asks for. The next day Abby comes to school to find a crowd of people laughing at what she soon finds out is her nude pictures posted from Erin’s profile. Abby goes to talk to Erin about what she posted and that is where Abby finds the true identity of Alex. Abby is so upset and humiliated about what happened he goes home and locks herself in the bathroom, not knowing what she does next… film studies By Jettpalf

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Film Studies Assignments – Exploring Latest Techniques for Success

Waseem Jalal

Are you studying film studies and struggling with film studies assignments? If yes, then get fruitful benefits from this piece of writing by reading ahead till the end. 

Do you know what a film study is? Film study is a broad field based on critical thinking and innovation. This is a field of knowledge with a practical approach that delves into exploring socio-cultural, narrative, political connections, artistics, symbolic, and political connotations of cinema see through camera angle is known as film studies. 

In the film studies degree, students will understand a wide range of case studies of the political dimensions, film culture, movie art, media role, television studies, and film production; they will also be equipped with various skills and understanding of film and the art of cinema. 

This academic discipline is an ever-growing field with advanced technologies, according to a report, “ How AI is reshaping filmmaking: Insights from UNESCO’s conference in Paris”, published by “euronews.com.” on 24 October 2023. 

“In Paris, UNESCO hosted a conference inviting filmmakers to confront the fast-approaching age of artificial intelligence in their industry.”

This depicts that there are many things to explore in the film industry by adhering to advanced technology. 

Career Scope In Film Studies 

After getting a film studies degree, students can play their roles as location managers, broadcaster presenters, program researchers, art directors, video editors, and camera operators. Due to its variety of job opportunities, this field is growing rapidly over time. According to SkyQuestt report: 

“ Movies and entertainment market size was valued at USD 90.92 billion in 2021, and it is projected to grow from USD 97.47 in 2022 to USD 169.68 billion by 2030, growing with 7.2 growth from 2023 to 2030”.

The young generation is attracted more towards these facts and figures, and they enrol on this subject like a stream. But when they encounter coursework assignments on various research questions, they find it difficult to study, learn and then compose assignments on it. Students require useful help to beat every assignment writing problem. 

In this scenario,  you can follow the practical details we will discuss below. Moreover, you can buy assignment online from professional film studies assignment writers. 

6 Technologies: How do you write Film Studies Assignments?

Yes, film students can get assignment help online , but we suggest trying our following guidelines with functional technologies. So, let’s begin with how you can articulate your field study assignment efficiently: 

1. Understand the Film Studies Assignment Topics

When you are assigned an assignment topic, you need to understand them before you start writing. For this purpose, you have to look over its prompts that what is being asked by your professor.  Examine the limited words, action words, and key terms. Put your emphasis on the action keywords, which determine the direction of your assignment writing flow. These words include explain, develop, compare, discuss, describe, comprehend, etc. 

2. Brainstorming & Mind Mapping 

After that, think critically about the subject matter of your assignment on film studies. Brainstorming and mind mapping is the best trick to gather and organise these ideas around a topic. To brainstorm properly, you need to focus on the study goal, consider the nature of your prompt, and think about what you already know about the topic and what you need to research. 

After that, plot all these ideas by centralising the main topic on a blank paper. Link these ideas with the central theme. Come up with three to five major ideas and evenly space them in a circular form around the topic. In this way, you create a mind map containing all the essential ideas that you need to focus on in your article.   

3. Schedule Film Studies Assignment Timeframe

Schedule a time frame and planning your assignment are the best tips to complete all the assignment writing activities within time. It is because you will be able to manage your project in small chunks without being overwhelmed. In this step, you can create a Gantt chart that contains significant details regarding your topic. 

Monash University represents a timeframe for scheduling assignments for film studies in a Gantt chart as shown below:  

You can follow this framework to plan your assignment writing activities to keep moving in the right direction. 

4. Follow Standard Assignment Structure 

Whether you are writing an essay, report, case study, research paper or any other academic paper, there is a standard assignment structure that contains three main sections: 

• Introduction 
• Main body 
• Conclusion 

Introduce the main topic in front of your reader by emphasising the key terms and moving from general to specific. Proceed with an explanation of the main topic paragraphs by supporting details and examples. Finally, wind up your assignment by summarising all the key terms, recalling the thesis statement and developing a clear link between the introduction and conclusion. 

5. Add References & Citations 

If you want your reader to find your assignment to be authentic information. Add references at the end of your assignment and in-text citations within the content. References are the sources through which you pick film studies assignment ideas for film studies and then add them to your work. There are some common citations and referencing styles that you can apply while adding references: 

• Chicago 
• Harvard Referencing 

But make sure you are following all the guidelines directed by your professor regarding incorporating referencing and citations.  

6. Polished Assignment on Film Studies 

At the end of your assignment, you need to polish your assignment before submission. In this step, check your film studies assignment, revise it from start to end, and proofread against grammar, spelling, punctuation, and typos mistakes. 

Look over the content and clarify whether your points of view are directly delivered to your reader; for this, check sentence structure and consider the use of transition words. In the end, take a bird’s eye view of the assignment structure, formatting and layout. It is the best technique that makes your paper well-organised, well-polished and refined assignment. 

Conclusion  

Film studies assignment writing is all about following the latest trends and technologies in the film industry. When students are asked to write an assignment on film studies, they need to be updated with the latest terminologies and trends. Furthermore, they need to have strong academic writing skills. However, most of the students do not have all these skills, and they feel stuck while articulating their assignments.  

Here, they require a detailed guide with some practical steps, as we mentioned above. These tips help you get rid of assignment writing problems. But, if you want an instant solution to all the problems and a perfect piece of film studies assignments, you can buy assignment online from a suitable academic firm and ensure your academic success.

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With a Focus on the Role of Various Institutions in the Cover-up, the Disclosure, and the Aftermath

SUBJECTS — U.S. 1945 – Current & the Press; Religions;

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING — Childhood Sexual Abuse;

MORAL-ETHICAL EMPHASIS — Responsibility.

AGE ; 13+; MPAA Rating — Rated R for some language including sexual references;

Drama; 2015, 128 minutes; Color. Available from Amazon.com .

MOVIE WORKSHEETS: Click here for TWM’s movie worksheet specifically designed for this film . Teachers can modify the worksheets to fit the needs of each class. See also TWM’s Historical Fiction in Film Cross-Curricular Homework Project and Movies as Literature Homework Project .

Benefits of the Movie Possible Problems Parenting Points Selected Awards & Cast

Using the Movie in the Classroom Discussion Questions Social-Emotional Learning Moral-Ethical Emphasis

Assignments and Projects CCSS Anchor Standards Links to the Internet

MOVIE WORKSHEETS & STUDENT HANDOUTS

Click here for TWM’s movie worksheet specifically designed for this film. Teachers can modify the worksheets to fit the needs of each class.

See also TWM’s Historical Fiction in Film Cross-Curricular Homework Project and Movies as Literature Homework Project .

DESCRIPTION

In 2002, the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” special investigation unit published a series of articles disclosing that for decades the Boston Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church had engaged in a cover-up to protect priests who sexually abused children. Church officials did not refer the charges against these priests to law enforcement. Instead, they discouraged injured parishioners and their families from reporting the sexual abuse or filing suit. The Church settled any civil claims that were brought, insisting on confidentiality agreements. After some ineffective “treatment,” the predatory priests would be sent on to other churches or given an assignment where they would have access to more unsuspecting victims.

The Worldwide Scandal: The Globe Spotlight series was the initiating event in a sex abuse cover-up scandal that has engulfed the Catholic Church and tarnished other religious organizations throughout the U.S. and the world. More than 14 years have passed since the Globe’s first article was published and while reforms have been made and billions of dollars paid to victims, official investigations are ongoing, and occasionally an effort to cover up clergy sex abuse still comes to light. In addition, victim advocacy groups, who have been right about this problem in the past, claim that some religious organizations although asserting they have reformed, continue to resist the changes necessary to fully protect children and women in their congregations. Among the religious institutions still subject to this criticism: the Roman Catholic Church.

SELECTED AWARDS & CAST

Selected Awards:

2016 Academy Awards: Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Writing, Original Screenplay (Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy); 2016 Academy Awards Nominations: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Ruffalo); Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Rachel McAdams); Best Achievement in Directing (Tom McCarthy) Best Achievement in Film Editing (Tom McArdle)

Featured Actors:

Mark Ruffalo as Mike Rezendes; Michael Keaton as Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson; Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer; Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron John Slattery as Ben Bradlee, Jr.; Brian d’Arcy James as Matt Carroll; and Stanley Tucci as Mitchell Garabedian.

Tom McCarthy.

BENEFITS OF THE MOVIE

Spotlight is an accurate portrayal of an important event of the 21st century that gives insight into situations in which large institutions fail in their mission and pursue unstated agendas at the expense of those they claim to serve.

Students will gain an understanding of the role of the Press in a free society, that even organizations with lofty goals can betray their stated purpose, that all persons (even those who claim a special relationship with the sacred) are subject to the rule of law, and that no one has the right to sexually abuse a child.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS

Young people seeing this movie should be told that the problem of sexual abuse of children is not limited to the Catholic Church and affects institutions having nothing to do with religion. There have been sex abuse scandals in all types of organizations, although none rival the extent and the betrayal involved in the cover-up of clergy sexual abuse by the Catholic Church. In addition, students should be told that SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) claims that abusive religious workers have included “nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers.” While the numbers of religious workers who are sexual predators are small, their impact on their victims and on the families of their victims is very large. See the discussion suggested below.

PARENTING POINTS

Watch the movie with your child and discuss what interests the Church as a large organization would have in covering up sexual abuse of predatory priests. See Suggested Response to Discussion Question #6.

USING THE MOVIE IN THE CLASSROOM

Reporters Ben Bradlee Jr., Michael Rezendes, Matt Carroll,

Sacha Pfeiffer, Marty Baron and Editor Walter V. Robinson

Introduction to the Movie and Closing:

Before showing the movie, tell the class that the film is extremely faithful to what actually happened. Every major factual point made by the movie and most of the minor ones, as well, are based upon the historical record and interviews with participants in the events.

After showing the movie provide the following information to the class:

Sexual abuse of children is a problem in society at large. Most perpetrators have nothing to do with the Catholic Church. In the U.S., one in four girls and one in six boys will be victims of sexual abuse before the age of 18. (This is based on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control.) In a 30 student class with as many boys as girls, that’s seven or eight girls and five boys who will be victims of sexual abuse.

It turns out that religious organizations other than the Catholic Church have also had problems with sexually abusive religious workers. SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) points out that “nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers” have been charged with sexually abusing children in their congregations.

Sexual abuse of children is not limited to organizations affiliated with a religion. There have been sex abuse scandals in secular institutions although none rival the betrayal involved in the cover-up by officials of the Catholic Church.

The Globe Spotlight series was the initiating event in a sex abuse cover-up scandal that has engulfed the Catholic Church worldwide and tainted other religious organizations as well. More than 14 years have passed since the Globe’s Spotlight series first ran and while reforms have been made and billions of dollars paid to victims, official investigations are ongoing, and occasionally an effort to cover up clergy sex abuse still comes to light. In addition, victim advocacy groups, who have been right about this problem in the past, claim that some religious organizations although asserting they have reformed, continue to resist the changes necessary to fully protect children and women in their congregations. Among the religious institutions still subject to this criticism: the Roman Catholic Church.

It appears that the incidence of sexual abusers among priests is roughly the same as that of the general population, about 6%. Most abusers have many victims; some have hundreds of victims. The reason for the scandal in the Catholic Church was the cover-up. By protecting the abusive priests and keeping them in circulation, the Church hierarchy increased the number of victims.

A case can be made that the childhood sexual abuse cover-up scandal has been the worst that the Catholic Church has suffered in centuries, approaching the excesses of the inquisition, or its resistance to the advance of science, or the selling of indulgences that would allow sinners to purchase an exemption from punishment for their sins.

Applying the test of looking at actions rather than words to determine true intent, victim advocacy organizations note that despite the breathtaking scope of the cover-up and the harm suffered by thousands of children, only a few bishops or cardinals have been disciplined by the Church for failing to take action to protect children and parishioners from sexually predatory priests.

TWM recommends that teachers read the following passages to the class or in the alternative, print the following two paragraphs to distribute to students. These statements were made by Sacha Pfeiffer, a Spotlight team reporter, and Josh Stone, one of the scriptwriters. They provide a new perspective on the scandal. Ms. Pfeiffer and Mr. Stone were speaking at a 2015 conference of journalists held at the time the movie was released.

Sacha Pfeiffer: “After our stories ran, we did get occasional calls from people who would say, ‘What is in the water in Boston? What is wrong with your priests?’ and those are people who were not getting [the point] that this is a system problem and we now know from other reporting done around the world that when you can get into the file cabinets of your local diocese, often-times you will find this.”

“Related, I got a few calls after our stories began to run in which people actually said, ‘Do you guys think you are breaking some type of secret here? We always knew which priests you don’t send your son away with for a ski trip for the weekend.’ And what I thought was so interesting about those calls is that we learned and there truly is and this is the case with many kinds of predators — that they target certain types of people. They target weak vulnerable people. And the priests were in a unique opportunity because of their intimacy with the parish to know who were the weak vulnerable people, who were the broken homes: the single mothers; the kids struggling with sexuality issues, and they truly targeted on those people. And so the people who said they knew were the stronger families who were less likely to be targeted. Those who were the targets were often not in the know. And I think that was another real tragedy of this.”

Josh Singer, one of the scriptwriters for the movie, followed-up, saying that in his research he had heard similar things. He said, “It struck me that this is a collective action problem. … I think everyone knows that the Church was not a great actor here. … It wasn’t just the Church; there were a lot of people looking the other way because [they believed that] the Church is a good institution and why would you take down the Church? And that is a problem. And that is a collective action problem: no one wanting to go up against this good institution. … And that’s why good local journalism is so important … [the Press is] the only check on this type of corruption.” (Source of quotes: Interview with Original Globe Spotlight Team at the Online News Association Keynote Address 2015).

• The scene in which an abusive priest wanted to talk to the Spotlight reporter to excuse his actions but was shushed up by a woman at the place where he lived really occurred, except that the priest (Rev. Ronald H. Paquin) gave a full interview. He sought to justify his actions by claiming that. “Sure, I fooled around. But I never raped anyone and I never felt gratified myself. . . .” Paquin also claimed that he had been raped by other boys and by a priest when he was a child. This points to the fact that many sexual predators, driven by their compulsions, will create excuses or rationalizations for their actions. Hitler believed he was doing the right thing when he ordered the murder of millions in the concentration camps. Stalin, too, thought he was doing the right thing when he planned and had Communist Party officials carry out policies that resulted in the deaths of some 40 million people. So, too, did American slaveholders before the Civil War justify slavery on religious and ethical grounds that are now recognized as having been obviously false. There are many other examples from day-to-day life, as well as in history of people rationalizing unconscionable and wrongful conduct. [Note: The priest’s name was Rev. Ronald H. Paquin. He claims that he himself had been raped by a Catholic priest as a boy. The interview took place in his parlor and was not interrupted as shown in the movie.]

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

After watching the film, engage the class in a discussion using the following prompts.

1. Every action which involves other people has an ethical dimension. Those who are affected by the action are called stakeholders. Who are the stakeholders in a decision by a religious leader, such as a bishop, to cover up the fact that a priest working under his supervision have sexually abused a parishioner? For each stakeholder, describe how they were affected by the decision.

Suggested Response:

This list is not exclusive. Students might have additional ideas. The stakeholders and their interests include: (1) future victims of sexual abuse by the priest; their interest is in: (a) having a normal childhood undistorted by being the victim of sexual abuse; (b) experiencing a sexuality that is normal for them; and (c) not having to go through years of therapy; (2) the current victims; in addition to all the interests described in item #1, the victims have an interest in justice, including compensation for their injuries; (3) the family members of the current and future victims whose interests include having children in the family be safe from sexual predators and not having to go through years of family therapy; (4) the community of the churches attended by the future victims, the victims, and their families; the interests of the community includes the need to protect its members from injury; and (5) the public order and the rule of law; sexual abuse of children is against the law.

2. [Note to Teachers: The following class discussion exercise relates to the same concepts as the first question on the Film Study Worksheet for this movie. Both cover a key point in the lessons to be derived from the film, and the concepts bear repetition. This exercise will also help students respond to the first suggested assignment below. Teachers should decide how to coordinate these three parts of the lesson to best suit the needs of their classes.

TWM recommends that teachers ask the following question several times, addressing it to different students in turn, until most of the relevant information is brought out. After a group or institution is named and its role in the cover-up or the aftermath is described, ask students to discuss the possible motives of the people in the group or the leaders of the institution.]

The Question:

Describe the role that an institution or group of people played in the sexual abuse cover-up by the Catholic Church in Boston and how that role changed after the Globe Spotlight series came out.

This is TWM’s take, based on our research which has not been exhaustive. It is submitted for the purpose of providing teachers with a basis for discussion.

• The Church: Throughout the cover-up, Church officials placed the interests of the Church itself and of the predatory priests ahead of the interests of the parishioners. Church officials violated their sacred duty to protect the children who attended religious exercises, schools, and after-school activities. Since the publication of the articles, the Church has apologized, paid several billion dollars in damages, and it has instituted reforms. Cardinal Law was forced to resign but was given an important job at the Vatican in Rome. Victim advocacy organizations contend that the nationwide reforms of the Catholic Church are not sufficient to correct the problems.

As to motivation, there is no one correct answer. However, the most likely candidates are: 1) desiring to protect the Church from bad publicity; in other words, loyalty to the Church as an institution was more important to Church officials than their obligations to the children and families that attended church activities; and 2) loyalty to their fellow priests, even those who were sexual predators.

• The Press: The Boston Globe and later other newspapers throughout the nation played a leading role in exposing the cover-up, performing the core function of the Press: making sure that the institutions and the powerful in society are honest. However, several years before the Spotlight team began its investigation, one of the lawyers who was part of the system of quietly settling claims against the Church had sent information on 20 predatory priests to the newspaper. In addition, SNAP had also sent data on sexually abusive priests to the Globe. However, the newspaper had not followed-up on the information and had not investigated the Church’s institutional role in the cases. Thus, the Globe itself, like newspapers all over the country, did nothing with the information that was coming out about clergy sexual abuse of children . . . until Marty Baron became the paper’s editor. In other words, until the Spotlight series, the Globe, through its inaction, was part of the problem. The same could be said of other newspapers throughout the nation.

As to motivation the newspapers might have been afraid of the political power of the Church during the period in which they didn’t follow through, or there might have been no motivation at all and the failure to act may have been due to a focus on other cases and lack of resources. Finally, inaction could be due simply to people not doing their jobs. Obviously, after the Spotlight investigation began, the motive was to do a good job and fulfill a core function of the Press as reporters and as a newspaper.

• The Civil Justice System: This consists of the courts hearing civil cases and the lawyers who appear in those courts. Lawyers representing the victims were initially part of the problem by participating in the system by which claims were quietly settled with confidentiality agreements preventing the plaintiffs from talking publicly about the Church’s actions. However, in Boston, one lawyer, Mr. Garabedian, refused to go along with the cover-up, and after initially being suspicious of the intentions of the Globe reporters, he assisted in the Spotlight investigation. After the series ran, the plaintiffs’ lawyers became fully involved in obtaining compensation for victims. Defense lawyers were doing the best for their client, the Church, throughout. That is their obligation, but there is a question of whether the defense lawyers seeing the pattern should have simply resigned and not participated in the process. The rights of the Church under the attorney-client privilege (the duty of confidentiality) required the defense lawyers to keep quiet about the Church’s business, so they could not have gone to the newspapers. The actions of the defense lawyer shown in the film who corroborated some of the Globe’s information was a moral action but highly questionable from the standpoint of legal ethics. Also, when the Globe requested that the Court unseal records to allow the cover-up to proceed, the judge on the case agreed.

As to motivation of the lawyers involved in representing plaintiffs, the most likely motivation to go along with the cover-up was that the did not believe they could challenge the power of the Church, and the easiest way to get money for their clients (and for themselves) was to enter into settlements with a confidentiality clause. Clearly, they should have blown the whistle on the Church, as one of them did when he sent information to the Globe. However, the newspaper failed to follow through on the lead. As for motivation after the series ran, it was to obtain justice for the injured and to recover damages from the Church, the usual role for attorneys in civil litigation. All lawyers at all times were interested in making money, a legitimate interest so long as it is consistent with the public good, which it was not in many cases while the cover-up went forward.

• The Criminal Justice System: Like the civil justice system, many prosecutors did not see the pattern of clergy sexual abuse and most of the bishops and other Church officials who were responsible for the cover-up escaped criminal prosecution. However, it should be noted that it was difficult to bring cases against Church officials because of the statute of limitations and problems of getting the proof required for a conviction. Since the publication of the Spotlight series, a few people have been prosecuted.

As to motivation, the best we can figure is that the prosecutors did not want to fight the political power of the Church and they did not have the resources to investigate beyond the abuse cases in which complaints against specific priests had been brought to their attention. After the articles came out, much of the Church’s power was nullified, and the prosecutors could go forward if the statute of limitations had not run. There have been a few criminal prosecutions of Church officials in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and perhaps other places.

• Advocacy Organizations: Their role, like that of the Press, is to keep the powerful people and the large institutions of our society honest. They also advocate for the injured. We have no information about how well they performed this task with respect to clergy sexual abuse.

As to motivation, it remained the same throughout, justice for the victims and reform in the Church and society so that the cover-up would not repeat itself and to reduce the incidence of clergy sex abuse.

• Catholics who sent their children to the churches and schools at which the predatory priests worked and who suspected there were problems with some priests: During the cover-up, they did nothing. After the cover-up was exposed, they divided into those who demanded change, those who defended the Church, and those who left the Church in disgust.

As to motivation, there is no one correct response. The decision by each person was based on a mixture of motives, and some of the reasons would not apply to some of the actors. The reasons for doing nothing included: (1) they were acting on suspicion only and did not have hard proof; (2) as Josh Stone, the Scriptwriter said, “there were a lot of people looking the other way because [they thought] the Church is a ‘good’ institution and why would you take down the Church?”; (3) feeling powerless against the Church, particularly in Boston, a city in which the Church was immensely powerful; (4) the normalcy bias; (5) motivated blindness; and (6) simple self-interest in not wanting to get the Church angry at them, such as the family that delayed reporting abuse of two younger children because an older child had a scholarship to a Catholic high school and they were afraid to put that in jeopardy). These people were clearly a difficult position. First, they were operating on suspicion, and if they were wrong, they would have done a lot of damage to the reputation of an innocent person. Second, there could be retaliation against them or their children.

3. What is the role of a priest in the Catholic Church and how does that role affect your evaluation of the abusers and the men who planned and executed the cover-up?

In the Catholic church, a priest has

“. . . the function of guiding the community as shepherd. . . [T]he proper function of the parish priest, stems from his unique relation to Christ the Head and Shepherd. It is a function having a sacramental character. It is not entrusted to the priest by the community, but, through the Bishop, it comes to him from the Lord.” ( The Priest, Pastor, and Leader of the Parish Community from the Catholic Church, Congregation of the Clergy, Approved by Pope John Paul II, 8/4/2002.)

The actions of the abusive priests and the Church officials who covered up their wrongdoing and moved the abusive priests from assignment to assignment had an additional level of betrayal beyond the many betrayals involved in sexual abuse by a layperson. This is because, in addition to all of the other betrayals involved in childhood sexual abuse, the betrayals by the priests and Church officials were a grave spiritual betrayal.

4. The Spotlight reporters found that Church officials treated sexual predators as “sinners” and “forgave” them their sins. What is wrong with this attitude?

Forgiveness requires true repentance. There are no solid figures about how many sexual abusers of children are repeat offenders, however, it is a substantial number. After a second offense, forgiveness turns to tolerance. Church officials are intelligent men. You have to then look at their own reasons for tolerating the illegal behavior. This leads to the considerations described in the suggested response to Discussion Question #2 above.

5. What do you make of the fact that it was a Jewish editor recently hired from a Miami newspaper who assigned the Spotlight reporters to work on the story and to require that the reporters focus on the question of whether there were institutional problems that were leading to the repeated instances of clergy sexual abuse?

It goes to show that sometimes someone from the outside has to come in to provide perspective and to raise alarm bells about matters to which the others have become accustomed. It also has to do with the high quality of Mr. Baron’s journalism. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is Jewish.

6. Why is this scandal more about a “cover-up” than it is about clergy sexual abuse?

There is no evidence that clergy engages in more sexual abuse than the general population. However, the cover-up was a dishonest and callous action by powerful and respected bishops who had a responsibility to protect the children and families who attended Catholic churches. They failed in that responsibility choosing instead to protect the Church and the sexual predators.

Additional Discussion Questions.

7. [This discussion relates to reasons that children who are sexually abused by religious workers such as priests, ministers, or rabbis often don’t report that abuse to their parents. Many of these reasons also apply to abuse by laypersons. This list does not include all of the possible harms suffered by victims of childhood sexual abuse.]

Some reasons why children will be reluctant to report abuse by priests or other respected religious workers are set out below.

a. Guilt: Why would a victim of clergy sexual abuse feel guilty about what had happened? Suggested Response: There are several possible reasons. First, the perpetrator will convince the child that the abuse was the child’s fault; that somehow the child caused the perpetrator to take the wrongful action, for example, because the child is too pretty or seductive. Second, biologically sexual contact is pleasurable, and often the child will feel sexual pleasure in the abuse. The child will then feel guilty about that. (One of the terrible things about childhood sexual abuse is that it turns what should be a wonderful experience into something sordid and conflicted.) In addition, perpetrators often lead their victims into taking action as part of the abuse either by cooperating or extending the abuse to others. This is not the fault of the victim, but the victim may feel guilt because of it.

b. Shame and embarrassment: Why would a child feel shame or embarrassment at having been the victim of sexual abuse by a priest or other respected religious worker? Suggested Response: Revealing sexual abuse involves the discussion of intimate sexual activity. All of the reasons for feeling guilty about the abuse also apply to shame or embarrassment.

c. Fear of Disrupting the Family or Community: Why would a child fear that disclosing clergy sexual abuse would disrupt family or community? Suggested Response: The child will know some of the consequences to the priest or religious worker if the child disclosed the abuse. This could result in a change in the child’s life and that of his or her family or community. The child may fear these change and may not want to be blamed for them. Perpetrators sometimes play on this fear to secure silence from their victims.

d. Becoming Co-opted by the Perpetrator: Why would a child become co-opted by an abusive priest or other respected religious worker? Suggested Response: In situations of sexual abuse, the perpetrator will enlist the child as co-participant in keeping the abuse from others: “it’s our little secret.” It’s very flattering to a child to be a co-participant with a priest or minister in taking some action. Co-option of the victim also occurs when the perpetrator leads the child to participate in the acts of abuse or in assisting the perpetrator in abusing others. This is compounded by guilt, shame, and embarrassment.

e. Fear of Disbelief: Do you think that child-victims of sexual abuse by a priest or other respected religious worker might feel that they would not be believed? Why is that? Suggested Response: The priest or religious worker is often respected by the child’s family and the community. The child will think that other adults will believe him rather than a mere child. In addition, the child will be vaguely aware that believing the child will require parents and religious officials to take unpleasant actions, change their perceptions of the abuser, and admit that their initial evaluations of the abuser were wrong. The child may think that this will be difficult for the adults and, not wanting to go to the trouble, the adults will choose not to believe the child.

8. What reasons would a bishop have to cover up the actions of abusive religious workers and move them from one church to another where they would have access to more children?

There is no one correct answer to this question. However, the most likely candidates are: 1) desiring to protect the church from bad publicity; in other words, loyalty to the church as an institution was more important to them than their obligations to the children and families that attended church activities; and 2) loyalty to their fellow religious workers, even the ones who were serial sexual predators.

9. Before the Globe Spotlight series, there had been intermittent scandals all over the U.S. about clergymen sexually abusing people in their congregations. What made the Spotlight series different?

The usual clergy sex abuse cases were assigned to beat reporters who did not have the time or resources to go deep into the story and look for hidden institutional problems in the religious organizations involved. The Spotlight team had the time and resources to go deeply into the story.

10. Many people knew about the abusive priests before the reporters at the Globe Spotlight team started to investigate the institutional role of the Church in the scandal. This includes the parishioners from functional families who would not send their kids on overnight trips with certain priests. Why did they not act to stop the Church from allowing priests to abuse the children of others?

There is no one correct response. The decision by each person was a mixture of motives and some of the reasons would not apply to some of the actors. The reasons for doing nothing included: (1) they do not have hard proof; (2) as Josh Stone, the Scriptwriter said, “There were a lot of people looking the other way because [they thought] the Church is a ‘good’ institution and why would you take down the Church?”; (3) feeling powerless against the Church, particularly in Boston, a city in which the Church was immensely powerful, (4) especially with respect to the attorneys, ethical obligations to keep their clients’ confidences; (5) the normalcy bias; (6) motivated blindness; and (7) simple self-interest in not wanting to get the Church angry at them, such as the family that delayed reporting abuse of two younger children because an older child had a scholarship to a Catholic high school and they were afraid to put that in jeopardy).

11. Give other examples of situations you may have heard or read about in which organizations have acted in ways that betrayed their fundamental principles or in which they or their officers have committed crimes?

The response will necessarily change with the times. One that pops up every now and then is when a charity or non-profit organization uses donations made to it, not to help people, but to provide expensive offices and lavish expense accounts for their executives.

12. There are a number of instances in American history in which groups of people who caused serious injury to many people were not prosecuted for their crimes. These groups include: (a) tobacco company executives who knowingly addicted millions to cigarettes and other tobacco products when they knew that use of tobacco causes cancer and heart disease; they even committed perjury when they testified to the Congress and denied any knowledge of a link between smoking and disease (see Learning Guide to The Insider ); and (b) Wall Street, banking industry, and rating company executives who lied about the condition of the mortgages that were repackaged and sold to investors (see Learning Guide to The Big Short expected to be published in the Summer of 2016). The Catholic bishops who suppressed evidence of sexual abuse by priests and were thus accessories to their crimes also, with one or two exceptions, were not prosecuted by law enforcement. Why does this happen?

Each situation is unique. The bishops generally were not prosecuted because of the political power of the Catholic Church, because there was often little direct evidence of their involvement, and due to the fact that by the time their actions were discovered, the statute of limitations for any crimes they had committed had expired. Teachers should note that in some states statutes of limitations were extended and that in each of these examples, although it doesn’t always happen, the organizations that profited from the unpunished wrongful behavior by their executives were sued in the civil courts and billions of dollars in judgments or settlements were paid. However, each of the organizations were extremely wealthy and could well afford to make the payments.

See Discussion Questions for Use With any Film that is a Work of Fiction .

CHILD ABUSE

See the Subject Matter Discussion Questions # 7 above.

MORAL-ETHICAL EMPHASIS (CHARACTER COUNTS)

Responsibility.

(Do what you are supposed to do; Persevere: keep on trying!; Always do your best; Use self-control; Be self-disciplined; Think before you act — consider the consequences; Be accountable for your choices)

See general discussion question #1.

1. Describe how the Pillar of Responsibility was violated by bishops who assigned priests to parishes when they knew that the priests had a history of sexual abuse of parishioners and how the stakeholders were affected by these decisions.

See also Discussion Questions which Explore Ethical Issues Raised by Any Film .

ASSIGNMENTS, PROJECTS & ACTIVITIES

Any of the discussion questions or questions 2 – 9 on the Film Study Worksheet for Spotlight can serve as a writing prompt. Additional assignments include:

1. Write an essay describing the various roles that several types of institutions or groups played in the sexual abuse cover-up scandal of the Roman Catholic Church and its aftermath. These include: religious institutions (in this case the Catholic Church); the Press; the civil justice system; the criminal justice system; advocacy organizations; and the Catholics who sent their children to the churches and schools at which the predatory priests worked. Describe the roles these institutions or groups played: (1) while the cover-up was in place before the Spotlight series was published and (2) after publication of the first article in the series. Develop and state a theory about what motivated the people in these institutions or groups to act in the ways that they did. Justify your theory with facts and sound reasoning.

[ Note to Teachers: This assignment is similar to question #1 on the Film Study Worksheet for this movie and Discussion Question #2, above.]

2. Generally, a good way to discover someone’s true intentions is to look at what they have done and what they are actually doing rather than relying on what they say they are doing or will do. The Catholic Church has apologized many times for the actions of some of its priests, it has paid billions in damages, and it has instituted some reforms. However, activists for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) question whether the reforms go far enough. Research the historical record using the Internet and write an essay taking a position one way or the other on this issue.

3. Research the history of the Catholic Church’s childhood sexual abuse cover-up scandal in [Name of archdiocese in which students live or in a particular country].

4. Research the record of Protestant [Jewish, Greek Orthodox, or some other religious denomination] religious organizations in their treatment of sexually abusive priests.

CCSS ANCHOR STANDARDS

Multimedia:

Anchor Standard #7 for Reading (for both ELA classes and for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Classes). (The three Anchor Standards read: “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media, including visually and quantitatively as well as in words.”) CCSS pp. 35 & 60. See also Anchor Standard # 2 for ELA Speaking and Listening, CCSS pg. 48.

LINKS TO THE INTERNET

Original boston globe stories.

• Church allowed abuse by priest for years by John Rezendes, Boston Globe 1/6/2002;
• A list of 43 Articles in the series with links ;
• Ex-priest jailed in abuse scandal has been set free by Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement, 10/2/2015;
• Priest says he, too, molested boys by Sacha Pfeiffer and Steve Kurkjian, 1/26/2002 (about Pfeiffer’s interview with Rev. Ronald H. Paquin);

U.S. Victim Advocacy Organizations

• SNAP – Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ;
• Voice of the Faithful ;
• Catholic Whistleblowers ;
• Bishop Accountability.org ;

Response of Catholic Church

• Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People issued by the United States Council of Catholic Archbishops;
• Secretariat of Youth Protection United States Council of Catholic Archbishops;
• Former L.A. archbishop disciplined over handling of sex abuse allegations by Michael Martinez, CNN, 2/2/13;
• Papal commission: Bishops must report sex abuse charges from The Crux, 2/15/2016;
• What’s the State of the Church’s Child Abuse Crisis? by Sarah Childress,m PBS Frontline 2/15/14;
• A church seeks healing — Pope accepts Law’s resignation in Rome by Michael Paulson, Boston Globe, 12/14/2002;
• Catholic archdiocese in Minnesota charged in priest sex abuse by Ben Brumfield, CNN 6/6/15;

International

• The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will investigate whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales; this inquiry is ongoing as of April 2016;
• Minister And Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors , a United Kingdom Organization;
• One In Four professionally supports men and women who have experienced sexual abuse during childhood;
• Confronting sexual abuse in the Jewish community , by Michael Melchior and Manny Waks, Jerusalem Post, 7/7/2015;

Other Articles

• A heroic whistleblower in the long, sad mess of clergy sexual abuse by Margery Eagan, in the Crux, 10/28/15;
• Wikipedia Catholic Church sexual abuse cases ;
• Sharon’s Rose: The Voice of One Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivor to Another ;
• Clergy Sexual Misconduct from Baylor University with stories of women abused by different types of clergy;
• Denomination Thwarts Bankruptcy by Debra Fieguth, Christianity Today, 5/1/2003;
• Abuse Lawsuits Threaten to Bankrupt Canadian Anglican Church on BeliefNet, 7/2/2003;
• The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community from the Catholic Church, Congregation of the Clergy, Approved by Pope John Paul II,8/4/2002;
• SNAP – Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
• Real Life ‘Spotlight’ Lawyer Deluged With New Abuse Cases Interview with Michael Garabedian (the laywer shown representing sex abuse victims in the movie) by Robin Young appearing on Here and Now, 3/2/2016;
• Guest Column: Real action on sex abuse crisis is needed By Sister Maureen Paul Turlish, Daily Times, 3/13/16; also featured on Voice of the Faithful Website accessed 4/10/1;6
• Globe reporters tell their ‘Spotlight’ stories Boston Globe 11/29/14; this is a puff piece — it has links that are good.
• Vatican abuse summit: $2.2 billion and 100,000 victims in U.S. alone by John L. Allen Jr., National Catholic Reporter, 2/8/2012;
• Sex Abuse Cost The U.S. Catholic Church Nearly $3 Billion According To Report By Bishops Conference by Yasmine Hafiz Huffington Post, 4/4/2014;
• Spotlight Isn’t a Thriller. But It Gets the Facts Right by K.M. McFarland, Wired.com 11/12/2015; also discusses how filmmakers used camera angles;
• Article on Spotlight in History vs. Hollywood; this article has excellent information and insights;
• Facts and Statistics on Sexual Abuse National Sex Offender Public Website, U.S. Department of Justice;
• Interview with Original Globe Spotlight Team at On-Line News Association Keynote Address 2015;
• The Real Reporters Behind “Spotlight” On Reliving The Facts And Accepting The Fiction by Nicole LaPorte, on Fast Co-Create, 01/07/16;
• Information is Beautiful a site that rates movie accuracy;
• The Silent Majority: Adult Victims of Sexual Exploitation by Clergy ;
• Sexual Abuse Statistics from the National Center for Victims of Violent Crime;
• Precious, Sexual Abuse & Eating Disorders Published on December 28, 2009, by Susan Albers, Psy.D. in Comfort Cravings in Psychology Today;
• Reasons that Children do not Tell from Child Safe of Central Missouri;
• Why Don’t Child Sex Abuse Victims Tell by David M. Allen, M.D. in Psychology Today, October 22, 2012;
• Child Sexual Abuse Facts Children’s Assessment Center; Houston;
• Shepherds’ Accountability When The Flock Is Abused by Francis X. Clines, N.Y. Times Opinion, 3/18/2016; on the Voice of the Faithful home page accessed 4/10/16;
• Pennsylvania Charges Ex-Leaders of Catholic Order With Aiding Sexual Predator by Dave Phillips, New York Times, 3/15/16 – in some places the cover-up continues;
• Cardinal’s Aide Is Found Guilty in Abuse Case ; by Jon Hurdle and Erin Eckholm, New York Times, 6/22/12.

This Learning Guide was written by James Frieden and is scheduled to be published on April 12, 2016.