It’s time to practice interpretive criticism and apply descriptive criticism to your understanding of how a specific film functions (or not) as art.

You can choose any film you like–any genre, language, or mode–animation, feature documentary, blockbuster, art house, indie, short film, etc.

If you’re stumped for ideas, you can choose one of the films I suggested on the previous page.

Prompt

Make and support a claim (a thesis) about how the film you’ve chosen to watch functions as art.

Purpose

To convey your understanding of the difference between descriptive and interpretive criticism by clearly engaging in both, and to convince your reader of the relationship between the film you’ve chosen and ideas about the function of art.

Instructions

To do this, you need a clear thesis, e.g. The Wachowski sisters’ film The Matrix (1999) clearly functions as art as it asks viewers to critically assess how human beings negotiate hope in times of terror.

You will also need to identify the film’s theme, referring to a descriptive analysis of at least two (but not more than four) key scenes of the film. You then need to explain your reasoning, determining how the elements of these scenes help you make your case for whether or not the film is art by drawing on ideas from your readings and clips about the function of art and discussion about film as art.