SHORT PAPER ASSIGNMENT:

IMPORTANT: You MUST follow these instructions exactly or you will receive no credit!

READ CAREFULLY:

The paper should be double-spaced, 12pt type, and around four to five pages long. Grammar and spelling mistakes will not be tolerated – proofread carefully and use your spell-check programs.

IMPORTANT: Choose any film not listed on the Excluded Movie List. Almost any movie can be used but it must take place in the United States – it doesn’t necessarily have to filmed in the US (many movies, for example, are filmed in British Columbia) – it just has to take place in the US. As you think about possible choices, think about how geography is produced through the film and how different environments are portrayed and how place and space figure into the plot or whatever is going on in the film. Your paper will describe the geography of your movie through the use of relevant chapters covered over the course of the semester. No outside sources are permitted!

Think geographically about what you have seen in your movie. Spend NO more than a couple sentences summarizing the movie. I will deduct points if you exceed that limit. You should then develop the geographic themes that the movie uses as part of the story. This might include particular spatial interactions between characters and places and/or people – or how geographies are created within your movie. How are the various geographies in the text reflected in the landscapes depicted? How do these geographies help create suspense or amusement or spectacle? Discuss the possible motivations the producers had for choosing the settings that were used in the movie. Support your general arguments with specific examples from the movie. How do space and place help the movie make its point? How does the movie reinforce or contest the formation of the mental maps we use to navigate the real geographies of the United States?

Pay particular attention to what you have read. How do the chapter themes found in the text relate to the movie you are discussing? Again, you are a geographer – not a critic – your answer should encompass the spatial aspects of the movie as discussed by the chapter themes. You can concentrate on two or three chapters or try and apply as many chapters as possible. Just be thorough and clear in your approach. Do not use any outside sources except the text. Use the chapter headings of the text as a guide and, again, do not ‘review’ or summarize the movie – discuss the geographies you uncover through viewing the movie you choose. At the very least devote a paragraph or two to as many of the chapter topics as possible – for example, discuss the Physical Features in your movie, or Megalopolis or Hawaii and so on. There are no distinct ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers – I am more interested in how you are able to interpret what you have read in the text and the lectures and how you then apply that to the movie under discussion. And remember, have fun while you do this – use a movie that you personally enjoy and find interesting and then explore its geographic qualities.

I provided you with a sample essay that he provided us with, and three pdf’s of different geographical locations in the US. Do not use any movie in the excluded movie list. Just follow the directions that were given, no outside sources, and please send me the movie you will choose! If you need any further material based on the movie please let me know!