You will act as a critic for some of the main subjects covered in the humanities. You will conduct a series of short, evaluative critiques of film, philosophy, literature, music, and myth. You will respond to five different prompts, and each response should include an analysis of the topics using terminology unique to that subject area and should include an evaluation as to why the topic stands the test of time. The five prompts are as follows:
1: Choose a film and offer an analysis of why it is an important film, and discuss it in terms of film as art. Your response should be more than a summary of the film.
2: Imagine you had known Plato and Aristotle and you had a conversation about how we fall in love. Provide an overview of how Plato would explain falling in love, and then provide an overview of how Aristotle might explain falling in love.
3: Compare and contrast the two poems below:
LOVE’S INCONSISTENCY
I find no peace, and all my war is done;
I fear and hope, I burn and freeze likewise
I fly above the wind, yet cannot rise;
And nought I have, yet all the world I seize on;
That looseth, nor locketh, holdeth me in prison, And holds me not, yet can I ’scape no wise;
Nor lets me live, nor die, at my devise,
And yet of death it giveth none occasion.
Without eyes I see, and without tongue I plain;
I wish to perish, yet I ask for health;
I love another, and yet I hate myself;
I feed in sorrow, and laugh in all my pain;
Lo, thus displeaseth me both death and life,
And my delight is causer of my grief.
Petrarch
After great pain a formal feeling comes—
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff Heart questions—was it He that bore?
And yesterday—or centuries before?
The feet mechanical go round
A wooden way
Of ground or air or ought
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment like a stone.
This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived
As freezing persons recollect
The snow—
First chill, then stupor, then
The letting go
Emily Dickinson
4: Compare and contrast these two pieces of music: see files attached below
Beethoven’s Violin Romance No. 2
Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag
5: Explain in classical terms why a modern character is a hero. Choose from either Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones, Bilbo Baggins, Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen, or Ender Wiggins.
