Advanced Occupy Wall Street :
Warm-up (Pair Work)
1) Have you ever been in a
protest? If so, when?
2) What is your top complaint
about your country’s government?
3) What would be the best way
to fix this problem?
Occupy Wall Street Protests Spread
In mid-September [2011], a movement calling itself Occupy Wall
Street (OWS) began in Zuccotti Park, New York City. Inspired by the spirit of
the Arab Spring that saw the toppling of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt,
participants in the Occupy movement are also out to send a message to their
leaders. The protesters, calling themselves the “99 percent”, are protesting
against the influence the wealthiest 1% of the population have on US laws and
policies. Many attack crony capitalism, a system in which
success in business depends on close relationships between businesspeople and
government officials.
On October 15th, 2011, Occupy protests spread to other cities around
the world. In Rome, anarchists and other extreme factions hijacked
protests, causing violence. Protests were mainly peaceful elsewhere, however,
and protesters say they will to continue protesting indefinitely.
While the leaderless movement seems unified in its attack on
corporate greed, in America at least, OWS has faced criticism for lacking coherent
demands. Protesters of differing political persuasions displayed
signboards varying in message from “Banks are cancer” and “Arrest the 1%” to
“Free Tibet.” Some call for an end to capitalism, some demand free university
education, while others endorse killing the rich.
There is division among the protesters who believe the movement
needs to elucidate a set of demands and those who contend that the
public airing of grievances is a worthwhile end in itself. Kalle
Lasn, an activist involved in organizing the U.S. movement, belongs to the
latter group. Lasn says, “The messy, leaderless, demandless movement has
launched a national conversation … that we haven’t had in 20 years. … That’s
the magic of it." (320 words)
[Sources: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/15/world/occupy-goes-global/index.html,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street]
Occupy Wall Street ESL Lesson
Plan : Comprehension Questions [separate piece of paper]
1) What is the inspiration of
the OWS movement?
2) Who is the 1%?
3) In your own words, how
would you define crony capitalism?
4) True or False: Not
all Occupy protests have been peaceful.
5) What is the main criticism
of the movement?
6) Why does Kalle Lasn
believe OWS is good?
A related
site called We Are the 99% records stories from people around
the country. : http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com
http://occupywallst.org
Character Analysis
for Dark Knight Rises [2012]
Character Analysis
When you write a character analysis, you will be
expected to describe a character's personality.
We get to know characters in our stories through the things they
say, feel, and do. It's not as difficult as it may seem to figure out a
character's personality traits based on his/her thoughts and behaviors.
You will receive clues about a character's personality
through his or her:
1.
Words
2.
Actions
3.
Reactions
4.
Feelings
5.
Movements
6.
Thoughts
7.
Mannerisms
2.) Character Role
·
When you write a character analysis, you must also
define each character's role.
·
In addition to having personality traits, characters
also fill certain roles in a story. They either play a major role, as a central
element to the story, or they play a minor role to serve a supporting role in
the story.
3.) Character Development (Growth and Change)
When you are asked to write a character analysis, you
will be expected to explain how a character changes and grows. Most characters
go through changes as a story unfolds-otherwise, stories would be pretty
boring!
Batman
|
Bane
|
Selina Kyle
|
Detective John Black
|
Name: Date:
Assignment: Ideological
Paper
I. Conduct research on the Occupy Wall Street Movement
Identify:
· Cause of the
Movement
· Relevant
Historical Background on the Movement
· Important
Figures in the Movement
· The 99%
· Have at least 4
newspaper/scholarly articles
II. Watch the Film: The Dark Knight Rises
Fill-Out:
· Character
Analysis Table
While watching the film think of how the characters could be a
representation of ideologies or people from the Occupy Wall Street Movement
III. Assignment:
Write a 3 page minimum, 4 page maximum: paper utilizing the Dark
Knight Rises and its relation to Occupy Wall Street. How does the movie parallel
the movement? What social classes do the main characters represent? Does the
film serve as a warning or an endorsement of the movement?
Due Date: January 4th, 2012
Content Rubric:
Course Objective
|
Demonstrates Excellence in the expression of this objective
|
Demonstrates Proficiency
|
Demonstrates
Competence
|
Inadequately expressed/ Not present
|
A.
Use a historical and cultural framework and
formal vocabulary in writing about film
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
E. Write
meaningfully about the formal and ideological issues of the film(s) written
about
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
Writing Tips:
In many
ways, writing a paper about film is no different from writing other kinds of
papers in the Humanities. You need to focus your topic, write a good thesis sentence, settle on a structure, write clear and coherent paragraphs, and tend to matters of grammar and style.
In some other ways, however, writing a paper about film has some
challenges of its own. Examine the collected tips here:
·
Don't simply summarize the film. I have seen the film; you don't need to
recount the plot to me. I am looking for analysis, not summary.
· Don't simply summarize the use of camera angles or editing techniques. You've annotated shot
sequences in order to find something to say about them. Don't simply transcribe
your annotation and call it a paper. Rather, posit something about what the
director is trying to achieve, or the effect that this shot sequence has upon
the audience.
·
Don't limit yourself to a discussion of plot and characters. Some students come to
film criticism trying to employ the techniques they've used to analyze novels
in their English classes. They focus on analyzing the characters, themes, and
plot. Film Studies papers focus on different elements
of composition.
·
Avoid the "I." It's too easy to slip into a subjective "reviewer's"
stance when you use the "I" in your criticism. Try to find a more
objective way of beginning your sentences than "I found" or "I
feel."
·
You should be weaving the plot and characters of
the film into your analysis of Occupy Wall Street.
Examples of Citations:
Film Citation:
Work Cited Entry:
The
Dark Knight Rises.
Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman,
Anne
Hathaway, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Legendary Pictures, Syncopy
Films, DC
Comics, 2012. Film.
In-Text Citation:
Nolan’s
ball dance scene acts as a warning to the upper class’ ignorance of the 99%
evidenced by Selina Kyle comments to
Bruce Wayne: “You and
your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all
gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little
for the rest of us” (The Dark Knight Rises).
