Occupy Wall Street and Winter Break Paper Assignment

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 4^th, 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
Apply film language in the analysis of film(s)	4	3	2	1
Explain the larger social-historical contexts from which the chosen film(s) emerges	4	3	2	1
Analyze and describe the ideological implications of the film(s) written about in terms of one of the following: race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, nation.	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). 

Occupy Wall Street from Wordpandit