Classwork for September 10, second week
NOTE: AN EASIER ON THE EYES VERSION IS IN FILES.
Please follow this sequence. These tasks should take approximately 2.5 hours altogether.
Make sure you really know what these terms mean:
alliteration
metaphor
simile
personification
Then spend about 20 minutes identifying the literary devices in the excerpt from Lolita provided in Discussion
When you are done, please post it in the Discussion folder. It is classwork, class participation work.
2. Then watch the presentation “Lolita comparisons reedit.avi,” which shows key clips from the two film versions:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/onqnzaqw1rupp39/Lo%20comparisons%20reedit.avi?dl=0
(this link is direct to the video you need) 41 minutes
These links work by copying and pasting each into your browser. In an email about Dropbox, they may be hyperlinked to click on.
3. After watching, please write down your reactions to the following:
a. Which version, the first in black & white or the second in color seems closer to the novel?
Explain why you say this.
b. What are your opinions of the actors playing Humbert, Charlotte, Lolita, and Quilty?
(Please note: the young actresses playing Lolita were reportedly both 14 at the time of filming though one looks older and the character is supposed to be younger. Also note that the 1962 version reflects the cars, clothing, and hairstyles of when it was filmed, while the 1998 version is made to look like the authentic time of the novel – the late 1940s to 1953.)
c. What did you notice about the two different versions of Louise, the maid?
d. What differences in tone do you sense in these two films? Why do you think the 1962 version has more humor? Vladimir Nabokov wrote the novel and the screenplay for the b&w film.
4. Next, please watch the presentation called “Cinema If20.avi.”
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c9fp2f7m2s5iulr/Cinema%20I%20f20.avi?dl=0
(direct link) 88 minutes
Remember you may have to copy and paste the URLs.
5. Then, as you did for our first video two weeks ago, please answer the following
a. Name three different things you feel you learned.
b. Mention something you liked about the presentation.
c. Ask at least one question that now comes to mind about this presentation.
All the above is due by next Friday morning, before the third class.
Failure to respond will negatively impact your grade and constitutes an absence. The same is true for week one’s work and future classes.
Please keep in mind we are watching various course presentations to give you basic information, and another reason is to give you time to finish the novel. In two weeks we will watch the first film version. The week after, we will see the remake. This is the only time in our course that we will watch two versions of the same story. Watching both versions of Lolita helps illustrate how filmmakers deal with censorship. There will be a quiz on the novel in two weeks. The first essay will be assigned in a few weeks. It is the most challenging assignment of the whole semester and you need time for it.
