5.2 Response to Film: Her, by Spike Jonze

During the film screening today, I want you to *make* a lot of notes.  In specific, I want you to:

A. write down words you don’t recognize (to be worked on in your Word Play Glossary)

B. write down the key narrative elements of the film: who are the main characters?  Where and when does the film take place—that is, what clues indicate the film’s setting? what’s the central action/conflict/transformation that takes place?

C. describe in detail one scene that you like, and explain why you like it.  Some questions to consider:
—-when in the film does the scene take place (beginning, middle, or end) and what is going on immediately before this scene happens (context)?
—-how is the scene shot (from what points of view)?  what is the lighting like?  what does the set/background look like?  what do the characters look like?
—-what action goes down in this scene?  what, if anything, gets said?

By Thursday, post your responses to B and/or C in a reply to this post.

4.1 Connecting and Transitioning Between 2 Blog Posts

 

For next week, I want you to re-read your blog posts from the past 3 weeks and choose 2 of them that you’d like to use in your Essay 1 (due next week at tutoring).  I then want you to work on connecting the ideas in these two posts, using the steps we worked on in class, copied below:

  1. Write a few sentences explaining the connections and similarities between the two blog posts below.
  2. Referring to some of your ideas from #1, write a transition between these two posts so they would “flow” together well in an essay.  You will probably have to change how the posts end/begin, make a new paragraph, and add 1-2 transitional sentences.

3.2 Quoting and Responding to Turkle’s Essay

Referring to the “Quotation” exercise in the packet, quote a passage from Turkle’s chapter titled “Romance.”  In your response, include an explanation of the context the quote appears in.  What is going on in this part of her essay?  What is Turkle discussing in the nearby sentences and paragraphs?  Do you notice her using any “elements of narrative”?  Who are the “characters” in this essay?  Is there “action” or “conflict” that these characters are involved in?

In light of this context, what do you think the significance of the passage you’ve quoted is?  What does the quoted passage do to you as a reader?  How do you think it contributes to the essay as a whole?  Does it develop the “action(s)” Turkle is narrating?  Does the passage analyze the “action” or the “characters”?  Is Turkle making a “point” in this passage?  What exactly is she saying? Explain!

 

Essay Submission Instructions (Essay 2 draft due Thursday)

ESSAY FORMATTING & SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
1. Open Google template (in the “Writing Assignments” tab on website).
2. Replace the text in the template with your info and essay.  Keep the formatting (the line spacing, the paragraph indents, etc.) the same!
3. Title your essay.  (Good titles express an interesting or important part of what the author is trying to say.)
4. In the upper-left part of the screen click the title of the Google Doc and re-title it (Full Name, Essay 1).
5. In the upper-right part of the screen, click “Share” (see screenshot #1 here).
6. In pop-up window (upper right), click “Get Sharable Link.” (view screenshot #2 here).
7. In the drop-down menu, select “Anyone with the link can EDIT.”
8. Copy the Google Doc link (view screenshot #3 here).
9. Return to course website and click “Assignment Submissions” ( <– here and in the “Writing Assignments” tab).
10. Fill in your info.
11. Paste the Google Doc link in the final field of the form.
12. Submit!

 

3.1 Online Conversation

For this post, I want you to find a conversation you’ve had with someone on your phone that you feel comfortable sharing. Then I want you to introduce the “setting” and “context” of this conversation (where/when did it happen? what was it about?). Next, write out at least 10 lines of back-and-forth from the conversation.

Lastly, I want you to comment on particular words you and/or the person you were texting used that stood out to you (and why).

2.2 Your Online Identities

Briefly summarize your different online “identities.”  Be sure to include all the different social media platforms you’ve ever used—Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc.—as well as any other games and/or forums you’ve participated in online.

Then describe in detail one particular “identity”/account you’ve used the most.  Don’t worry–you don’t have to include the name/handle of your online identity if you don’t want to.  Just describe how you use the account, what you use it for, the kinds of characters you interact with using this identity, and also how it compares to your identity/”self” in real life.