Read the sample film review given below and assess it. Then write your own review of the film you have watched recently and that has made a great impression on you.  

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Father of the Bride, directed by Charles Sayer, is a modern remake of the 1950’s film starring Spencer Tracy. This time the role of doting father is played by Steve Martin, and Diane Keaton plays his long-suffering wife.

  The story begins with Martin’s daughter announcing her imminent marriage. Reluctant to see his beloved daughter leave the family nest, he feels more like he’s losing a daughter than gaining a son-in-law.

  As preparations for the big day get started, there follows a chain of comic events, helped along by the delightful Martin Short, superb as the wedding organizer for the occasion.

  Steve Martin gives just as admirable a performance as Tracy did in the original film, and brings his own unique brand of humor to the part.

  Father of the Bride is essentially a funny, enjoyable film, suitable for old and young alike. For those of you who like a good chuckle, it’s well worth going to see.    

Essay Writing

Stephen Edwin King, America’s best-known writer of horror fiction, was born in Portland, Maine in 1947. King is one of the most popular authors in America, and a very prolific writer as well. He is a huge fan of the short story. “1408”, “The Mist”, and “Hearts in Atlantis” are just a few of the 35 short stories he wrote that have been made into movies, though perhaps the most famous is “Stand By Me”. He has written 8 story collections and a total of 124 short stories and 17 Novellas in his career. He was also selected to be the editor of The Best American Short Stories of 2007, and also won the O. Henry Award in 1996.

In the following essay King speculates about the popular appeal of horror movies. Before you begin reading, think about your own attitude toward horror films. Do you enjoy them? “Crave” them? Dislike them? Or are you indifferent?

  As you read, notice how assertively King presents his assumptions about people, such as the ones in the opening sentence. How does he try to get you to accept these assumptions? Is he successful?

WHY WE CRAVE HORROR MOVIES

I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better – and maybe not all that much better, after all. We’ve all known people who talk to themselves, people who sometimes squinch their faces into horrible grimaces when they believe no one is watching, people who have some hysterical fear – of snakes, the dark, the tight place, the long drop … and of course, those final worms and grubs that are waiting so patiently underground.

When we pay our four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row center in a theatre showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare.

Why? Some of the reasons are simple and obvious. To show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster. Which is not to say that a really good horror movie may not surprise a scream out of us at some point, the way we may scream when the roller coaster twists through a complete 360 or plows through a lake at the bottom of the drop. And horror movies, like roller coasters, have always been the special province of the young, by the time one turns 40 or 50, one’s appetite for double twists or 360-degree loops may be considerably depleted.

We also go to re-establish our feelings of essential normality; the horror movie is innately conservative, even reactionary. Freda Jackson as the horrible melting woman in Die, Monster, Die! confirms for us that no matter how far we may be removed from the beauty of a Robert Redford or a Diana Ross, we are still light-years from true ugliness.

And we go to have fun.

Ah, but this is where the ground starts to slope away, isn’t it? Because this is a very peculiar sort of fun, indeed. The fun comes from seeing others menaced – sometimes killed. One critic has suggested that if pro football has become the voyeur’s version of combat, then the horror film has become the modern version of the public lynching.

It is true that the mythic, “fairy-tale” horror film intends to take away the shades of gray. It urges us to put away our more civilized and adult penchant for analysis and to become children again, seeing things in pure blacks and whites. It may be that horror movies provide psychic relief on this level because this invitation to lapse into simplicity, irrationality, and even outright madness is extended so rarely. We are told we may allow our emotions a free rein … or no rein at all.

If we are all insane, then sanity becomes a matter of degree. If your insanity leads you to carve up women like Jack the Ripper or the Cleveland Torso Murderer, we clap you away in the funny farm (but neither of those two amateur-night surgeons was ever caught, heh-heh-heh); if, on the other hand, your insanity leads you only to talk to yourself when you’re under stress or to pick your nose on your morning bus, then you are left alone to go about your business … though it is doubtful that you will ever be invited to the best parties.

The potential lyncher is in almost all of us (excluding saints, past and present; but then, most saints have been crazy in their own ways), and every now and then, he has to be let loose to scream and roll around in the grass. Our emotions, and our fears form their own body, and we recognize that it demands its own exercise to maintain proper muscle tone. Certain of these emotional muscles are accepted – even exalted – in civilized society; they are, of course, the emotions that tend to maintain the status quo of civilization itself. Love, friendship, loyalty, kindness – these are all the emotions, that we applaud, emotions that have been immortalized in the couplets of Hallmark cards and in the verses (I don’t dare call it poetry) of Leonard Nimoy.

When we exhibit these emotions, society showers us with positive reinforcement; we learn this even before we get out of diapers. When, as children, we hug our rotten little puke of a sister and give her a kiss, all the aunts and uncles smile and twit and cry, “Isn’t he the sweetest little thing?” Such coveted treats as chocolate-covered graham crackers often follow. But if we deliberately slam the rotten little puke of a sister’s finger in the door, sanctions follow – angry remonstrance from parents, aunts, and uncles; instead of a chocolate-covered graham cracker, a spanking.

But anticivilization emotions don’t go away, and they demand periodic exercise. We have such “sick” jokes as, “What’s the difference between a truckload of bowling balls and a truckload of dead babies?” (You can’t unload a truckload of bowling balls with a pitchfork …a joke, by the way, that I heard originally from a ten-year-old). Such a joke may surprise a laugh or a grin out of us even as we recoil, a possibility that confirms the thesis: If we share a brotherhood of man, then we also share an insanity of man. None of which is intended as a defense of either the sick joke or insanity but merely as an explanation of why the best horror films, like the best fairy tales, manage to be reactionary, anarchistic, and revolutionary all at the same time.

The mythic horror movie, like the sick joke, has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized and it all happens, fittingly enough, in the dark. For those reasons, good liberals often shy away from horror films. For myself, I like to see the most aggressive of them – Dawn of the Dead, for instance – as lifting a trap door in the civilized forebrain and throwing a basket of raw meat to the hungry alligators swimming around in that subterranean river beneath.

Why bother? Because it keeps them from getting out, man. It keeps them down there and me up here. It was Lennon and McCartney who said that all you need is love, and I would agree with that.

As long as you keep the gators fed.

DISCUSSION

1. Whatvalue do horror movies have for your personality?

2. What do you think about the social value of horror films – or of some other kind of film? It might help to think in terms of a specific film you’ve seen recently.

3. What is the purpose of the essay?

4. What techniques does the author use to accomplish the purpose:

– sensory details

– facts

– statistics

– examples

– opinions

5. A successful argument often depends on a careful definition of a key term. Which term does King define? What significance does the definition have for King’s argument? How convincing do you find his definition? Find the topic sentence of the essay.

6. Why do you think King begins as he does? What advantage do you see in this topic sentence?

7. Casual arguments must be carefully organized and developed. To discover King’s plan, make a scratch outline of the selection. Then, to follow one way he keeps readers on track, analyze the transitions at the beginning of each paragraph. Begin by underlining the word or phrase that makes the exact connection with the previous paragraph.

8. How effective do you find the analogy in paragraph 3? To analyze its effectiveness, consider carefully the ways in which horror movies and roller coaster rides are similar and dissimilar. Can you think of another analogy that would work?

9. What is the concluding idea of the author? Comment on it.

ACTIVITIES

How to write an essay.

Writing an essay can be a difficult process. Usually, an essay requires research on a specific topic. This research will serve as the information bank for the essay.

Actually, the key to writing a good essay is having a well-written outline. An outline will make your essay more structured and will help with organization. Usually, an outline consists of a chronological assessment of ideas that need to be incorporated into the essay.

An essay is divided into three basic parts: the Introduction, the Body, and the Conclusion. First, we will deal with the introduction.

When analyzing how to write an essay, the introduction is basically the most important part of the essay. The introduction serves as the hook; it gets the reader interested, and summarizes the entire essay. A good introduction should tell the reader exactly what the essay is about. In fact, the introduction should attract the reader, and produce interest in whoever is reading the essay. The introduction shouldn’t be too long, and it should contain a thesis statement. When learning how to write a cohesive essay, it is important to remember that the thesis statement is crucial. What is the thesis statement? A thesis statement is what the writer believes and/or intends to prove.

The next section of a comprehensive essay is the body. When analyzing how to write an essay it is also important to understand that the body of an essay is the primary component of a good essay. The body is what English professionals call the “meat” of the essay. Actually, when writing an outline, it is important to consider the information one wants to include in the body of the essay. The body of a good essay usually consists of several (at least two or three) paragraphs. Each paragraph should begin with what English majors call a topic sentence. The topic sentence serves a similar purpose as the thesis statement. The topic sentence is supposed to tell what the paragraph is about. When a writer develops the topic sentence and does not deviate from it, unity is achieved. If you digress, you merely confuse your reader. The topic sentence can help you maintain unity if you keep asking yourself if the example you are citing really is an example of your topic sentence.

The last part of a good essay is the conclusion. The conclusion is very similar to the introduction in that it restates the main idea of the essay. It’s basically a restatement of the thesis. Always include a call to action statement in your conclusion. A call to action statement should try to ask the reader to do something or take action. A call to action statement is a great way to make the reader think right before you throw in your tagline. Finally, try to end your conclusion with a great tagline. What is a tagline? A tagline is just like the first sentence of the introduction paragraph. Some great ideas for tagline are quotes, jokes, or something that will grab the reader’s attention.

It should be noted that preparation is key when learning how to write an essay.

2. Getting started on your essay.

Before you start writing an essay, you need to decide three things. What are you writing about? Who do you imagine will be reading your essay? What do you want to tell them? A popular kind of essay is to offer your reader an opinion or argument.

The key to doing a successful essay is to break the writing down into short, simple steps.

Pre-writing for your essay.

Begin by brainstorming. Brainstorming doesn’t involve writing complete sentences or paragraphs. Brainstorming involves coming up with ideas in words or short phrases.

Building an outline for your essay.

Building an outline is like drawing a map of your essay. The job of an outline is to sum up each paragraph in your essay. Outlining doesn’t involve writing complete paragraphs. But outlining is a good time to write a few sentences. Think of these as your topic sentences.

Writing a draft of your essay.

A lot of people get nervous when it’s time to write. Don’t worry. This is going to be your first draft. The important thing is to add more to your topic sentences.

· Introductory paragraph of your essay.

Reread your introductory sentence. Add two or three more sentences explaining the main idea. Remember that the job of your introductory paragraph is to get the reader’s attention. This sounds obvious but many students are careless about introductions, saying either too much or too little. A good introduction sets out clearly your response to the topic and how you are going to present that response. It is commonly agreed that quotation should be omitted from your introduction as this is where you are going to say what your response is, not that of others. Remember to keep your introduction short and to the point ending with a ‘feed’ into the opening paragraph of the main body of your essay.

· Essay body.

Reread your topic sentences. Each topic sentence now becomes the first sentence of a new paragraph. Add to the first sentence of each paragraph. Write four or five more sentences to each. Use these new sentences to support and explain your ideas. You can do this by offering facts, details, or examples.

Try to end each paragraph in the main body of the essay with a ‘hook’ to the next, i.e. an idea that introduces the topic of the subsequent paragraph; follow this up by opening the next paragraph with reference to the link. This will help your essay flow better and lead to your conclusion.

Remember that the job of your essay body is to share ideas with your reader. See if you can convince your reader to share your opinions.

Tips to follow while writing your essay:

1. As a general rule, do not write in the first person unless specifically asked to do so, i.e. avoid the use of phrases such as “I think”or “in this essay I am going to”. Rather, allow your essay to reflect a personal perception whilst being presented in an objective manner. It is useful to look at how professional writers construct essays to gain style tips (though remember, do not plagiarize under any circumstances as this is sure to be detected, is unfair on the writer whose ideas you are stealing).

2. Most essays are required to be typed and double-spaced using size 12 font in ‘Times New Roman’, but it is advisable to check on this as requirements vary.

3. Do not use colloquial expressions, stick to Standard English throughout. Lists (enumeration) are not a good idea unless the essay specifically requires them, as they can appear to be rushed, presenting a lot of information without sufficient explanation.

4. Use strong verbs and avoid modals to state your opinion. It is better to write: “The workplace has evolved” than “The workplace seems to have evolved.”

5. Do not translate from your mother tongue. It will quickly get you into trouble!

6. Quotations should not be too long, never more than a few lines at most, except in exceptional circumstances. Quotations should be enclosed within quotation marks.

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