Groundhog Day and It’s A Wonderful Life Groundhog Day and It’s A Wonderful Life Paper details Unit 1 Developed ResponseUnit 1 Developed Response item options Hide Details Click for more options Click for more options Assignment I: Groundhog Day and It’s A Wonderful Life Hide Details Out of the many movies we analyze in this course, I have selected two that I feel really represent the best cinematic portrayal of what constitutes happiness in the life of mankind: Groundhog Day and It’s a Wonderful Life. Groundhog Day may be the most misleading because on the surface it appears to be a funny Bill Murray vehicle, but it’s far more than that, it is an encapsulation of mankind’s quest for happiness, what works and what doesn’t. It’s a Wonderful Life shows a man’s life for what it is worth, what matters, what doesn’t, what ultimately brings the greatest happiness in life. It’s a Wonderful Life has become “THE” Christmas movie, apparently replacing A Christmas Carol. All three works are about human transformation and the coming to awareness of what true happiness really involves. Our first unit also includes a wide range of documents on the meaning/history of happiness, happiness theories, and pathways to happiness. It’s a lot of material. I don’t expect you to view everything, but I do expect you to scan the works, select those you wish to review in greater depth and potentially use in your paper. In our first paper you don’t need to use any outside sources, you will select your sources from those included in the courses. Choose a minimum of seven to discuss. You can choose from A,B,C,D, and E on the menu. The films themselves and the notes I provide on the films are NOT considered course documents and therefore don’t count in the seven sources. Make sure you actually DISCUSS the source within the paper. As much as possible CONNECT the sources to the films. AVOID first discussing the sources, and then the films. Rather integration film discussion with course document discussion. DON’T summarize the plots. We all know them. Rather focus on analysis. This first unit assignment will be a comparison of the “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Groundhog Day,” to determine (a) what really brings happiness in life, (b) what really doesn’t, (c) what techniques these films use to portray happiness, (d) how the events that happen in the film reflect theories of happiness provided in the course documents for this unit. Following are the most important guidelines for the first Developed Response: Paper should be a minimum of three (3) pages long Within the paper, discuss at least seven (7) of the course documents (films/notes are not considered course documents) Discuss both films, “Groundhog Day” and”It’s a Wonderful Life” Do not provide plot summary Focus on film and course document analysis Use MLA which requires internal documentation for sources and a Works Cited list at the end of the essay Make sure your name is on the paper Use Word and upload the paper to Blackboard Construct your paper as you would any academic essay, with a Title, Introduction, Clear Thesis Statement, Supportive Details, and Conclusion Proofread carefully
