The topics are Discuss Julieta (Pedro Almodovar, 2016) as an example of the aesthetics of film melodrama. Referring to the textbook’s section on melodrama (pages 354-356), identify some melodramatic conventions evident in Julieta. Is Julieta best seen as a family melodrama, a physical melodrama, or a social melodrama? Pick two scenes (or moments from scenes) from Julieta that exemplify the Almodovar’s use of melodramatic conventions, identifying how Almodovar’s techniques of cinematography, editing, mise-en-scène and/or sound support the film’s impact as a melodrama.
And the second topic is Discuss The Love Witch (Anna Biller, 2016) as example of an approach to filmmaking inspired by the feminist writings on visual pleasure discussed in the textbook (394-396). Describe two scenes (or moments from scenes) in The Love Witch that could be said to privilege female forms of visual pleasure, identifying the effects of particular methods of mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound. What makes these scenes different from how the same material (which could include nudity, gore, and other elements associated with exploitation cinema) might have been handled by a filmmaker other than Anna Biller?