What benefit will your readers get from your juxtaposition of something very precise and specific in this particular film with something very precise-specific in the Poetics?

 

This is what the paper is on:

Essay assignment to complement the horror movie “Deadly Illusions.” The analysis of Aristotle’s concepts will be based on the work of Cynthia Freeland, The naked and the Undead, and Tallon Philip’s “Through a mirror, darkly.”

Horror films define the nature of human emotions and how well different individuals react to specific scenarios and experiences.

Therefore, there can be a better portrayal of how human beings define their worldview through horror movies. The horror movies also present how individuals may term certain occurrences as tragic and those that are not.

The horror representation of human emotions may also define the human understanding of the universe and life so that their actions and beliefs may be affected.

This is the feedback from the professor:

The analysis of Aristotle’s concepts [HENRY: you need to identify/name the precise concept or concepts that plan to address. Help readers understand why you have selected those precise concepts] will be based on the work of Cynthia Freeland, The naked and the Undead, and Tallon Philip’s “Through a mirror, darkly.” [HENRY: help readers understand why you have selected these two works.]

Horror films define the nature of human emotions and how well different individuals react to specific scenarios and experiences. Therefore, there can be a better portrayal of how human beings define their worldview through horror movies.

The horror movies also present how individuals may term certain occurrences as tragic and those that are not. The horror representation of human emotions may also define the human understanding of the universe and life so that their actions and beliefs may be affected.

HENRY: the last section of your draft (above, from “Horror films define” unto “may be affected”) talks about all horror films. That is way too large a scope for this assignment.

Also, “the nature of human emotions” is too vague and huge a topic. Select the precise and specific emotions you want to address. Since your film (for that matter, just about any film) is NOT a tragedy (according to the Poetics), then you need to rethink the precise benefits for juxtaposing something very precise and very specific in the Poetics with something very precise and very specific in your particular movie.

Look over the way(s) in which Cynthia Freeland keeps addressing one particular film.

A few suggestions / questions:

i) What precisely is the intellectual problem / destabilizing condition that you want your claim to address? The draft above does not identify clearly a specific intellectual problem.

ii) What precisely is your contestable and debatable claim?review chapter 4 of The Craft of Research (on our Blackboard page) to gain an effective understanding of a claim within an argument.

iii) What benefit will your readers get from your juxtaposition of something very precise and specific in this particular film with something very precise and specific in the Poetics?