Thesis Statement of Japanese movie "Late Spring"

Thesis & Layout

Statements Aka the important stuff of

your first paragraph

Thesis Statement: 3 parts:

1. Context (which film?) 2. Topic (historical, formal, gender, etc.) 3. Claim (your specific argument)

2 & 3 can blend naturally.

Thesis statement 1: Very specific! Context | Topic | Claim

Rashomon shows how we cannot trust witness testimony.

Vs.

By suspending belief in a visual medium, Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 Jidaigeki film, Rashomon, interrogates the reliability of eyewitness testimony.

Detailed context | Topic is “form” or “formal analysis” | Claim is specific: the film’s form questions testimony

Thesis statement 2: Context | Topic | Claim

Both Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 Jidaigeki film Rashomon and Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1953 film Ugetsu show that women had a hard time and were raped.

vs.

Both Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 Jidaigeki film Rashomon and Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1953 film Ugetsu reveal how women’s limited resources and mobility within a patriarchal society can result in rape.

Detailed context | topic is historical | claim is specific: rape as result

Layout Statement: Immediately after your thesis statement, offer a layout statement consisting of a brief summation of your evidence (possibly three points). This is also known as signposting.

The goal of signposting is to orient your reader from the start, so as she reads your paper she never feels lost or off topic.

Layout statement 1: Example 1:

By suspending belief in a visual medium, Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 Jidaigeki film, Rashomon, interrogates the reliability of eyewitness testimony. The cinematography often withholds critical information, the editing creates narrative gaps, and the “same” story is depicted several times through different points of view which fosters a distrust of the visual.

(Essay will offer a formal analysis of the cinematography, editing, and creation of distrust through multiple POVs)

Layout statement 2: Example 2:

Both Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 Jidaigeki film Rashomon and Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1953 film Ugetsu reveal how women’s limited resources and mobility within a patriarchal society can result in rape. Insert brief historical fact possibly comparing the time the films are set with the early 1950’s, insert observation about the samurai’s wife testimony, insert observation about the Ugetsu rape scene.

This essay will offer insight on how women historically lacked mobility (not samurai) and resources (no property or money of their own) and this left them especially vulnerable to rape (attacked while travelling/if not wives and mothers, then prostitutes).

Your turn: Write one double spaced page to turn in by start of class Monday 11/4 that includes:

1. Copy the format of the layout statement slides and offer one possible “essay” idea including: Thesis statement, layout statement, and what the essay would be like. Bold the context, italicize the topic, and underline the claim in your thesis statement.

2. Your impressions after the clips from A Message from Akira Kurosawa. Does this change/enhance them? (approx. two paragraphs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2xOiWldGKI

24:33-31:11 on cinematography 19:20-24:33 on storyboarding