WORKING TOGETHER

Basic description

Face-to-face meeting to decide parameters for your ICE by deciding the area of romance you will both explore and the types of films you will find to compare.

NOTE: This is not the step where you beging to think about the final shape of your JES. Many students over-work at this step, thinking about what they want to write and trying to find movies that fit that goal. That is backwards. The JES process continually undercuts "planning ahead" in order to put students in fresh, unexpected analytic situations. This step is very simple in terms of selecting the country: just decide between the two of you which country's films you are most comfortable with but don't think about titles. What is perceived by the student as the difficult part of this step deciding what type of love and the genre. Again, you make this much more difficult if you try to link specific movies to this step. Just ask yourselves generally what type of area you want to work in. The genre do not need to be an exact fit, just close. Trying to define genre more precisely is pointless because you don't yet know where within a film you are going to work and films are more or less multiple genre. So, work with loose guidelines; that is close enough.

What to do

Preliminary work:

• Note DEADLINE.
• Review General Instructions on JES Top Page
• Do NOT start looking for films either before, during or after this step! Just think love type and genre. After the deadline you will hear from me. Thinking of film titles first and then selecting parameters is working backwards and is a waste of time—I plan to subvert any titles you might have in mind at this step.

Then do these things:

Before the meeting:

1. Student A and Student B read these instructions. Student B downloads the form and brings it to the face-to-face meeting, either as hard copy or with a laptop—the form is submitted during the meeting with Student A still present. (Student A, I recommend you bring a backup, just in case your partner forgets to bring the form.)

At the meeting:

2. The students meet face-to-face to decide the parameters for the two films that will become the object of their JES. Discuss your limits on what you are willing to watch in terms of sex and violence. Do NOT discuss titles. Carry out these discussions working "blind" to one another's possible specific film ideas. Read now the definition of "blind" in the sidebar.

How to make this an easy step to do: The paramters should be decided on what seems like an interesting area of romance to compare between the two countries you have committed to and based on that what type of films might best enable that type of comparison. So, work in the order below, not back and forth. Just talk about areas of romance, forgetting entirely the issue of films, then start settling on a genre. Keeping strictly to that order will serve you well in the future. This meeting shouldn't take long: 10-30 minutes.

What to avoid: Completing this step while thinking of specific films.

3. Student B completes Form-JES02, attaches it to a single email, and sends the report:

• on time (late penalties are sometimes individual and sometimes shared by the team)
• to both me and the partner at the same time
• using this subject line:

EA105_JES02_groupletterstudent number_LASTNAME_classname

example:

EA105_JES02_04B_MARKUS_Anthony

4. Both students watch for an ACCEPTED from me within 48 hours (sooner in the summer). If the submission was rejected for some reason, respond promptly. Slow response might incur late penalties.

5. Students do NOT begin to search for films yet. It will be a waste of time.

Details

Introductory comments

For the step that follows this, you will select two films and watch them in full without consultation with your partner.

Before you begin the film search the two of you will decide on some parameters in order for the two films have a good chance of being compared effectively.

Remember, both of you will write on both films. (You are comparing them, after all!) Some students misunderstand this. So, remember, you will write one essay that compares the two films. Clear?

Parameter Set "A"—General type of love the two of you will explore

Do this first before moving to Set "B". Once you report a choice in this category it can never ever be changed.

ETHICS IN LOVE. Narratives where the ethical component seems to be a major topic. Often individuals are confronted with challenges between personal desires and principles, but there might also be conflicts between principles involved. Some films strongly promote and reward ethical choices (or punish those who fail to make ethical choices) while somejust portray troubled individuals who know they are not acting ethically. All romantic narrative probably have some of this component; this parameter is for those films that seems to make this an important part of the story, if not the very theme of it. Common areas: loyalty, trust, fidelity, betrayal, selfless love, sacrifice, incest, etc. One challenge for this category is finding meaningful differences between the two countries.

LOVE TURBULENCE. Narratives which are less interested in ethical issues (the lovers in their social context with social norms and social demands) and are more interest in exploring an inner, psycholocial, turbulent world of love: the power of jealousy, the pleasures of revenge, other-abusive or self-abusive behavior, dysfunctional behavior, uncontrolled hatred, extreme loneliness, protagonists that are disadvantaged in some way (slow-witted, carrying a past wound, flawed in personality or looks, trapped in anxiety, etc.) These are some of the most fascinating films. However, be sure that romance is actually a key part of the film, not just a simple narrative framework as an excuse to explore these issues. Relationships (real or not, successful or not, achieved or not, past-present or future, are out topic — what happens with these two people). Also, remember to work with "high" love. It is possible, even with these highly emotional, visceral films. One other challenge for these films is working with the subtle interface of, for example, what makes for jealousy (between the two countries compared) and what is considered an appropriate or inappropriate response to it.

CELEBRATIONS OF LOVE. Celebrations of romance: These might be like our caizi-jiaren stories: attractive or talented or otherwise inherently interesting individuals get together after some challenges, but we never really worried or maybe we did but it all worked out and we feel the power of love in overcoming obstacles. Or Cinderella stories. Or fluffy romances. (Comparing two fluffy romances can lead to some interesting essays but it is sort of risky since they often are very disciplined about their ideas.) Celebrations of love films might also just place a very high valuation on love: it heals (or could have healed), it transforms, everything is sacrificed for it (and that worked out), the love-goal is all important. The outlook is optimistic in terms of love-in-the-world: there will be a happy ending or there could have been a happy ending; that is, love and solutions to love problems are possible, they just didn't happen in this case. In other words, the view of love (and maybe life in general) is fairly idealistic.

REALISTIC VIEWS OF LOVE. Pessimistic, realistic, non-romantic views of love: love as a strategic game, love never works out, the main characters of the film cannot learn how to love, the world always intervenes and prevents love, love sort of works out because nothing is perfect, etc. In other words, the view of love (and maybe life in general) is contrasts with the idealism above and emphasizes a difficult world where love is not possible or slimly possible or otherwise imperfect, incomplete or frail in some way.

About sex. We do not explore the dark waters of sexuality as a specific topic but it is almost always an important element in some way. Still, we are not trying to answer “What is this director’s view of sexuality?” We are, instead, asking “What is this director’s view or love?" and "What is this director’s view of the limits the audience will allow in expressing that view?" and/or the director’s understanding of what the audience wants on screen as values.

*You can also create your own category different from any of the four above but beware of something quite narrow and make absolutely sure that you and your partner are on exactly the same page as to what that category is.

Parameter Set "B"—Setting some parameters so the two films can be compared with some success

Do this only after having completed the above. Once you report the required portions, they can never be changed. The additional possible parameters can be discussed to create general directions AND if one of the students finds a film first and it fits one of these categories that student must email the other student immediately (so that student can modify his or her search accordingly and not waste time finding something that doesn't work well).

REQUIRED—SETTING: You must decide whether you want a standard contemporary setting or a historical setting (1940s World War II, Edo Japan red light district, Tang dynasty, etc.) Beware of this major risk with historical settings: most movies use the historical setting just for decoration while keeping entirely modern values (except minor things such as more formal demeanor, speech habits or such). Treat movies set in the past as modern unless there director is clearly interested in the time period and is exploring it. "House of Flying Daggers", for example, is a modern movie; "2046" is a 1960s value movie by intent of the director even though some of it is set in the future; the three segments of "Three Times" (1911, 1960s, 2000s) is specific to those times (that was the point of the film).

REQUIRED—MATCH GENRE (more or less): Many movies can be considered as under several genre. The only important point here is to get movies somewhat close to each other for comparison purposes. However, what is really going on is that you are deciding how you will look at films (for example, the serious part of a comedy or the romantic part of an action film). So, don't worry as much about how someone labels a film as to whether or not you can approach the film as legitimately part of a certain genre. If this parameter doesn't work out perfectly for the team that's OK. You will just have to fine-tune your analysis approaches later.

Comments on specific genre (I think I originally pulled these categories from Netflix)—

• Action / adventure: usually have flat, standard romances plugged into them. Avoid them. This includes mafia, gangster, yakuza movies unless the romantic element is central. (But spy movies with intrigue and an overlap of official duties and romantic desire work just fine.)
• Anime: These can be used but BOTH movies must be anime.
• Children & Family: These can be interesting in that they almost certain uphold or teach a certain set of values. But don’t go stupid on this.
• Classics: This is a meaningless designation as far as we are concerned. Convert it to something else (usually drama) and consider the problems with historical settings mentioned elsewhere.
• Comedy: Very complex. Do not be fooled. Easy to watch definitely does not equal easy to analyze.
• Documentary: Of course rejected because we are looking at the production of narratives presenting romance. Almost none of these would match the need.
• Drama: A good choice.
• Faith & Spirituality: Unlikely that you can find a matching pair, but it would be interesting if you did.
• Gay & Lesbian: Outside the boundaries of our topic although, in your search, you will come across some excellent movies in this category. I regret setting them out-of-bounds.
• Horror: Use them only if the romance is central. “Audition” for example, is OK in my opinion.
• Independent / Indie: This can be a great category. And it is OK to pair a film like this with a mainstream film, as long as you are aware that you are doing so.
• Musicals: Surprising, these work pretty well.
• Romance: Yep. … Except this probably really means either comedy or drama or even thriller.
• Sci-Fi & Fantasy: Handle with care. Most of these are more interested in technology than human relationships, but not all. Just give it a good thinking-over before going in that direction.
• Special Interest: No.
• Sports: No.
• Television: No.
• Thrillers: Same problem as action films.

ADDITIONAL POSSIBLE PARAMETERS (that you can use if you want — they might be helpful in getting a pair of films that work well with each other)

MAIN INTENDED AUDIENCE Broad distribution that pleases a lot of people (which will necessarily uphold widely held values), or “artsy” movies that please those who take movies as serious art and are comparing the movie against other movies as an artistic product (which are more unpredictable as to whether the values are widely held or not). Notice that most Hollywood films uphold common values despite their “edgy” or “transgressive” content. Usually in the end, common morality is affirmed through the punishment of the transgressors, or us feeling sorry for them, etc. In other words, don’t take what happens as the marker for the values but how what happens is treated / presented.

ROMANTIC CONFIGURATIONS Is the movie about a love triangle (might be infidelity, might be a woman trying to choose between two men, etc.) or a pair (the struggle of a couple to achieve their love, the story of a divorce, etc.) or a more complicated configuration (there are some “squares” out there).

POINT OF VIEW: First person male or first person female (my problems with love), Third person generic story-telling perspective, but centered on the man or the woman.