Essays and Research Papers on Film & Television

A 10 page paper which compares and contrasts how these films based on Shakespeare plays remain faithful to and deviate from the original works. Considered are Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” (1968) and Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet” (1996), Orson Welles’ “The Tragedy of Othello” (1952) and Tim Blake Nelson’s “O” (2001), Paul Czinner’s ...

A 6 page paper which analyzes Shakespeare’s Henry V and then discusses the film versions of the story starring Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 5 page report discusses the fact that the unique aspect of the universality of very well-known works being turned into a cinema application is that the audience has easy access to the original text and, in fact, may have seen the story presented in a different context, in a number of circumstances. They are likely to know the story ...

This 6 page report discusses the legend of Pocahontas (real name “Matoaka”) and compares the Disney animated movie version of it and her actual story. Was Pocahontas a brave young women who defied her father to save the life of the foreigner chief John Smith? Or is the story simply a myth, given new credence ...

This 7 page report compares Sherman Alexie's 1993 book with the 1998 movie "Smoke Signals" directed by Chris Eyre tht it inspired. Both comment on the contemporary Native American experience and consider stereotypes about Indians. Both offer the outsider a glimpse of life in a truly "outsider" culture.

This 10 page paper considers the movie Bend it Like Beckham starring Parminder Nagra. The traditional expectations of an Indian family living in London are challenged when their daughter wants to play soccer. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 6 page paper which compares and contrasts Laurence Olivier's 1948 film version of William Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet, with Kenneth Branagh's 1996 interpretation, specifically considering the soliloquies, and their importance to the dramatic action. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 4 page paper which compares Shakespeare’s play Richard III with the film “Looking for Richard.” Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 4 page report discusses the film versions of two of Shakespeare’s plays that were directed by and starred Sir Laurence Olivier. Olivier was so closely associated with Shakespeare that even his final resting place is next to a representation of “the Bard.” Such an association was due, in great part, to his movie portrayals of King Henry, ...

A 5 page research paper/essay that contrasts and compares 2 versions of Shakespeare’s famous play. The writer examines director Trevor Nunn’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and compares it to a televised version of a stage production that was directed by Kenneth Branagh, with the television version directed by Paul Kafno. The paper contrasts ...

A 4 page research paper in which the writer contrasts and compares Roman Polanski's 1971 film version of Macbeth to Shakespeare's original. The writer argues that Polanski saw Macbeth as the author of his own fate. Deleted scenes are related to this interpretation, which de-emphasizes the supernatural elements in Shakespeare's play. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

This 3 page report discusses two 20th century movies based on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” that are easily remembered and compared because of their distinctive style and presentation. In 1968, Franco Zeffirelli created a lush costume extravaganza that told the Romeo and Juliet story (in the U.S., it was released in 1974. In 1996, Australian director Baz Luhrmann ...

7 pages in length. Many have tried to match the integrity of Shakespeare's Hamlet when creating a film version of the classic story, however, few have been able to capture the disposition, direction, artistry or script precision as straightforwardly as in Kenneth Branagh's version. Comparing this movie to that of Franco Zeffirelli's celebrated ...

A Twentieth Century Interpretation; This 5 page paper compares the traditional Shakespeare play with the 1996 film directed by Baz Lurhmann and starring Claire Danes as Juliet Capulet and Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo Montague. The paper looks at the use of scenery comparing and considering similarities and differences. The bibliography cites 2 sources.

In three pages this paper examines how the director uses various production aspects to intensify the conflict in his 1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragic play. Three sources are listed in the bibliography.

This 5 page paper illustrates how closely Welles followed Shakespeare's King plays, as it depicts Falstaff in his movie, Chimes at Night. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 6 page essay explores the interpretation of Shakespeare in the film Hamlet. A critical scene between Hamlet and his mother is analyzed for content and meaning.

A 13 page paper which compares and contrasts elements of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the film West Side Story. Bibliography lists 13 sources.

A paper which looks as Baz Luhrmann's treatment of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with specific reference to the opening scenes of the film version.

This 12 page report discusses the invasion of the European world to the “new” world that often took place under the guise of promoting Christianity and saving native people. “The Mission” captures the hopelessness and ultimate destruction that took place because of such domination. As the movie unfolds in truly remarkable cinemagraphic beauty (it won the Oscar for cinematography), it ...

A 10 page paper which examines how the industry has grown far beyond its “Bollywood” nickname and considers how it portrays important social issues like sexuality/gender, the caste system, and regaining national identity after imperialism in such films as “Spices,” “Fire,” “Earth,” “The Apu Trilogy,” Monsoon Wedding,” and “The Home and the World.” Bibliography ...

A 6 page research paper that compares and contrasts Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children and Deepa Mehta's film Earth. Both of these works deal with the birth of India as an independent nation. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 3 page essay/research paper that compares Mary Rowlandson’s seventeenth century captivity narrative to the 1990 film Dances with Wolves. On February 20, 1676, a band of Narragansett Indians attacked the home of Mary Rowlandson as part of an uprising known as King Philip’s War (Wesley 42). Rowlandson and three of her children were taken ...

A 6 page research paper/essay that focuses on two superlative film adaptations of James Fenimore Cooper's classic novel of early America The Last of the Mohicans the silent 1920 film directed by Maurice Tourneur and the 1992 version directed by Michael Mann. In each film, as in the Cooper novel, collision between cultures is a ...

A 7 page research paper/essay that discusses Emilio Fernandez’s Maria Candelaria (1943) and how this film relates to the task of addressing the legacy of colonialism within the context of Mexican history. Mexico, as Andrea Noble points out, is fundamentally a “mestizo entity,” that is, it is the product of “the colonial encounter between Indians, ...