Week 7

If there is no stillness,

there is no silence.

If there is no silence,

there is no insight.

If there is no insight,

there is no clarity.

–Tenzin Priyadarshi

Week 7, already! I spent a good part of the weekend looking at student essays, and I must say I was very pleased with the work you all have done thus far. If you should like clarification or any explanation of the midterm grades that appear this week, just ask and I'll be glad to help. The writing strengths shown thus far put us in a good position for the remaining weeks of the quarter. Over the next few weeks, we'll review verb tense and pronoun use, sentence patterns and punctuation, and other grammar rules involving various parts of speech. As for assignments, as the syllabus indicates, I have in mind a film review or directed response, as we will call it.

The film you will watch today is called Where the Boys Are (1960), released fifty years ago and set in Ft. Lauderdale during spring break. The film premiered at the Gateway Theater on Sunrise Boulevard. It is a piece of local history and helped to popularize Ft. Lauderdale as a spring break destination. Much has changed in our culture and city since that time, but in certain central respects the film is still timely. The story focuses on four young women seeking respite from the winter cold up north, and to one degree or another–love. The adventures and misadventures they have while on break here in Ft. Lauderdale make up the central action of the story. Each of the young women–Merritt, Tuggles, Melanie, and Angie–are distinct characters, each with her own dreams, beliefs, and ways of approaching "the boys." Merritt is a smart, studious, independent thinker who will not be played for a fool; Tuggles is a kind woman who dreams of marrying and having children; Angie wants to enjoy hersef, and to find a man who mirrors her own talents and spunky character; and Melanie is the flirtatious, vulnerable "kitten" who falls in love too easily, or so it seems to me.

The assignment is to describe by means of comparison or contrast what has changed in the culture and setting, and what has not. Any one of the following topics would provide a suitable

essay focus:

• the clothing fashions
• the club and music scene
• the natural setting and cityscape of motels, restaurants, bars, etc.
• the attitudes towards premarital sex
• the pursuit of romance and love
• the meaning of friendship

Note: This film was made prior to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. The U.S. was then racially segregated. Thus you see few or no people of color represented here (beaches here in Ft. Lauderdale were segregated). The jazz music popular at the time was, of course, the original creation of black Americans.

Assignment #7: Write a 350-500 word essay on a topic of your choice that will illuminate some aspect of the film. Introduce the film by title (in italic letters) and year of release, and a brief summary of the film subject and setting. Follow with your thesis. Make your thesis explicit. Underline it. Reserve the body paragraphs of the essay for "proving" your thesis; that is, show the validity of your thesis point by reference to specific aspects and details observable in the film. Use clear, specific descriptions to carry your point. Do not include Internet sourced summaries and observations. Use your own words to express your own ideas.

Title the essay. Double space the lines.

Due week 8.