Christopher Nolan, 1998
The posy comprises two asighnments
1;Watch the “Following (Christopher Nolan, 1998)”
Answer the follow
ing questions by click
ing Reply below (m
inimum 500 words
in total
for all the questions):
1 .What were your reactions to the on
ine cl'ps of Stranger Than Paadise (L
inks to an
extemal site.)L
inl1s to an external site. and Tamation (L
inks to an external site.)L
inks to
an extemal site? How are these films different than most ma
instream Hollywood films?
2th was your reaction to the feature film you watched? How does the low budget
of the film affect the look and your emotional connections to the fim and characters?
3.I~low (id the form of the film, the way that it is organized, affect you understand'ng
of it?
4.00 any narrative or visual patterns recur a sufficient number of times to suggest a
structural element
in themselves (are there repetitions of any elements)? If so, what are
these patterns? Do they help you determ
ine the mean
ing of the film?
2;Movie ( Contact 1997) Christian FAITH
After watch
ing the movie 'Contact" answer the follow
ing questions. This class is
Christian based. Please keep this
in m
ind
1 Describe at least one metaphysical assumption (0-1 from Sire) held by Ellie about
Science prior to her trip aboard “the mach
ine."
2. Did her Q-1 assumptions shift or change due to this trip? If so, how?
3. How would Ellie describe 0-2 (from Sire) prior to the trip?
4. How would Ellie describe 0-2 after the trip?
5. Describe any two (2) dialectic procmes impact
ing Ellie (eg. between her and
Palmer, between her and Drummond; between her and Hadden; between her and the
alien; between her and the Congressional Review Board, etc)-
6. What factors from Ellie’s family, culture, scientific community, etc. were “shap
ing
Ellie’s sense of purpose” (i.e., her Teleology)? Describe and analyze the impact of any
two (2) factors-
7. What sense-based (i.e., empiricism) assumptions did Ellie rely upon to make sense
of her fife?
8. How did “the trip” challenge these sense-based assumptions?
9. How did “the trip” challenge her perception of 0-3 (Sire)?
10. What was Ellie’s understand
ing of her mother’s death (0-4 of Sire)? How did this
beief impact Elie’s adult life, professional aspirations, etc-? Did her father’s death
impact her
in similar or different ways? Expla’n-
1 1. How did Ellie’s 18-hour tn’p chalenge her Epistemology (0-5 of Sire)? What roles
did “experience,” “logic,” and n‘trust" play
in her new Epistemology?
12. What were some of Ellie’s moral values (0-6 of Sire)?
13. Why did Ellie sleep with Palmer Joss? G.e., put on you “
insight” hat!)
14. Why did she refuse to ie
in order to ride the first mach
ine?
15. If “spirituality" can be def
ined as “that part of us which seeks fulfillment” (Lloyd,
1975), MW did Ellie seek fulfilment prior to the trip?
16. How did the trip challenge her spirituality?
17. What might this one l
ine by Ellie imply about Carl Sagan? “For as long as I can
remember, I’ve been search for some reason why we’re here...what we’re do
ing here,
what are we?” (0-7 of Sire)
18. How does this movie help you to better understand the dialog between “faith" and
“science"?
19. Which ‘hidden world views’ (per Wilkens and Sanford, 2009) are portrayed i’i this
film?