1.What is the most interesting or surprising thing you learned about the relationship between culture and film over the course of the lesson? Please provide an example from one of the films or readings to demonstrate your position.
2.Discuss Schrecker’s comparison of the initiatives of the McCarthy era to changes instituted in the name of national security post-9/11, and provide at least two examples.
3.According to Susan Sontag in The Imagination of Disaster, what do science fiction films have in common with classic horror films?
4.According to Hey’s article, why did Elia Kazan and Arthur Miller have falling out, and how did each convey their positions in their theatrical or cinematic work?
5.Briefly explain how Sontag differentiates science fiction films from the novels on which many are based. What does she identify as the strengths of these films?
6.Briefly discuss High Noon (1952) as a blacklist allegory. That is, drawing support from the assigned readings for this lesson, briefly describe how the public disputes surrounding the film’s production and Foreman’s comments about the film as a screenwriter reinforce the film’s status as a blacklist allegory.
7.How does Sontag make sense of Invasion of the Body Snatchers in her essay, The Imagination of Disaster?
8.According to Schrecker, which federal department had the highest percentage of dismissals on the grounds of loyalty programs and which demographic did this disproportionately affect?
9.According to Invasion: The Real History of Science Fiction, what type of variation of the classic alien film did the climate of fear heralded by the McCarthy era produce and what made this theme particularly frightening?
10.What does Loock mean by “serial desire,” and how is this term relevant to her claim that like the original film, the remakes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers all end with the question, “What happens next?”
11.In your own words, briefly explain a central thesis of Hey’s article.
12.Drawing support from the assigned readings for this lesson, briefly describe how the public disputes surrounding the film’s production and Foreman’s comments about the film as a screenwriter reinforce the films status as a blacklist allegory.
13.What is the basic premise of Monsters from the Id: Anxiety and Optimism in 1950s Science Fiction, and identify an example of a film referenced in Monsters of the Id that demonstrates this premise?
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