Writing Project 2:Rhetorical Analysis

In addition to the topic ideas on the assignment sheet, here's a random assortment (and very partial list) of texts (mostly films) and topics that I've encountered in past classes or in my own work. Feel free to leave comments with questions (like, does anyone know of a text that represents women and xxx?) or with an idea you're working on; I'll be checking in here every now and then to respond to folks who want feedback. Of course, I welcome your responses to one another as well.

This is a very partial list and many of these texts could easily go into other categories, but it's a start if you're having trouble thinking of something. Please add categories and titles in the comments if you think of them!

Women in Sports
Bend It Like Beckham
Million Dollar Baby
Love and Basketball
Match Point
A League of Their Own
The Cutting Edge

Women in Music
Dreamgirls
Walk the Line

Remakes
The Women (1939 and 2006)
Emma (the novel and/or the movie) and Clueless
Shop Around the Corner (1940) and You've Got Mail (1998)
The Stepford Wives (1974 and 2004) -- the differences in ending here are really fascinating

Jane Austen
several film versions of the novels
Becoming Jane
The Jane Austen Book Club

Women in History
The Changeling
Frida
Sylvia
Iron Jawed Angels

Women and Friendship
Waiting to Exhale
The First Wives Club
The Secret Life of Bees
Friends
Girlfriends

Women and Work
North Country
Working Girl
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Erin Brockovich
Maid in Manhattan
Michael Clayton
Striptease
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Murphy Brown
30 Rock

Women and Education
Legally Blonde
Akeela and the Bee
Mona Lisa Smile
Freedom Writers
Dangerous Minds

Women and Body Image
Real Women Have Curves
Nip/Tuck

Women and War
G.I. Jane
Courage Under Fire

So-called "Post feminist" texts
Bridget Jones's Diary
Ally McBeal
Sex and the City

Popular Literature
The Pretties, The Uglies, and The Specials
Twilight
Harry Potter

Women and Aging
Something's Gotta Give
Calendar Girls
Golden Girls

If you're looking for issues tackled by television, the 1998 series Felicity handled some pretty heavy stuff (date rape, depression, morning-after pill, etc.), and The Secret Life of the American Teenager is especially after-school-special-esque in the range of issues presented on the show. A couple of films about abortion if that's a place you're interested in going are: Vera Drake, Cider House Rules, and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days; pregnancy, of course, is everywhere in films these days: Juno, Knocked Up, Waitress, Bella, and Baby Mama, just in the last 2 years, and before that: Look Who's Talking, Nine Months, Father of the Bride 2, Saved (teen pregnancy), andFor Keeps; adoption/giving children up also is a popular subject: August Rush, Then She Found Me, and Juno again.