NUS-ENG401 Film Analysis
Last edited: August 8, 2025Based only on the framing analysis of Sax’s Othello, I want to write a piece analyzing collectively grip (lighting) and gaffing (framing) of the films, specifically with a contrast as much as possible to the original text’s discussion of framing in, for instance, stage directions. In Sax’s Othello, Iago’s musings are always framed medium-close from below, with lighting coming from above: the framing helps show a sense of “ascension” (perhaps not unintentionally biblical, like an ascension to heaven), showing how Iago’s schemes are helping him rise through the ranks: a sign of his desire for power. I want to continue to analyses these types of connection between the grip and gaffing throughout the films to help reveal the differing power welded by the various screenwriters’ differing analysis on Shakespeare’s characters.
NUS-ENG401 Film Analysis Outline
Last edited: August 8, 2025“Dialogue tends towards minimalism; instead, Bhardwaj relies heavily on extradiegetic and intradiegetic instrumental and vocal music”
While both a lust for Othello’s power and Rodrigo’s provocations of Iago drove him initially to begin his scheme, it is Iago’s internal racist hatred of Othello as a person that allowed his plot to fully come to fruition.
Establish pattern two othellos: othello the person “the moor”, and othello the general “othello”
The four texts’ Iagos can be treated in the same framework of “love”–hatred, whether racial or otherwise, for Othello—versus “respect”—deference to the authority of Othello.
NUS-ENG401 Gender and Education
Last edited: August 8, 2025Literacy rates differ significantly between genders in Central Africa. In rural Nigeria, there is a 24.1% difference in literacy rates between men and women.
In Joys of Motherhood, Adankwo’s natural and implicitly differentiated treatment of Nhu Ego’s sons and daughters reflects the androcentrism in Nigerian society’s view of education; in the work, she asks Nhu Ego to not “forget the … twin [girl’s] bride prices will help out … boy’s school fees.” (Emecheta 127)
NUS-ENG401 Gift Utility
Last edited: August 8, 2025Welcome!
The device of the station of birth plays a large part in all four of the works we read over the semester. In I, Tituba, the author grants Tituba renewed empowerment through her birth; in Black Shack Alley, Jose’s birth in the Alley forces him to leverage the racially unequal devices of the French regime to gain social advancement; Sophie’s trauma in Breath, Eyes, Memory is propagated by her violent conception—which results in her mother’s forced testing upon her; Joys of Motherhood’s Nnu Ego’s family is loving, yet with conservative values which forces a crippling sense of motherly duty that almost drove her to death. Birth, and challenging the station assigned at birth, is a fundamental value pervasive through the texts.
NUS-ENG401 I, Tituba Essay Planning
Last edited: August 8, 2025General Information
| Due Date | Topic | Important Documents |
|---|---|---|
| 9/29 | Lit. Devices | I, Tituba |
Prompt
In an interview, Maryse Conde explains, “I was attracted to write the particular story of Tituba because this woman was unjustly treated by history. I felt the need to give her a reality that was denied to her because of her color and her gender.” Choose one or two literary devices and explain how Conde uses it/them in the novel to give Tituba her subjecthood. Examples could be: narrative voice, allusion, irony, dialogue, etc.
