SPANISH 491/COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 497

First Essay

Write an analytical/argumentative essay of between five and seven pages, plus documentation, responding to one of the following topics. Follow the guidelines of the MLA Handbook, and include an intriguing title, a strong thesis statement, and an interesting conclusion. The essay is due in class on Thursday, November 1.

Possible topics include:

1. The symbolic function of animals and insects; or of hands, feet and eyes in two or more of the early films
2. The construction of gender and of the battle between the sexes in two or more of the early films
3. The relation of Las hurdes to Buñuel's experimental narrative films
4. Naturalism and surrealism in Buñuel's films
5. Oedipal relations in Los Olvidados and El
6. Los Olvidados as as an argument for social reform
7. Paranoid obsession in El
8. The use of film technique in the early films
9. Buñuel as director vs. Buñuel as writer