SPANISH 491/COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 497

Second 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 Tuesday, December 11. Please turn in two copies of your essay, and include a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you would like us to mail you our comments.

Possible topics include:

1. The symbolic function of frustration, interruption, and repetition in Buñuel's later films
2. The symbolism of physical functions (eating, defecating, having sex) in Buñuel's later works
3. The critique of institutions, power and political dissent (the Catholic Church, the bourgeois state, the military, terrorism) in the later films
4. Socialist libertarianism in Buñuel (for instance, as exemplified by don Lope in Tristana)
5. The master-servant relationship in Buñuel (for instance, in El, The Exterminating Angel, Viridiana, and/or Tristana)
6. The motif of the older man pursuing a young girl; its relation to l'amour fou and impossible desire
7. The representation of female desire and subjectivity in Belle de jour (and, if you have seen it, in Diary of a Chambermaid)
8. Eroticism vs. pornography in Buñuel
9. Misogyny vs. misanthropy in Buñuel
10. Buñuel's ironic use of jokes (e.g. the spider and fly in Wuthering Heights; the cat and mouse in Viridiana)
11. The use of cinematography, color and sound in Buñuel's later films