Final Reflection

Looking back, I can confidently say that this independent study has been a very educational experience. More educational than I expected, as a matter of fact. If nothing else, I feel that I have grown significantly as a film critic. In just the past few weeks, the time it took me to write a review went down by about half, though I was writing up to twice as much (although this could be partially due to Kubrick's and Tarantino's films being more interesting than Capra's). Not only do I feel more articulate in my film reviews, I have a more enhanced critical understanding of films. Also, the mise en scene analyses, which I had never done before, were a good challenge and opened me up to a new method of film interpretation. In addition to the educational aspect, the independent study was a great opportunity to watch so many movies that would have otherwise taken me a long time to see. It was exciting to watch them all in such a concentrated time period, and I think the blog was a much more effective medium for review-writing than simply writing in a journal. All in all, I had a very fun time in this intensive, and would most certainly consider doing something like it again. As a matter of fact, when I return from Africa, I plan on starting to watch all of Peter Weir's and Martin Scorsese's films, and if I feel up to some productivity I may publish reviews in this blog. However, it would likely be without answering the questions. I said some productivity.