Compare/contrast two movements in European film from the 1920s or 1930s.

For this essay, you may come up with an original research topic of your own, or you may respond to ONE or TWO of the three prompts below.

If you are proposing your own topic, you have a fair amount of leeway to research any aspect of film history up through 1945. Some possibilities include (but are not limited to) a particular national cinema; technological / aesthetic / economic trends in the American film industry; a particular genre or movement in film; representations of race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, etc.; or an expanded / in-depth consideration of a topic covered in the course, such as censorship and the Production Code.

1) Compare/contrast two movements in European film from the 1920s or 1930s. These may
include Soviet Montage (The Man with a Movie Camera), the European Avant-Garde (various
short films), German Expressionism (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), or French “art films” (Zero
for Conduct, The Grand Illusion). You may also choose to view alternate films from any of
these movements, or from other relevant national cinemas of the 1920s or 30s, such as Sweden
(which would involve additional research on your part). Your response must refer substantially
to at least two films and at least two of the assigned readings. Your response should focus on the
historical contexts of the films in question, which may include concerns such as aesthetics, film
industry practices, larger historical forces, etc.