Answer any one of the questions below:

  1. NOTE: for this topic DO NOT just look at simple plot similarities and differences. Explore topicality, relevance to audiences, technical changes, idea changes. DO NOT comment that Frank Sinatra is better or worse than George Clooney; that is purely personal opinion. However, if both portray the same character and one is noticeably more violent or more engaging (why?), then that is something you can actually support with detailed examples. DO support your discussion with detailed examples.

    Compare and contrast a film from this week's sub-genre with its remake. You could, for example, look at the original Scarface (1932) with the re-make starring Al Pacino (1983), or you could compare/constrast the lighter Ocean's Eleven starring the Rat Pack (1960) with the newer George Clooney, Brad Pitt version (2001). or you might compare/contrast Michael Mann's Manhunter (1985), which featured Brian Cox as Hannibal Lector, and the remake, Red Dragon (2002), which starred Anthony Hopkins in that role.

  2. These are the bad guys, so why do they seem so attractive to large numbers of readers and/or audience goers. If you want to take the easy route here, you can explore the attraction of a loveable rogue, such as Raffles or John Robie or Bernie Rhodenbarr in The Burglar Who... books by Lawrence Block. For more of a challenge, consider why characters in, say Boyz N the Hood or some other book or film about more serious criminals often have readers or audience members rooting for them.

  3. Discuss a book or short story that has, as its focus, a "bad guy" (whether a truly dangerous character or just a loveable rogue). Explore the nature of the character in the work. Be sure to back up your character assessment with documented quotations from the work. Lawrence Block's The Burglar Who... series works well with this topic as well.