Here are the instructions for our second response paper. This time I’m asking you to work on Luchino Visconti’s film, The Earth Trembles. Please watch the whole movie before starting your response paper… I know it’s long, but it’s worth it! Remember that you are supposed to use examples from the film and/or quote from the other readings to enrich your answers. In this case, you are invited to include a few screenshots of the scenes you think are important to explain your main points (here you can find a quick guide on how to take screenshots from your pc, laptop, tablet, or smartphone).
Instructions:
Write a 1-page response (350-400 words), choosing one of the following prompts:
Ntoni is one of the most important characters in the story. Comment on Ntoni’s ideas and his character development. Then focus on the ways the visual narrative finds to convey his changing role – from being one of the characters to becoming the protagonist of the story. For instance, you can compare/contrast the very crowded collective scenes at the beginning of the film, where Ntoni is only one of many fishermen, with other scenes where Ntoni is literally at the center of the screen (see the screenshot below).
“Even the stories of the heart in Trezza,” the narrator says, “are related to jobs and prosperity.” Comment on this idea by focusing on the two main couples, Mara/Nicola, and Ntoni/Nedda, and on the ways the visual narrative finds to depict them. What does it mean that, as the narrator puts it, “Nicola knows how these things go. Now he is too poor for Mara Valastro, and if you’re poor, you have to surrender”? What is the relationship between work and the “stories of the heart”?