My Favorite Scene in Film Noir

So I'm writing a term paper for my film noir class on fashion, the femme fatale, and women in the workforce during the post-war period.  It's quite fun - my only regret is that I only have a short window to write it.

But in reflecting back on the films we've watched this term, this scene has stayed with me since we first watched it.  It's a bit mature, but its also exceptional!  Noir like most film of the time has female characters that pretty much conform to a binary of the femme fatale and the nurturing home-maker.  But this clip of Bogart's Marlowe meeting a never-named character played by Dorothy Malone defies that binary...

I'm so impressed by this characterization.  She wears her desire openly - her face at 2:49! - and she isn't punished for it!!  She's smart enough to see through him and he's not threatened, he's impressed.  And can we talk about this fantastic early use of the "nerdy girl takes off her glasses" trope?  This is from the film that brought Bogart and Bacall together (and of course they do have fabulous chemistry), but its this scene that wins the "cold shower edit" as its known.  You go, Glen Coco! 

Hats off to Hawks, Bogart, and Malone!

...and now, back to paper-writing :)

Hi!  Just a little late-night update on my final papers...

So yesterday I submitted my 2nd grad paper on the Lizzie Bennet Diaries - I still can't believe they let me do that.  I was writing about it for a film class, applying theories of form, gender, and reception.  It seemed a bit messy even when I turned it in, but it did give me some ideas I want to expand into my thesis project :)

I'm now working on a really interesting paper going in all sorts of crazy directions: Victorian standardization of time, Hesiod's socieconomic perspective in Works and Days, postcolonial theory, Hamlet, a bit of Foucault, and Odysseus's sirens... I told my brother: "Right now they're like a bunch of sheep running in different directions and I need to become Babe! #BahRamEwe" I'm about 1/3 of the way there and it is pretty fun.  The text I'm working with is also a favorite--"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

But now I should get some rest so I can scribble out some more good ideas tomorrow. Bonne nuit!

Guys! Guys!  Today I got to present my paper on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and it went reeeally well!  My professor said the paper it was based on was "compelling" and I got to have discussion about the form of new media adaptations--"So...the characters can tweet at you?"--and it was amazing!  Also, I had been planning to expand this project into my MA Thesis (a 60 page, 3-chapter document due April 2016) and today my professor told me, "Yah, I think you really should."  I just had to note this small victory.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Samara from one year ago,

Keep. going!  Your crazy idea is just crazy enough to be "compelling"!  I know it seems--especially in the coming weeks--that grad school is unattainable and that you'll never be allowed back in that world.  I know that you're going to go to bed exhausted, bleary-eyed and emotional far too many times.  I know that the future seems very dark--that you'll be waiting eternally and that what you've hoped for will never happen.  But have faith and take courage, because your hard work will open doors and your faith will be answered.

I know that even now you are considering giving up on OSU--it's the most expensive choice and has the earliest application date.  But thank you for not giving up on it, because God knew this interdisciplinary school was exactly where you needed to be.  I know that you are going to hear voices--both in your head and from other people--that this idea isn't "academic enough" and that you just don't have it together.  But by immense grace and running hard after a dream, somehow it does come together.  So don't give up.

As for me, I have to get back to this other crazy paper on Heart of Darkness, Impressionism, and the Lost World (I'm on page 13 of 20 - woohoo!).  But keep your chin up, "When the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer." :)

Cheers,
Samara Surface
Graduate Teaching Associate
MA Candidate - Literature and Culture
School of Writing, Literature, and Film
Oregon State University

So, I guess you could say paper writing is going... well?

#SO #MANY #IDEAS!!!

If you're looking for me this week, I'll be paper writing next to this crackling fire...

This is our common room.  They've decorated it up for the holidays and someone stokes the fire every hour or so.  It's marvelous!

As for the papers themselves, I'm working on a 10-page piece that is half-review of theories of adaptation and half-application to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  Then I have a 20-page piece for next week looking at the use of impressionism in Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now--also using adaptation theories.   Those are the biggies between now and break.  Wish me luck!

And, finally, Happy Advent!

*******

Update: Just submitted the first paper of my grad school career!

Also, who ever decided the term for "approaching something as a whole" should be "holistic" rather than "wholistic"?  Lame.

To do today:


1. English novel final
2. Shakespeare final
3. Finish final paper for honors
4. Keep calm and carry on

done.

Working on the last paper of the quarter. I'm hoping to have it done by tonight.
Can't really complain though, when I get to write on incredible books like Jane Eyre =)

Here's to one more paper and one more day till Christmastide!

12/15

=/

T-18 hours, but I'm heading to bed.

writing final papers...

 [This is what my well loved books look like]

 [London Fog]

 

[thinking and scribbling]

[I've spent all day in History of Love and I still adore it!]

Skipped class this morning and opted for a writing day [I love you, Aeneas, but I'd say I'm fairly familiar with Rome's foundation myth].

On page 9 of 15 for my final paper for English honors. That's good, right? =/

Happy friday night!

Tonight I'm going to...

...make myself a cup of London Fog
...put on comfy sweats
...plug in with my headphones
...and write like a fiend.