LibGuides: Philosophy 475: Zombie Apocalypse!: Film Analysis

Film Analysis - Help!

Film Studies - Journals and Articles
The best thing to do in the midst of a zombie attack is to completely shut down mentally and watch a movie. Right? This guide will help you find scholarly information on films!

MLA International Bibliography (1926 - current)
Comprehensive coverage of modern languages and literature, including folklore. Linguistics and language materials range from history and theory of linguistics, comparative linguistics, semantics, stylistics, and syntax to translation. Other topics include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater), and book history. Search Tips
Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete includes full text for 1800 publications as well as images, for nearly every academic field of study.
Project Muse
Scholarly projects demand reliable content. Project MUSE is your trusted source for the highest quality books and journals in the humanities and social sciences from over 200 of the world’s most distinguished university presses and scholarly societies.
Art Index (EBSCO) (H.W. Wilson)
Indexes several film journals, such as "Sight and Sound," the "American Cinematographer," "Film Comment," and "Film Quarterly."

If your film is not as unique as this title and could be interpreted as a subject not-related to film studies, (for example, "Wild Grass" may bring up articles related to agriculture; or Jaws might bring up articles about teeth and not film studies!), in which case you may have to add terms like "film," "motion picture," the country of production, or the name of the director or of a main character to your search.
You might want to do a search first to make sure that there is enough out there on your film. If not, you can take the approach of looking up specific themes, characters, plot points, and then make your own analysis based on what you have read. You could then use searches like zombies AND consumerism or zombies AND technology to read books and articles that address these themes more generally, and then use them in your analysis.
Reading a brief film review is helpful before diving into the scholarly literature, as it will help you to pick out the major characters, plot points, and themes of the film. You can use these as keywords or subject headings and it will help you consider how to structure your critical analysis, or what to focus on.