Skip to Main Content

Philosophy 475: Zombie Apocalypse!

Film Analysis - Help!

FIlm Analysis - The Highlights

Tips

  • 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.
WSU Libraries, PO Box 645610, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-5610, 509-335-9671, Contact Us