TOEFL iBT Academic Discussion and Writing 8-2 The most influential movie of all time - revised -

 

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Question

Considering the vast array of cinematic works, which movie do you believe is the most influential of all time and why?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

Ask each other the following questions after doing necessary research.

1.        List up the vocabulary Laura and Luke uses to describe the movie of their choices.

2.        Think of the movies that fit the descriptions that you listed up in Question 1.

3.        What is your movie of your choice?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

1.        “The Wizard of Oz”

2.        “The Matrix”

3.        “The Load of the Rings”

4.        “All Quiet on the Western Front” “Dankirk” “The Deer Hunter” “Apocalypse Now” “El Salbador” “Platoon”

5.        “Dr. Strangelove”

6.        “The Life of Brian”

 

 

☆Responses for Ideas and Expressions

Michael Moore movies have all caused seismic shifts in our awareness and understanding of the current world dominated by the capitalist American society, from his blockbuster debut “Roger & Me” on the corporate greed and his deteriorating Ford hometown, Flint, to Academy Award-winning “Bowling for Columbine”, on school-shootings and the American society, to anti-war movie “Fahrenheit 9/11”, which reported the corruption of the George W. Bush administration going to the Iraq War, to “SiCKO” on the endemic American healthcare system, to “Capitalism: A Love Story”, which proved capitalism is a sin, to “Fahrenheit 11/9” about the malaise of a capitalist society, to “Where to Invade Next”, about the countries thriving with socialist ideas, to the latest “The Planet of the Humans”, which showed the deception of renewable energies and corruption of the leaders of the environmental movements. But I think “Roger & Me” is the most significant because it changed the concept of documentary. It never bored the audience with a textbook-like teaching. In other words, it made documentaries an entertainment. It also started a style in which the director goes to see VIPs without appointment or any preparation, which gave the film thrills and reality. These new stiles changed the way documentaries are made forever. (206 words)

 

“Barbie” is the most influential ever because it will change our awareness about ourselves and the world. Boys must go see it if they want girls to like them. It relentlessly satirizes the shortcomings of men like childishness, narcissism, excessive masculinity, desire for dominance, dependent mentality, ego, misogyny, violence, and contentment with patriarchy, but with humor and in style, which makes women laugh out loud, transcending their bags of spite towards men, and men realize these shortcomings of theirs. The movie also satirizes a trap that independent single women fall into by showing unrealistic Barbie Land, or female-dominated world, which is seemingly a women’s utopia but actually a totalitarian dystopia controlled by lookism, capitalism, consumerism, and fascism. Moreover, this movie gives girls and young women a guideline on how to live as a woman in today’s world. In the beginning of the plot, little girls go through the dawn of woman and change from a baby feeder into a woman by destroying their babydolls after seeing a Barbie doll as an icon of a fashionable, independent young adult woman, completely in sync with the famous scene “ The Dawn of Man” in the classic “2001: A Space Odyssey”, but in the end a stereotypical Barbie doll chooses to leave Barbie Land and live as a human for the sweet pain and joy of motherhood and the true beauty of womanhood even though she is informed of the oppression of women in the patriarchal real world, being free from the feminism mantra and reactionism. This thread―a doll gets heart and becomes a human woman―is woven into radical satire of patriarchy and feminism and perfect parodies to make both men and women see themselves from a viewpoint above themselves for reflection and real feminism. Therefore, although it has just started showing, “Barbie” will certainly be the most influential. (310 words)

 

 

☆Response plan                                                                                                      

Topic Sentence:

Supporting Details:

Conclusion:

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

                                               DRAFT