Imitation Project Craft Essay

           This is a film review essay where I discuss the dark elements within the movie Maleficent and how it fits into the dark fairy tale genre. While the target audience for most Disney films has usually been younger, I’ll be targeting an older audience as I would discuss darker topics. In the review, I discuss how rape and recovery are represented through the main character of Maleficent. In addition, I discuss multiple dark aspects, from how gender roles are portrayed to rape and recovery. Discussing these elements allows the reader to take a step back and see how this already dark movie can be darker than they initially thought.

           Like most movie reviews, there’s an eye-catching header or title to draw in the reader’s initial attention. The title should be straightforward and give the reader a good understanding of what the essay will be about. In this essay, I drew inspiration from Richard Brody’s review on Batman when coming up with my title. His was titled, “The Batman,” Reviewed: Eh, It’s Fine, which led me to mine, which was “Maleficent”: A Must Watch if You Enjoy Dark Fairy Tales.” Although simplistic, it does an excellent job of informing the reader on what I’ll be talking about as I reference how you’ll enjoy the movie if you enjoy dark fairy tales.

           In movie reviews essays, include subheadings throughout the review to organize the essay better and, as a result, make it more readable. I similarly structured mine as I would have one to two paragraphs for each point I discussed. Formatting my essay this way makes it clear what my points are and the overall message I wanted to send to the reader. It also makes the reading less intimidating. They’re not faced with a big block of text and instead face something more approachable. Like many other film reviews, I also utilize pictures to allow the reader to feel like they’re watching the movie as I go through the review. These images also guide and serve as a talking point for discussing points I make within the review. For example, when talking about how the film was shot, using images helps the reader better understand and allows them to see what I see. The use of images also helps convey the way actors portray an emotion. For example, within the review, I talk about how the stripping of Maleficent’s wing is how rape is portrayed in the film. Including an image of when she got her wings removed shows the pain and sadness that’s expressed on her face, strengthening my point.

           The tone also plays a part when writing a film review. Typically, it’s more casual and not as formal, where sarcasm gets used, and writing has more personality. Writing this way was a struggle as I was used to more formal writing, so making the switch was a little tricky at first. However, a more conversational tone helped me write more casually and free-spirited. While casual, I still made sure that I informed the reader of everything they needed to know to understand the review. This was incorporated in my writing by showing more emotion when talking about scenes and how I reacted to them. This helped create the informal tone within my writing, which you wouldn’t see within an academic essay.

           With the features of the striking title, subsections for better readability, and images that help support my argument, the film review can properly inform the reader of the dark elements within Maleficent and how these dark elements give it a place within the dark fairy tale genre. In addition, the review uses images to provide better context to support the main claim and help give the reader more context of the story. Finally, keeping this relaxed tone makes the reading more “fun” and “accessible” for the reader as it isn’t as daunting. 

Annotated Bibliography

Brody, Richard. “‘The Batman," Reviewed: Eh, It's Fine.” The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-batman-reviewed-eh-its-fine.

This was helpful for me as it gave me inspiration for the title of my story and the way I would write as well. This was the main article I used when it came to revising my essay to become more like a film review instead of an academic essay, so it played a big role in my writing process.

Disney; directed by Robert Stromberg; screenplay by Linda Woolverton; produced by Joe Roth; a Roth Films production. Maleficent. [Burbank, Calif.]: Disney, 2014.

I used this as the movie I would be analyzing about. This source gives me all the information I talked about regarding the movie maleficent. The source is also credible as it’s published by Disney a credible source. This is also where I got all the visuals for my essay and served to be very valuable for incorporating multimodal aspects into this essay/movie review.

Laffly, Tomris. “Turning Red Movie Review & Film Summary (2022): Roger Ebert.” Movie Review & Film Summary (2022) | Roger Ebert, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/turning-red-movie-review-2022.

While not mentioned as much within my paper, I also used this as inspiration for the way I wanted to structure and write my essay. This also played a vital part when it comes to revisions and turning my paper into more of a movie review instead of an academic essay.