An effective way to critique film or television is to write a thesis that contains concession, refutation, and mapping components (underlined below). Example:
While ABC's Gray's Anatomy is often cleverly written and deals with timely topics that are dramatized in a complex, compelling manner, the show too often is sodden with cutesy dialog, predictably needy characters who are less endearing than they are chafing, and highly annoying, "sensitive" scenes that deteriorate into over-stylized MTV-style music videos accompanied by precious and cloying indy-pop folk rock.
The above example has concession by conceding that the show is often "clever," "timely," and "complex"; at the same time, in the thesis' independent clause the writer refutes the show by accusing it of being "cutesy," "chafing," and "annoying." Finally, the thesis has mapping components that outline the body paragraphs and thus give the writer a road map or organizing structure for the essay.
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