Critically Thinking About the Chimera by contrasting and Comparing 2 Works
Choose one of the following:
Pair #1: “The Swimmer” and “Winter Dreams”
Develop an argumentative thesis that addresses how Neddy Merrill in “The Swimmer” and Dexter Green in “Winter Dreams” succumb to their chimeras resulting in the loss of time, disconnection from others, and a descent into hell from which there is no return. What are their chimeras? What similar qualities do their chimeras have?
Pair #2: “Winter Dreams” and Homecoming King (comedy special on Netflix)
Develop an argumentative thesis that addresses why Dexter Green’s Great White Princess chimera sent him on a One-Way Trip to Hell. In contrast, analyze how Hasan Minhaj’s Great White Princess Hell Journey was interrupted by his family’s love and moral values.
Pair #3: White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch and Good Hair
Develop a thesis that compares the white aesthetic chimera in the documentaries White Hot and Good Hair. What do these documentaries say about racial body dysmorphia, economic class, and the American Dream?
Pair #4: Fake Famous and LuLaRich
Develop a thesis that analyzes the destructive chimera as the promise of easy wealth and fame in the documentary Fake Famous and the TV docuseries LuLaRich. How does the enticement of the easy life--Hakuna Matata--and glamor impede people from living a real, authentic life, make them vulnerable to manipulation, and turn them into the very grifters they despise?
Pair #5: Uncut Gems and Private Life
Develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the claim that In Uncut Gems and Private Life, the black opal and the promise of a baby serve as a chimera for happiness, fulfillment, self-control, and status even as the characters’ lives unravel into more and more self-loathing and chaos.
Pair #6: Uncut Gems and Raging Bull
Develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the claim that Uncut Gems and Raging Bull are excoriating critiques of the Toxic Masculinity Chimera which leaves chaos and moral dissolution in its wake.
Pair #7: Private Life and Marriage Story
Develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the claim that the chimera in Private Life, the idea of a baby as a substitute for an empty marriage, is more virulent and nihilistic than the Marriage Story chimera, the belief that divorce ends a relationship and offers an estranged couple “closure.”
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