Reading Guide

Student – Barbara
Consultant – Chaney
Text – The World, the Flesh, and the Devil: The Politics of Race, Gender, and Power in Post-
Apocalyptic Hollywood Cinema (Stephanie Larrieux)_

Prior to your consultation, you will have read the assigned text fully and discussed in class. For this
exercise, your task is to identify the most important elements of the reading and use them to answer the
questions below.

1. To what problem, claim, or widely-held assumption does the text respond?

The text mainly responds on interpretation of WFD’s representation of social issues--mainly racial
segregation.

2. What is the overall argument or finding presented by this study?

The text invokes “W. E. B. Du Bois’ concept of ‘double consciousness’” to explain Ralph’s behavior
in the film (his internalized social hierarchy), explore the power dynamics between the three main
characters (how Ralph gets power, and how later such power is lost when Sarah and Ben disrupts
Ralph’s “utopian”), and argue why the provided ending is the only valid one given the historical
context and that it addresses the uselessness of racial segregation.

3. What evidence does the research present to support its claims?

There are mainly three kinds of evidence: the first is the detailed depiction of film (cinematography
and plot), e.g. “They settle in different buildings, almost unconsciously reconstructing the barriers of a
segregated order.”; the second is the quotes from experts to bring in theoretical terms, e.g. “One ever
feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled
strivings”; the third is the historical context, e.g. “The guidelines of the 1930 Motion Picture
Production Code. also know as the Hays/Breen Code”.

4. What is the overall structure of the argument?

The text starts by presenting the thesis, a brief on the historical context of the film, and a short
summary of plot. The introduction is followed by pieces of detailed evidence and interpretation of each
in the purpose of presenting/fortifying arguments, mainly following the chronological order. At the end
of the argument, after justifying the film’s ending by presenting historical context as evidence, the text
draws a conclusion that relates back to the thesis (“...accomplishes the film’s objective of underscoring
the pathology of racialized social distinction and the illogic of segregation.”)

10 Essential Questions for Academic Reading

1. To what problem, claim, or widely-held assumption does the text respond?
2. What central question does the study pose?
3. On what prior research or theories does the text build its argument?
4. What gap in knowledge does the study attempt to fill? What is new about this research?
5. How does the study conduct its original research? What methods does it use?
6. What is the overall argument or finding presented by this study? Does the author qualify the
argument or the findings?
7. What evidence does the research present to support its claims?
8. What is the overall structure of the argument?
9. What are the larger implications of this research, according to the author?
10. What future research does the author suggest?