Multiple Choice Quiz

For each of the questions that follow, only one choice accurately completes the statement. In some cases, more than one answer may seem plausible, so carefully consider each option before choosing the response that accurately completes the statement.

1		Because they are not the principal focus of interest, a film’s supporting characters, such as those in The Maltese Falcon,
			A)	are less central to the development of the plot, their screen time offering diversions from the narrative rather than progressions toward its resolution.
			B)	must appear onscreen for long periods of time so that viewers can learn their motives.
			C)	are often endowed with peculiar and memorable distinguishing features.
			D)	are characterized primarily by the main characters’ reactions and dialogue.
2		Part of the audacious appeal of writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is its
			A)	unprecedented use of ad hoc dialogue.
			B)	use of speech acts by its protagonists which are inconsistent with their function in the narrative.
			C)	chronological narrative, which operates on clearly established principles of cause and effect, conflict and resolution.
			D)	use of black-and-white cinematography, rare in an era nearly completely dominated by color.
3		In contrast to stage actors, film actors
			A)	undertake extensive rehearsals before their performances.
			B)	typically work in small segments that are often completely out of sequence.
			C)	often thrive on the immediate response of the audience.
			D)	are required to give sustained, consistent performances for the entirety of the duration of the narrative.
4		During the 1940s and 1950s, this actor’s screen persona came to symbolize the popular conception of American manhood and individualism in diverse roles in films like Back to Bataan, The Quiet Man, and The Searchers:
			A)	Humphrey Bogart.
			B)	Claude Rains.
			C)	John Wayne.
			D)	Clint Eastwood.
5		Actually the son of a society doctor and a magazine illustrator, this star’s screen persona—a rough-hewn reluctant hero whose moral core was encrusted in cynicism—belied his privileged roots:
			A)	Humphrey Bogart.
			B)	Claude Rains.
			C)	John Wayne.
			D)	Clint Eastwood.
6		The set of elaborate psychoanalytic strategies known as “The Method,” devised to help actors trigger actual emotions to transfer to their characters,
			A)	resulted in an intense, self-referential style still central to the training of actors in the States.
			B)	was promoted in America by Lee Strasberg, who developed a set of rigorous exercises demanding discipline and concentration.
			C)	was rejected by Marlon Brando and James Dean, who preferred to follow script lines and stage directions precisely.
			D)	constituted a type of acting that was unprecedented in the American cinema.
7		Feminist critic Molly Haskell, citing screen depictions of women from the 1920s to the 1970s, concluded that
			A)	the range of roles available to women was far wider than previously assumed.
			B)	most female characters are little more than stereotypical male fantasies.
			C)	Hollywood audiences were ready to welcome intelligent, ambitious female characters.
			D)	the treatment of female actors in Hollywood constituted a form of rape.
8		Though a screen staple since at least 1915, more recent films such as the recent trilogy of Michael Douglas male-paranoia features (Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, and Disclosure), rely on this stereotypical construction:
			A)	the femme fatale.
			B)	the “Bond Girl.”
			C)	the “It Girl.”
			D)	the harried housewife.
9		Critics of feminist accounts of the “male gaze” said to dominate the typical Hollywood film have argued that
			A)	entire categories of films such as biblical epics, jungle adventures, and boxing films are practically devoted to the display of the male body.
			B)	few Hollywood films display female anatomy for the apparent pleasure of male viewers.
			C)	the notion of spectatorship can be determined as an essentially “masculine” gender position.
			D)	women are either “fetishized” or “investigated” by the gaze.
10		Asians and Asian Americans have long been presented as stereotypes onscreen, including the wily and nefarious torturer whose devices seemed to elicit sexual pleasure:
			A)	Charlie Chan.
			B)	The Red Menace.
			C)	Fu Manchu.
			D)	Ming the Merciless.
11		A technical masterpiece, D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation
			A)	was hailed for the insight and intelligence with which it dealt with problematic issues like integration and miscegenation.
			B)	represented blacks as faithful servants, slothful boors, and sex-crazed savages.
			C)	was the first film to feature black actors, rather than white actors in blackface, in major black roles.
			D)	offered a sharp critique of the philosophies and practices of the Ku Klux Klan.
12		During the 1920s and 1930s, black characters
			A)	were portrayed with the same bigotry and insensitivity that had characterized The Birth of a Nation decades earlier.
			B)	continued to be portrayed primarily by white actors in blackface.
			C)	were portrayed as kindly, slow-moving, unambitious, and asexual.
			D)	were frequently presented as noble, intellectual, and idealistic.
13		Although sometimes contrived and overly idealistic, the characters portrayed by Sidney Poitier in the 1960s
			A)	achieved strong results at the box office but had little apparent effect behind the scenes.
			B)	provided a strong challenge to the negative black stereotypes that had prevailed in Hollywood since its inception.
			C)	reflected the militaristic tenor of the black-power movement gaining momentum at the time.
			D)	were enabled by the increasing number of black directors gaining prominence in Hollywood during the era.
14		With big lips, bulging eyes, and a wide nose, this bumbling, cowardly, inept denizen of the Star Wars installment Episode I: The Phantom Menace incensed cultural critics (who saw him as stereotypical of Hollywood’s earlier black caricatures) as much as he annoyed the series’ faithful fans:
			A)	Anakin Skywalker.
			B)	Jar Jar Binks.
			C)	Boss Nass.
			D)	Watto.