Date: 2/10/16

To: Dr. Stefan Guenzel

From: Danielle Driscoll
Subject of my paper: Movie Plots and Intertextuality in Film

Topic description: The topic of this research project is intertextuality and its positive/negative
effects in film. Not only is there a continuous and immense amount of intertextuality occurring in
accordance to certain characters or references within a movie, but the movie plots/storylines
themselves are also somewhat borrowed. How is it that so many movies in the past until now
could have been created and not a single one is the EXACT same? Where do all the ideas for
new movies come from without plagairism or copyright issues? Sometimes there is selective
borrowing, where there is only a small concept or character idiosyncrasy relevant to another in
another movie. Sometimes an entire movie plot is thought to be entirely to relative to another
movie plot which can result in copyright issues and lawsuits. So, what part does intertextuality
play in keeping the film industry alive, and when does it cross the line from borrowing to
stealing?
Purpose: Currently, my major is Undecided, but next semester I am going to be moving to Los
Angeles for acting school. Not only do we learn the logistics of acting itself, but we also have to
learn how to write our own storylines and scripts. Not only do I just want to act, but I know that I
will also want to help produce, write, or direct in the future too, and I think it is important to know
how hundreds upon thousands of film projects can be conducted each year and never once
copy another film project already in existence. Where does the creativity/innovative concepts
come from and how does intertextuality play a part in that?
Preliminary Thesis/Argument: Intertextuality in movies and film is the key concept to preventing
the thousands of film projects produced each year from violating copyright claims, and also to
keep the film industry in continuance.
Intended audience: The intended audience is the classroom, aka my peers. However, on a
broader spectrum, the people that would most benefit from my research project would be script
writers. They would benefit from knowing how intertextuality works, and how to properly apply
the concepts of intertextuality to their work when they compose a new script or movie idea.
Additionally, movie viewers or critics could also benefit from this research project by knowing
how borrowed creativity is still innovative and unique within each individual movie project.

Types of research areas: With hope, I plan to utilize all types of research areas. I am plan to do
field research through my own observations of intertextuality in films I watch. I also hope to find
scholarly articles or movie critics essays about movies and intertextuality as well. The internet
however is a no brainer. As far as my field, there really are no restrictions as to what can or
cannot be studied or analyzed. Typically though, the best research is to actively watch the
movies ourselves and identify the intertextual references within, and then find in articles what is
acceptable and what is not.
Kinds of sources: Internet sources, interviews with directors and producers, interviews with
actors, scholarly articles, books on acting and movies, my film class im currently enrolled in
covers the history of film, so I plan to also utilize information found from that course.
Graphs or charts: A pie chart or bar graph would probably work best. Especially if we consider
graphs and charts comparing similarities within movie plots or characters.
Documentation Style: MLA
Tentative List of References: Have not gathered all sources yet but usually I have about 5-15
sources for every research project I do.