Analyzing film, like analyzing literature (poetry, fictional texts, etc.), is a form of rhetorical analysis—
critically analyzing and evaluating discourse, including words, phrases, and images. Having a clear
argument and supporting evidence is every bit as crucial to film analysis as to other forms of
academic writing. Unlike literature, film incorporates audiovisual elements and therefore introduces
a new dimension to analysis. Ultimately, however, analysis of film is not too different. Think of all
the things that make up a scene in a film: the actors, the lighting, the angles, the colors. All of these
things may be absent in literature, but they are deliberate choices on the part of the director,
producer, or screenwriter—as are the words chosen by the author of a work of literature.
Furthermore, literature and film incorporate similar elements. They both have plots, characters,
dialogue, settings, symbolism, and, just as the elements of literature can be analyzed for their intent
and effect, these elements can be analyzed the same way in film.