Beetlejuice Recap

Higher Close Reading

Analysis Questions

Question 1• How does the writer convey his

attitude towards Channel 5’s decision to show Beetlejuice on a Sunday afternoon? Paragraph 1 4A

• “Timely” – he thinks it is appropriate to choose to air the film while the director and star are discussing a sequel

• “Channel 5’s Jumanji slot” – however, he does not think this is the appropriate time of day to air it – the “Jumanji slot”refers to the idea that this time slot is normally reserved for family films (which Beetlejuice is certainly not)

Question 2

• What could happen to the film if it airs on a Sunday afternoon? Paragraph 2. 2U

• Every inappropriate moment will be left out

• These inappropriate moments will be left in and everyone will be shocked by seeing them before the watershed

Question 3• In what ways do other stars

owe a debt to Beetlejuice? Paragraph 3. 3U

• There was a cartoon version.• The make up was very similar

in a much later Batman film.• Jim Carrey has copied

Michael Keaton’s physical comedy style.

Question 4• How does the writer convey his admiration for the character of

Betelgeuse in paragraph 4? 4A

• “tears such a massive hole in it”– Imagery – metaphor – comparing Keaton’s performance to something

very destructive– Implies that he makes a huge impact on the film and messes with

everything that is going on at that point in the film.• “dervish” – metaphor – comparing the character to someone who is

known for spinning around and dancing energetically.• “swallowing up his words and burping them back up with glee”

– Imagery – comparing the way Beetlejuice speaks to the way someone may eat in a disgusting manner.

• “can’t help but get swept in”• Word choice – “can’t help” – unavoidable, can’t stop yourself from

liking the character.• Imagery – “swept in” – compares Beetlejuice to a wave. Just as a

wave is always picking up things on the shore and pulling them into the sea, so too is Beetlejuice drawing viewers into his world.

Question 5• How does he then convey his

distaste for Alec Baldwin in the following paragraph? 2A

• Contrast – The way he is now – “razor-sharp

timing”– Implies that he has honed his

craft and sharpened his skills so that his comedy timing is perfect and jokes are always well placed

– The way he was in this film – “bland”

– Boring, useless, simple• Repetition of “bland” – to

emphasise just how boring he is

Question 6

• How does the writer continue to show his admiration for the film in the final paragraph? 4A

• “Sweet without being sentimental”– Word choice – “Sweet” suggests that it has a good heart and

makes the viewer feel something. And it avoids “sentimental” which suggests overly emotional and forcing the viewer to feel something false.

• “Inventiveness”– Word choice – shows that the film tried new things and took risks

that paid off.• “Iconic”

– Word choice – the character has become an icon – something people admire and look up to – he has become a cult figure for a particular type of audience.

Question 7• How does the writer’s use of anecdote

provide a suitable conclusion for the article? 2E

• First of all, it shows that he is an authority on this topic as it is clearly a film that he is fond of (“wore out the VCR rewatching it)

• It links back to the idea of the film being shown in the middle of the day.

• Just as his parents used the “press-stop-when-anything-risque-is-about-to-happen recording method” when taping the film in order to avoid their child seeing anything he shouldn’t, Channel 5 will be doing the same by cutting parts of the film out so as not to offend families.

• This is a suitable ending as it has come full-circle back to the writer’s point at the beginning of the article.

Question 8

• Read the notes section. Comment on the effectiveness of the writer’s use of sentence structure in the first bullet point. 2A/E

• Two uses of parenthesis, dashes and brackets.• In the first case, the dashes are used to give

more information about the actor’s age.• In the second case, the brackets are used to

add humour. They point out a particularly bad film of Michael Keaton’s.

Question 9

• How effective do you find the writer’s use of sentence structure in the final bullet point. 2A/E

• Effective use of rhetorical questions.• Repeating the idea from the beginning of the whole

passage – a Beetlejuice sequel.• Two questions allow the writer to add humour – the first

question shows that he likes the first film enough to watch a second – the second question adds humour as it implies that the people who made one of Tim Burton’s most recent films are not good enough to take on the task of making Beetlejuice 2.