American Movie - Tragic Comedy or Comedic Tragedy?

This will probably be your last formal writing assingment for the quarter, so make it good. It's worth 50 points.

Task
In a one-to-two page essay, answer the following question:

Is American Movie a tragic comedy or a comedic tragedy?

Format
This is a formal essay, so beware of grammar, punctuation, tense, language usage, spelling, etc. It all counts.

Content
You're going to want to do a few things in your essay. You'll want to have a thesis stating your central claim - basically answering affirmative or negative to the question. You'll want to define your terms. Just what is a tragedy and a comedy? (The previoud blog entry should be very helpful.) You'll want to support your response with evidence from the film. You might want to address elements of the opposing side of your arguments. What counter arguments might someone who disagrees with you address? Address them yourself.  Be sure to consider the entire movie when crafting your response. Was the last day's viewing sadder than the first and second? Maybe. Does that instanly make it a tragedy? How does one even determine if the ending is sad or not? Mark is still pretty pittiful, but he completes his filmand makes good on all of his promises. So think about it.

If you'd like to review parts of the film, it will be available in the IMC at the front desk. You can check it out for a period and view it in the AV lab in the back of the IMC. If you have any questions, please ask.