Hey forum,
I registered because I'm pretty much in trouble. I attend grammar school and am doing a paper on Mulholland Drive under the aspect "How human subconsciousness influences our dreams" (not sure about the title yet) in English classes.
However, this paper includes a presentation in front of the class (45-90 minutes) and I have no idea of how to structure this presentation. My class didn't see the movie, so I'll show them the most important scenes during the presentation. But I can't imagine how it feels to not have watched the movie and then be bombarded by the complex plot and my personal interpretation. Will they be able to follow? Or will they relax after the first 10 minuten which would be a real shame. (It should be added that English is not our first language which makes things even harder.)
When I think of my presentation it really intimidates me. Question like "Should I introduce every character at first?", "Should I combine the summary of the plot and my interpretation or should I separate them?" or "What would be the best way to make it as easy to follow as possible?" pop up. Of course, I have some ideas in mind, and I for sure don't want you to do my homework, but I wonder if anyone has some tips or thoughts that he or she would share with me. May there even be someone who did something similar to this?
Anyway, thanks for the kinda long read^^

Hi Aequus -

I've been mulling over your question for a few hours, and I think my best advice would be (if possible) not to try to structure the presentation around the plot of Mulholland Drive drive specifically (since that would require your listeners to have at least a passing knowledge/understanding of the film, and -- as you point out -- it would be very difficult to impart that to them in a meaningful way as part of a presentation). Instead, I'd suggest structuring the presentation around various ways the human subconscious emerges in dream imagery, and simply draw examples from MD (among other films, ideally).

In other words, maybe don't try (for example) to explain in detail how Rita is a dream doppelganger of Diane (in the classic interpretation of MD), and offer reasons in the film to support that interpretation, and so on. Instead, talk about how the subconscious often adopts different personas in dreams, like masks it wears for different purposes, and how -- in dream logic -- identities don't always match the people in real life, etc. Then you can use examples of this phenomenon from MD (or other sources) to illustrate the point, but in a way that doesn't require the listeners to be familiar with the film's intricate (and not-always-agreed-upon) storyline.

Approached this way, any listeners who happen to be familiar with MD might get more out of it than listeners who aren't, but listeners who aren't won't be completely lost. Try to make understanding the references to the film additive to understanding your points, rather than required for understanding your points.

On an entirely different note, I'm guessing that your "grammar school" is a different educational level than it is where I am (California, USA). Here, "grammar school" is a nickname for the school that children attend from about ages 5-12. For that age group, a 45-90 minute presentation -- not to mention the content of Mulholland Drive! -- would be quite something!