The Modern Language Association (MLA) format is commonly used in the humanities, particularly in writing about literature and the arts. When it comes to citing movies, the MLA format follows a specific structure that helps readers understand the source material. Below are three diverse, practical examples of how to cite movies in MLA format.
This example is useful when you want to highlight the director’s contribution to the film.
When citing a movie in MLA format, the basic structure includes the title of the movie in italics, the director’s name, the production company, and the year of release. For instance:
Inception. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros., 2010.
In this example, Inception is the title of the movie, followed by the director’s name, the company that produced the film, and the year it was released. This format is particularly useful in academic writing where the director’s vision and interpretation of the narrative are being analyzed.
This format is ideal when you want to acknowledge various contributors, such as producers or actors, in your paper.
For a movie with significant contributions from multiple key players, you can structure your citation as follows:
Pulp Fiction. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, performances by John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Samuel L. Jackson, Miramax, 1994.
Here, Pulp Fiction is the title, followed by the director’s name, a selection of prominent cast members, the production company, and the release year. This format allows for a more comprehensive acknowledgment of the film’s collaborative nature, making it particularly useful when discussing character development or actor performance in analysis.
This example is fitting for when you want to discuss a film adaptation of a book or play.
When citing a movie adapted from another work, include the title of the original work in quotation marks. The format would look like this:
The Great Gatsby. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Warner Bros., 2013.
In this case, The Great Gatsby is the title of the movie, followed by the director’s name, a mention of the original author of the source material in quotation marks, the production company, and the year of release. This is particularly useful in literary analysis, where discussions on fidelity to the original text are common.
These examples of MLA format for movies provide a clear guideline for citing films in academic writing, ensuring that you give appropriate credit to the contributors and sources involved in the cinematic work.