| Introduction
Setting
the Stage: Some Questions to Think About
Who determines what is a morally acceptable film?
Must your own values be the same as those expressed in a film
for you to learn from the film or enjoy watching it?
Is it possible for a film to pull you into it’s world and
make you believe something you don’t want to believe?
Introduction
In this era of high-stakes testing, the tendency is to view movies
in the classroom as a distraction, at most a deserved respite
from the serious work of preparing students for the minimum competency
assessments they must pass to graduate. The guiding principle
of this series of modules , however, is that films provide students
an opportunity to think critically about plots or events, characters,
techniques, themes, and social issues. In other words, bringing
movies into the classroom in a viable and engaging way enables
students to build on skills they already possess—thinking
critically, framing arguments, decoding images—skills essential
to success in high school, college, and the world of work. From
a values standpoint, films provide their viewers, young and old
alike, with an opportunity to take a stand on important and often
controversial issues, to accept or reject radically different
interpretations of the world, to find confirmation of their own
beliefs, or begin the process of questioning long-held assumptions
about the world and their place in it.
This
is a multi-clustered unit that focuses on the use of films in
teaching ethics. We include five films in four modules:
1.
Triumph of the Will (1938, Ger.), and Casablanca (1942,
Amer.)
2. Stand By Me (1986, Amer.)
3. Mississippi Burning (1988, Amer.), Spain)
4. The Merchant of Venice (2004, Brit.).
Each
film provides direct support to standards in secondary language
arts or social studies.
Each module includes film introductions, discussion questions,
project ideas, classroom activities, topics for further study,
writing prompts, and assessment strategies that will provide a
structure for the incorporation of these films into the humanities
classroom. Teachers will, however, have to make their own decisions
about the appropriateness of a particular selection based on course
objectives and learning standards. There are compelling, even
urgent, reasons to teach Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary
Triumph of Will (1938), for instance, in an Advanced
Placement English Language and Composition course. We are not
so sure it belongs in a ninth grade classroom where students may
lack an understanding of film as propaganda.
Students will be asked to identify the values upheld by each of
the five films and to discuss how a film’s formal elements
(photography, editing, lighting, etc.) make the identification
of values possible. They will be asked to situate films in history
both in terms of their subject matter and their making. (It is
critically important that the action of The Merchant of Venice,
for example, takes place during the Renaissance, but it is just
as important to understand the artistic and political decisions
of a director making the film in 2004.) What is the connection
between art and life? Do directors have ethical responsibilities?
Can a film still be good if its content or message makes us flinch?
How faithful must a so-called historical film be to the event
it purports to represent?
By
thinking critically and broadly about film, students will discover
much about themselves and the world in which they live. The study
of film, like the study of literature or history, leads us to
questions about who we are, what we believe, and where we need
to change. Moving toward an understanding of movies and developing
a vocabulary with which to discuss them will make possible a whole
other avenue of lifelong learning.
Educational
Objectives
Upon completing the Ethics and Film Module students will
be able to:
• Identify and analyze a film’s hierarchy of values
(or ethical scheme).
• Use vocabulary appropriate to the critical discussion
of film.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the technical vocabulary of film
(eg., rough cut, cutaway close-up, long shot, medium shot, tight
shot, diegetic and nondiegetic sound, etc.)
• Analyze the connection between a film’s formal or
technical elements and its content.
• Define propaganda and discuss its characteristics in film.
• Distinguish the various kinds of documentary films (observational,
interactive, reflexive, expository).
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