Movies to a Teacher. Unit One: Pre-1920s
It's amazing how unfettered and energized I feel after ticking (most) everything off that ever-looming To-Do list. I'm suddenly feeling free to dive into some half-baked projects I've been dreaming up.
For example!
D. has this charming quality about him that I don't share. He likes old movies. Particularly Japanese classics (directed by Kurosawa) and Spaghetti Westerns (Leone), but he brings home all kinds of random stuff. And the thing is, as much as I admire his interest and...patience, I just don't share it. I'd be interested to teach a film class in high school, just to see how kids of the digital age would handle storylines without quick editing and fantastic imagery. I don't even have an iPhone, yet I only got through the first ten minutes of Citizen Kane before throwing up my hands and turning on The Bachelor.
But I think my problem with classic movies (I mean besides the obvious fact that I'm astonishingly shallow) is that I'm not familiar with the context from which they came. I remember being blown away by Jurassic Park when I saw it in the theater all those many years ago in 1993 (blush). But I can imagine 14 year-olds seeing it for the first time today thinking it's unimpressive, maybe even cheesy. It can't have the same impact on kids of the Avatar age that it had on kids of the My Little Pony age when filmmakers have already taken what they can from it and run.
So I decided to school myself a bit better in film history. I'm going to self-educate. Maybe if I watch films chronologically, and do a little research about what was happening in those times, they'll have more the desired effect on me. And because I have a hard time starting anywhere but the beginning, I'm going to start at the beginning. (D. asked me to invite him to viewing parties when I get to the forties.) As a true teacher, I designed myself a little curriculum, (which, knowing me, I will follow through on for the next three weeks or so before something else bangs my hammer). For my first unit: Films and Film Stars pre-1920. I've given myself five mini-lessons in Unit One. Lesson One: Mary Pickford. I've got a PBS documentary, and after that I will tackle a 1919 movie called Daddy Long Legs in which she starred. Unit One, Lesson Two: The first feature-length film ever, the 1906 Australian film The Story of the Kelly Gang, which is the story of Ned Kelly. (Maybe I'll have to temper my newfound (semi-forced) passion with a viewing of the more recent version, just to see how far we've come.)
Who knows how long this education will last. Maybe I really will teach that film class one day. I could see high schoolers digging on Charlie Chaplin.
For example!
D. has this charming quality about him that I don't share. He likes old movies. Particularly Japanese classics (directed by Kurosawa) and Spaghetti Westerns (Leone), but he brings home all kinds of random stuff. And the thing is, as much as I admire his interest and...patience, I just don't share it. I'd be interested to teach a film class in high school, just to see how kids of the digital age would handle storylines without quick editing and fantastic imagery. I don't even have an iPhone, yet I only got through the first ten minutes of Citizen Kane before throwing up my hands and turning on The Bachelor.
But I think my problem with classic movies (I mean besides the obvious fact that I'm astonishingly shallow) is that I'm not familiar with the context from which they came. I remember being blown away by Jurassic Park when I saw it in the theater all those many years ago in 1993 (blush). But I can imagine 14 year-olds seeing it for the first time today thinking it's unimpressive, maybe even cheesy. It can't have the same impact on kids of the Avatar age that it had on kids of the My Little Pony age when filmmakers have already taken what they can from it and run.
So I decided to school myself a bit better in film history. I'm going to self-educate. Maybe if I watch films chronologically, and do a little research about what was happening in those times, they'll have more the desired effect on me. And because I have a hard time starting anywhere but the beginning, I'm going to start at the beginning. (D. asked me to invite him to viewing parties when I get to the forties.) As a true teacher, I designed myself a little curriculum, (which, knowing me, I will follow through on for the next three weeks or so before something else bangs my hammer). For my first unit: Films and Film Stars pre-1920. I've given myself five mini-lessons in Unit One. Lesson One: Mary Pickford. I've got a PBS documentary, and after that I will tackle a 1919 movie called Daddy Long Legs in which she starred. Unit One, Lesson Two: The first feature-length film ever, the 1906 Australian film The Story of the Kelly Gang, which is the story of Ned Kelly. (Maybe I'll have to temper my newfound (semi-forced) passion with a viewing of the more recent version, just to see how far we've come.)
Who knows how long this education will last. Maybe I really will teach that film class one day. I could see high schoolers digging on Charlie Chaplin.