The expression, "to gel" refers to something coming together in some meaningful way. Classes either come together, or they don't. For me, the class has gelled.
I recall my very worst film class. It was many years ago. Before you were born, in fact. Well, maybe not that long ago, but almost. 1996.
I just couldn't get people interested, and almost nobody would answer any questions, or give any indication that they were enjoying the films. I would ask questions, and, unless I asked the one student who was alive and awake, I just couldn't get an answer.
In fact, I lost my temper at one point, which is never a good idea. By "lost my temper" I don't mean I barked at everyone, or made a mean face, or threatened to defenestrate several particularly onerous malefactors. That's not "losing my temper." That's called "effective teaching." A good teacher does that every other day. After all, there is no other way to control the terrorist organization that is a class of 34 teenagers.
I mean I flipped out and turned over a desk and ranted and raved and generally made a thorough fool of myself. Naturally, such a display of childish petulance did nothing to endear me to an already alienated class, and one shouldn't imagine for a moment that the level of class participation increased as a result of my exuberance. After all, how can students participate when they're all hiding in the coat closet?
No, that class never gelled.
By the way, the one student who provided the silver lining around that dark, malevolent, thunderhead was none other than Mr. Manzo! He saved the day for me, and I've always loved him for it, even when I'm making fun of him, or yelling at him for not keeping up with me when we both teach Global 1. Yes. Mr. Manzo was, without a doubt, the most enthusiastic student I've ever taught. (Notice I chose my adjective carefully) Homework was never his strongest suit, but I would trade 100 conscientious scribblers for one Mr. Manzo. Because he possessed (and possesses) the one single quality in a scholar that I value and admire more than all others. He is endlessly curioius and fascinated and always wants to learn more about whatever topic is being covered. I taught him AP European history, AP Government, Economics, Film, and Military history. And it didn't matter if the subject was the Atomic Bomb or the lesson was a bomb, the entire class could have been fast asleep, but there he was, sitting bolt upright, listening, nodding, asking, answering, analyzing, synthesizing.... As a student, and now, as a teacher and administrator, the man is pure gold.
But, I digress.
It's not in my nature to be overly complimentary. I think it is the result of my Jesuit education. It could also be because I'm smarter than everyone else, but my wife assures me that I am deluded in that regard. However, I'd like to say that members of this film class has provided original analysis, on more than a few occassions. This is really remarkable, and my hat is off to the whole gang. I say it's remarkable because I've been teaching these films to very, very bright students for 20 years! One would think that anything you can say about Citizen Kane, has been said. Yet, today alone, several students provided insights that neither I nor any of the thousand or so film students I've taught over the years articulated.
Suffice it to say I'm very pleased so far with the level of discourse in class.
Now, let's see if we can't get those blogs cranking. I like my Jell-O in double helpings.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
A Question for you. Not rhetorical.
Here's a question for you, apropos of nothing. Why do little kids love dinosaurs so much?
Well, not apropos of nothing for me. I was watching a show on dinosaurs and it got met thinking about them. The show used all sorts of computer animation to show dinosaurs. It wasn't as good as "Walking with Dinosaurs" which I recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it, but it was interesting. I'm always impressed with how much they can extrapolate from such little data. They're all like Sherlock Holmes, I think. Making huge conclusions on the basis of very small evidence. I believe it is called deductive reasoning. Anyway, answer my question in a comment. Why do little kids love dinosaurs?
Well, not apropos of nothing for me. I was watching a show on dinosaurs and it got met thinking about them. The show used all sorts of computer animation to show dinosaurs. It wasn't as good as "Walking with Dinosaurs" which I recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it, but it was interesting. I'm always impressed with how much they can extrapolate from such little data. They're all like Sherlock Holmes, I think. Making huge conclusions on the basis of very small evidence. I believe it is called deductive reasoning. Anyway, answer my question in a comment. Why do little kids love dinosaurs?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Names, quotes, thoughts...
A word about names. My recollection of the rules for what form of name to use in essays goes something like this. In journalism, a (real) man's name is cited in full the first time it appears in the body of a news article. Each subsequent time, he is referred to by his last name alone. A woman gets the full name first, then Ms. so and so each subsequent time. A woman's last name is never cited alone.
In fiction (or film) analysis, things are simpler. Just use the form of the name most common in the film. Familiarity is not allowed in journalism, but it is welcome in analysis. A first reference might be full name. After that, simple is best. In Citizen Kane, one should refer to Kane, Susan Alexander, Jed Leland, Bernstein, (does he have a first name?) Thatcher, Kane's mother, Rosebud, the nurse, Thompson, the reporter.
Important also to separate the actor from the character. It would be bad form to say "Orson Welles says, "you provide the prose poems and I'll provide the war." In terms of the film, it is Kane who says that, not Orson Welles, despite the fact that Welles does mouth the words.
I have seen Citizen Kane so many times, that I have made it a habit to sprinkle my speech with phrases lifted from the film, always enunciated using the exact same cadence as that used by Kane, or whomever. Most of my listeners are oblivious as to the reference, but my wife always knows. Here are some of them, but you won't recognize most of them yet.
1. A pack of money-mad pirates.
2. A wasted day.
3. My reasons satisfy me.
4. You're gonna need more than one lesson, and you're gonna get more than one
5. It’s an antique
6. To ... buy things.
7. We’re lucky. We live in a palace
8. Thanks for the use of the hall
9. That’s when you’ve gotta fight ‘em
10. Have the warden send me a letter
11. You can’t do this to me
12. Don't worry about me, Gettys.
13. And a happy new year
14. You’re awful funny aren’t ya?
15. Hmm… yes and no.
16. Impossible, Impossible
In fiction (or film) analysis, things are simpler. Just use the form of the name most common in the film. Familiarity is not allowed in journalism, but it is welcome in analysis. A first reference might be full name. After that, simple is best. In Citizen Kane, one should refer to Kane, Susan Alexander, Jed Leland, Bernstein, (does he have a first name?) Thatcher, Kane's mother, Rosebud, the nurse, Thompson, the reporter.
Important also to separate the actor from the character. It would be bad form to say "Orson Welles says, "you provide the prose poems and I'll provide the war." In terms of the film, it is Kane who says that, not Orson Welles, despite the fact that Welles does mouth the words.
I have seen Citizen Kane so many times, that I have made it a habit to sprinkle my speech with phrases lifted from the film, always enunciated using the exact same cadence as that used by Kane, or whomever. Most of my listeners are oblivious as to the reference, but my wife always knows. Here are some of them, but you won't recognize most of them yet.
1. A pack of money-mad pirates.
2. A wasted day.
3. My reasons satisfy me.
4. You're gonna need more than one lesson, and you're gonna get more than one
5. It’s an antique
6. To ... buy things.
7. We’re lucky. We live in a palace
8. Thanks for the use of the hall
9. That’s when you’ve gotta fight ‘em
10. Have the warden send me a letter
11. You can’t do this to me
12. Don't worry about me, Gettys.
13. And a happy new year
14. You’re awful funny aren’t ya?
15. Hmm… yes and no.
16. Impossible, Impossible
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Evolution of the class
I started teaching the Film class in the fall of '91 when the school needed an elective class for seniors. It was not truly elective since the seniors were dumped into it to fill out their schedule. This was in the old days when all students had a full schedule.
For whatever reason, the idea of only teaching film seemed somehow not kosher to me, so I taught a combination of film, poetry, literature and media stuff all dumped into general humanities course. The students were pretty tolerant of the whole affair, but there were one or two sour pusses I had to deal with. After all, their friends at New Dorp were going home at 11 and they were explicating Eliot's The Waste Land at 1:15, or reading Kafka's The Trial later that night. In year two, i decided to kick the other stuff to the curb and stick to film, but the films were going to have a historical component. Thus, All Quiet on the Western Front corresponded to the earlist period covered in American history part two, which we taugtht at the same time. In other words, I was teaching WW1 in my Am. His class and All Quiet in Film, to the same group of students.
It Happened One Night reveals some of the ideas and attitudes of the Great Depression, so I showed that. A unit on the Cold War included Dr. Strangelove, Atomic Cafe. Later on, I'd show Apocalypse Now as a Vietnam War movie, though it is really not about that in any meaningful way.
Over the years, though, the history imperative fell away, and I dropped the poetry, and just concentrated on great films, with great themes and showed them and analyzed them. I became interested in Existentialism around this time, probably because I had to teach it in a meaningful way in an AP European History class I was teaching. So, I started seeing existential themes in the films that I was already showing. I sometimes wonder if we can see whatever we want in a film, should our minds me leaning in that direction. Anyway, the idea of alienation, and finding meaning in a disordered universe started to jump out at me more and more from teh films I showed, and the ones that I saw and liked outside the class.
Here's the film list from the last time i taught the course. We may see most of these again, depending.
All Quiet
Citizen Kane
Midnight Cowboy
Runaway Train
Top Hat
The Seventh Seal
Unforgiven
Asphalt Jungle
Dark City
Memento
A Siimple Plan
Signs
Dr. Strangelove
Atomic Cafe
Other films that I've shown over the years:
Ed Wood
Apocalypse Now
Hearts of Darkness
It Happened one Night
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Truman Show
A Clockwork Orange
Full M etal Jacket
Battleship Potemkin
For whatever reason, the idea of only teaching film seemed somehow not kosher to me, so I taught a combination of film, poetry, literature and media stuff all dumped into general humanities course. The students were pretty tolerant of the whole affair, but there were one or two sour pusses I had to deal with. After all, their friends at New Dorp were going home at 11 and they were explicating Eliot's The Waste Land at 1:15, or reading Kafka's The Trial later that night. In year two, i decided to kick the other stuff to the curb and stick to film, but the films were going to have a historical component. Thus, All Quiet on the Western Front corresponded to the earlist period covered in American history part two, which we taugtht at the same time. In other words, I was teaching WW1 in my Am. His class and All Quiet in Film, to the same group of students.
It Happened One Night reveals some of the ideas and attitudes of the Great Depression, so I showed that. A unit on the Cold War included Dr. Strangelove, Atomic Cafe. Later on, I'd show Apocalypse Now as a Vietnam War movie, though it is really not about that in any meaningful way.
Over the years, though, the history imperative fell away, and I dropped the poetry, and just concentrated on great films, with great themes and showed them and analyzed them. I became interested in Existentialism around this time, probably because I had to teach it in a meaningful way in an AP European History class I was teaching. So, I started seeing existential themes in the films that I was already showing. I sometimes wonder if we can see whatever we want in a film, should our minds me leaning in that direction. Anyway, the idea of alienation, and finding meaning in a disordered universe started to jump out at me more and more from teh films I showed, and the ones that I saw and liked outside the class.
Here's the film list from the last time i taught the course. We may see most of these again, depending.
All Quiet
Citizen Kane
Midnight Cowboy
Runaway Train
Top Hat
The Seventh Seal
Unforgiven
Asphalt Jungle
Dark City
Memento
A Siimple Plan
Signs
Dr. Strangelove
Atomic Cafe
Other films that I've shown over the years:
Ed Wood
Apocalypse Now
Hearts of Darkness
It Happened one Night
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Truman Show
A Clockwork Orange
Full M etal Jacket
Battleship Potemkin
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Let's get with the program.
I'm surprised to see that I'm being "followed" by 37 bloggers when I only have 34 students. I know one of them is James Cassidy, my old friend, and alumnus of '09. But, who are the other two? Meanwhile I am only following about 31 blogs, so there are three bloggers out there who are opaque to me. If you're one of them, how about dropping me a line letting me know your internet address.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Bride of the Devil
What a coincidence. I was watching the above-titled film on TCM earlier tonight, and there was a scene where the two good guys visit a haunted house at night. Sure enough, one says to the other, "Let's split up. We can search the house faster that way." Remarkably, neither one was torn to shreds by a monster.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Ok. I tried to change the name of my blog, but was only partially successful. So, if you can change it, fine. If not, then I'll just have to live with superfly94. I'll need a scorecard, though to remember all you knuckleheads. For those of you procrastinating, please try to name your blog after yourself. Save your creativity for the actual posting.
The battle scene you watched today is one of the great achievements of early cinema. When this film came out in 1930, audiences were amazed at the realism of that battle scene. It is worth watching several times, (but we won't do that) simply to see all the clever strategies the director used to achieve his aim. Don't be fooled by the seeming chaos. Each and every action was carefully choreographed. As the camera moves over the trench, the actors have to know exactly what to do and when. Every imaginable act of trench violence is displayed, as soldiers are killed with rifles, revolvers, machine guns, bayonets, clubs, daggers, feet, etc. And remember also, those explosions are real. They are simulations only in that there is no shrapnel emanating from them. But, the "extras" who are running through that obstacle course are in grave danger of being blinded by flying debris, deafened by the explosions, slipping on mud, etc. Each man needs to know exactly where the explosives are planted and when they will detonate. They need eye and ear protection. One point to remember. In actual combat, explosions are also happening in the air above soldiers. Time fuzes were very sophisticated and could be set to detonate a shell in the air over the heads of its victim.
The sheer exhaustion of battle is one aspect that we rarely consider. Soldiers sleep very little at the front, and combat is very stressful to both mind and body. The director takes a moment at one point to linger over the men, showing them gasping for breath as they await the next onslaught.
I have seen this battle scene 50 times and it never fails to impress me for its creativity, attention to detail, and sheer unrelenting horror.
The battle scene you watched today is one of the great achievements of early cinema. When this film came out in 1930, audiences were amazed at the realism of that battle scene. It is worth watching several times, (but we won't do that) simply to see all the clever strategies the director used to achieve his aim. Don't be fooled by the seeming chaos. Each and every action was carefully choreographed. As the camera moves over the trench, the actors have to know exactly what to do and when. Every imaginable act of trench violence is displayed, as soldiers are killed with rifles, revolvers, machine guns, bayonets, clubs, daggers, feet, etc. And remember also, those explosions are real. They are simulations only in that there is no shrapnel emanating from them. But, the "extras" who are running through that obstacle course are in grave danger of being blinded by flying debris, deafened by the explosions, slipping on mud, etc. Each man needs to know exactly where the explosives are planted and when they will detonate. They need eye and ear protection. One point to remember. In actual combat, explosions are also happening in the air above soldiers. Time fuzes were very sophisticated and could be set to detonate a shell in the air over the heads of its victim.
The sheer exhaustion of battle is one aspect that we rarely consider. Soldiers sleep very little at the front, and combat is very stressful to both mind and body. The director takes a moment at one point to linger over the men, showing them gasping for breath as they await the next onslaught.
I have seen this battle scene 50 times and it never fails to impress me for its creativity, attention to detail, and sheer unrelenting horror.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
A Failure to Communicate
I gave simple instructions. I repeated them the next day, pointing out how those simple instructions were not followed. The request? Please create a blog that has your name and the number 310 without spaces as your url, and create a user name using the same formula. Notice that my url is mrbennett310.blogspot.com and my user name is Mr. Bennett310.
Yet, I see that Ashray88 and Maxximum12 have joined bulldozereddy and FX894Fly. I am curious about the limits of educaation. Please comment below on why I am unable to motivate my students to follow what appears to me to be the simplest of instructions. The teacher asks to be educated. Please let me know how it is that I failed to achieve my goal in such a simple and straightforword matter. Don't hold back. I can take it.
Yet, I see that Ashray88 and Maxximum12 have joined bulldozereddy and FX894Fly. I am curious about the limits of educaation. Please comment below on why I am unable to motivate my students to follow what appears to me to be the simplest of instructions. The teacher asks to be educated. Please let me know how it is that I failed to achieve my goal in such a simple and straightforword matter. Don't hold back. I can take it.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Im Westen nichts Neues
Our first film, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Lewis Milestone, has been my perennial entree into the class. Though it has some definite negatives, namely it is rather primitive, B&W, dated acting (I won't say bad acting) slow pacing, pacifist left-wing message, it suits my purpose to a tee. And the purpose is to introduce the class to the elements of film. It's all there, and in a simple and direct style that is easy to identify and understand. The fact that the film is unquestionably an existential work just adds to the fun. (Did you notice that Paul prayed fervently to God that he not let Hans Kemmerich die? And Hans promptly dies. Oh dear. It may be a sobering semester) Oops. Did I give something away?? Sorry about that.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Film Class, Fall 2010
Welcome to yet another incarnation of my Film Class. I trust you will enjoy it. Over the years, I've gotten a lot of nice feedback on the class, and so, I have high expectations that this semester will also prove edifying and rewarding. Of course, we have a few impediments in our path, not the least of which is the obscenely early hour that we will be meeting.
But, I didn't twist anyone's arm. If the early hour is too much for you, then do the gracious thing, and bow out. There are a few kids who want to take the class, and they assure me that they live on London time.
The grading policy is based upon class participation and written assignments on your blog. All blogs should be linked to mine, and to each other. Hence, each student should be "following" 35 other blogs.
But, I didn't twist anyone's arm. If the early hour is too much for you, then do the gracious thing, and bow out. There are a few kids who want to take the class, and they assure me that they live on London time.
The grading policy is based upon class participation and written assignments on your blog. All blogs should be linked to mine, and to each other. Hence, each student should be "following" 35 other blogs.
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