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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Advice on movie choice for Media studies unit?

  
  

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Seth
21:35 / 14.07.05
I've got to go with Battle Royale. Play it as a meditation on love, trust and loyalty, and make sure you've read the original novel before you teach it.

I'd have killed to have had a movie like this when I was a teenager. It's a dazzling piece of work.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
00:45 / 15.07.05
Considering this is a teenage media studies course I suspect you're not going to be able to show the class an 18 rated film, which unfortunately rules out Battle Royale but even a Year 13 group probably won't be made up of people who are all old enough to watch the movie in an official class.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
00:47 / 15.07.05
How about a Wes Anderson film or a Wong Kar Wai? Fallen Angels is only a 15.
 
 
nyarlathotep's shoe horn
16:43 / 15.07.05
thought of a couple more.

Akira, Ghost in the Shell 1 & 2, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away etc etc etc

the japanese attitude towards animation (and European, particularly French and Belgian) is far different than North American. It seems that the stories are given precedence over the format.

it might be worth comparing bits of Japanese & European animated films/tv or comics even (if you're studying media in a broader sense) vs North American, like Pixar, for example.

Waxy have you read Robert Mckee's Story or Scott Macleod's (sp?) Understanding Comics? Both are very concise and well-written criticisms & analysis of story & narrative (film and comics are the focus, but by no means are these texts restricted to those media)

ttfn
10-9
 
 
Aertho
18:22 / 15.07.05
So waxy... have you selected things down a bit?

Should we aim for PG-13 films?
 
 
grant
21:09 / 15.07.05
Would Garden State work as a "teen" film? I guess it's more twenty-something... and I think it was an "R" too, although you could probably get away with it.

Oh, and if you want to trace history of "teen" representations, you GOTTA show one of the Gidget movies. It's all about coming of age... made just before the hippie thing hit.


The other thing that comes to mind is Rushmore, which they'll either love or hate.


If you're interested in cross-cultural portrayals of the 60s "juvenile delinquent" thing, then it'd be interested to see what today's American teens would make of either the "A-movie" To Sir, With Love or the B-movie Beat Girl.

The A movie has Sidney Poitier and Lulu, the B movie has Adam Faith and a rockin' soundtrack. Both have "rough" kids and beatniks.
 
 
Shrug
21:18 / 15.07.05
Gidget goes to Rome did something sinister to me. I was almost irrevocably brain melted for at least a week after watching it.
You can't show that to kids you just can't.
 
 
paranoidwriter waves hello
22:20 / 15.07.05
Oh yes, 'To Sir, With Love.' I can still hear Lulu warbling and hurting my ears with her unholy lungs. I remember the disco and the bus trip as well. My-my, how times have changed, eh? I wonder what the pupils of today would think if you played them that now.... interesting.

Also, how about: 'Red Dawn' (remember that one?!)', or (not a teen film at all, but still very worthy) 'Threads'?

Most teen films deal with identity, rebellion, isolation, and freedom in some way or another, and I'd use these as themes two hook the students in (if possible) and teach them the rest by stealth (if need be). (IMHO) It can't be a bad idea to stir them up a bit and give them focus, a creative and analytical outlet where they feel free to question authority intelligently?... The lazy, good for nothing, hoodie-wearing, text-speaking, "X-men the movie" watching, Crazy Frog impersonating, play-station tapping swines (can you tell I''m jealous?)...

"No Dad, what about you? Fuck you! No Dad ..." ('Breakfast club')

It was a long time ago now, but I think I'd have loved such an opportunity at their age, with an easy to see and yet flexible structure to prevent total chaos, of course.
 
 
paranoidwriter waves hello
22:24 / 15.07.05
The "rest" being all the "lingo", not any ideaology, of course.

If you could get 'The Warriors' past your superiors (etc), I'd forever sing your praises.
 
 
nyarlathotep's shoe horn
05:35 / 16.07.05
documentary scratch or part of ken burns' jazz

reason being Jazz illustrates (among other thing) the beginning of pop music in North America (and the world). They called it "swing" back in the day.

and scratch chronicles the rise of "turntableism" - and the movie is cut together like a dj set. it's an interesting narrative piece.

this is spinal tap - although it might be somewhat dated for your class - the quintessential "mockumentary"

ttfn
10 9
 
 
grant
17:47 / 17.07.05
Three other thoughts:

1. I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Mr. Bucket reminded me of this gem: The Year My Voice Broke. It's a kind of sensitive coming-of-age film about... juvenile delinquents in the early 60s. Very much the dark mirror reflection of Beat Girl. Very sweet. Australian. Kind of a heartbreaking look at the fast cars and rebellion from the perspective of the geeky boy with a crush on the bad girl.

2. John Milius did something very similar (deconstruct an exploitation genre by making it about real human beings with real feelings... as played by real actors) with the surf film Big Wednesday. It's about surfing, but it's also about growing up during the Vietnam war era. Milius is the guy who wrote the screenplay for Apocalypse Now, but you wouldn't really know it from this film.
Again with the sensitive, again with the coming-of-age, only it also fits all the hallmarks of a surf movie. Has the kooky guru figure, has the big finale with the ultimate wave... but it's all done real.
And like YMVB, it's real heavy on the nostalgia.

3. If you'd like a documentary to counter Bowling for Columbine, you must see Sherman's March by Ross McElwee. It practically invented that first-person documentary style that made Michael Moore famous. It's funny as hell -- the guy, McElwee, starts out trying to make a documentary about Sherman's famous march to the sea in the Civil War. Along the way, he winds up visiting all his ex-girlfriends and asking them why they think things didn't work out. On camera. It's pretty amazing -- was a cult classic in the 1980s.
 
 
waxy dan
11:15 / 18.07.05
Guys, thanks loads and loads. Some of the ideas are fantastic, but unfortunately can't be included for reasons of time, availability or ratings.

Ordered McLeod's book and a load of dvd's.

Threads was the one on BBC years ago about a nuclear winter, wasn't it? Is that still available?

Breakfast club has proved impossble to find on region 2 dvd; so vcd copy it is.

Dark Crystal I don't think would work with the class I'm looking at (not quite able to quantify that statement... just a hunch).

I'd agree completely that students when confinuously confronted with intelligent media tend to... eventually ... respond to it. I think products like Rashamon would be pushing my luck however, which is unfortunate.

The age limit is taken quite seriously, so Warriors, BR, etc. are no-no's.

Also, that it's a media course rather than purely a film studies course means that I feel under some pressure to let some more obscure titles fall by the wayside (Big Wednesday, etc.). Also, the curriculum is set externally, so basic media law and the media industry in the UK also have to be covered I'm afraid.

What I'm probably looking at now is:


(I've 38 sessions in total and want to keep a couple free for 'slippage')

1. Introduction: Analysing images, sounds and trailers
a. The Barnardo and Benetton Campaigns
2. Meaning in Media: Anchorage, Iconography & Signification
3. Meaning in Media: Composition; cropping the image to alter meaning
a. Giuliani and Genoa Photographs task
4. Meaning in Media: Codes and Conventions
5. Meaning in Media: Preferred, Negotiated and Oppositional Meanings
6. Workshop: Portfolio. Practical Tasks in Producing Meaning 1
7. Workshop: Portfolio. Practical Tasks in Producing Meaning 2
8. Hidden Powers: Institutional Analysis and the power of the Distributors
9. Media Ownership: Public Service and the BBC
10. Media Ownership: Multinationals and Murdoch (the Simpsons and Fox News)
11. Workshop for Ownership Patterns
12. Workshop for Regulatory Bodies
13. Bowling for Columbine / Network
a. Audience Theory
b. Representation of teens
14. Representation: Stereotypes
15. Representation: Introduction to Audience Theory (Passive and Active)
16. Representation: Teens
a. The Breakfast Club
17. Workshop for Representation essay
18. Presentations on Representation
19. Media Law: Copyright, Rights, and Loyalties
20. Media Law: Defamation & Equal Opportunities
21. Media Law: Censorship and the Public’s Right to Know
22. Media Law: Ethics, Regulation & Regulatory Bodies:
a. Ofcom, etc.
23. Introduction to Genre
a. Genre
b. Include a broad list of examples (take from spec book)
c. Economic use of genre by studios
d. Multinationalism / Globalisation
e. Changes in technology (print to web, DVD and HDTV, new platforms)
f. Film trailers exercise: spot the genre (codes and conventions)
24. Genres through time:
a. Genre and Audiences
b. Horror Movies and Zombies
c. Comics and the Batman
25. Workshop for Genre Project
26. Genres and Narratives: Tabloids and Broadsheets
a. Producing tabloids exercise
27. Workshop for Evaluation of Products (narrative and composition)
28. Introduction to Narrative: samples from Die Hard
a. The Hero’s Journey: Star Wars, a New Hope
39. Playing with Narrative: Memento
30. Portfolio Workshop
31. Exam Revision
32. Exam Revision
33. Exam


I'll pick up Run Lola Run, Casablanca, Tron, Gattacca, various John Woo, Ringu/Ring, Bladerunner, in the video production class.

Wotcher think?
 
 
nyarlathotep's shoe horn
13:13 / 18.07.05
how do I enroll?
 
 
waxy dan
15:28 / 18.07.05
Awww. Shucks.

Thanks
 
 
paranoidwriter waves hello
15:58 / 18.07.05
Ditto. Sounds like an excellent course. I wish I could have taken it when I was that age; it would have saved a lot of time.

Re: Threads was the one on BBC years ago about a nuclear winter, wasn't it? Is that still available?

It was, and I believe you can get it on DVD now as I'm sure my mate bought it about only a year ago.

In respect of your 'Horror' section: I saw 'Scream' again last night (thankfully, I missed the original hype surrounding this film) and again found myself kneeling before Master Craven's mastery over the genre. Wouldn't this film fit nicely into your analysis of teen stereotypes and horror as genres? Just a suggestion, of course.

Also, Tenix mentioned 'Story' by Robert McKee earlier. May I second this book; even if you just add it to their reading list so any future scriptwriters in the class get to hear about it? As a prose writer, I read the book a few years ago with the intention of merely learning more about the formatting required for scripts (12pt Helvetica, etc), but came away with a great deal more. Indeed, I read it as a workshop, taking notes on each chapter and doing related exercises, etc, and I believe my writing benefited from all the theory and related information about "pacing", "negative and positive charges", etc. For although I found I innately knew most, if not all of what McKee was sharing, I found it liberating to have all this knowledge condensed and given actual form by the book. It was like finally finding a word for a feeling; it helped me assess and move on.

Shame about 'The Warriors' (though I didn't hold out much hope). My research into 'Gang Culture' leads me to think that this will always be a recurring problem with teenagers (and beyond), and this film (IMHO) deals with the issue in a refreshing way (though it's been a few years since I've seen it, so time may be affecting my judgement).
 
 
fuckbaked
20:08 / 19.07.05
I had to see Apocalypse Now in school when I was about 16 years old. I didn't really have much of a choice, as it was shown in a required class at my high school. I found it extremely disturbing, and I refused to watch the whole thing. I'm glad you're not going to show that.

I don't see anything in your current plan that bothers me, but I haven't seen all the movies that are in your current plan. I just think it really sucks to be a kid in school and to have no choice but to watch a film that you find really upsetting, knowing that if you refuse, your grade could suffer, and you could have your peers laughing at you. Just...be careful.
 
 
waxy dan
08:48 / 20.07.05
Thanks. It is something I'm very aware of. The movies chosen are usually okay, but I've hit some very thin ice occasionally when looking at issues of representation and globalisation in regards issues of race and ethnicity.

It's gone fine so far as I've been very careful to place everything in a context. But I know other teachers and lecturers who have, inadvertently, created a great deal of tension to put it mildly.
 
 
grant
19:35 / 20.07.05
What're you doing with zombies?
 
 
waxy dan
06:27 / 21.07.05
One of the points to be covered for genre studies is how genres develop over time as a result of societal changes and technological advances.

I wanted to use one print and one a/v topic to illustrate this. So I thought I'd look at the Batman for print (changes from Bob Kane's original vision through the Golden Age, Frank Miller, Cataclysm, etc.), and zombies for a/v. I'll probably concentrate on the Dead trilogy (I know there's a fourth one; but I haven't seen it yet). I always thought they were very much of their time.

I think the portrayal and use of zombies is always very interesting. They're used to portray the mindlessness of racism, or the numbing power of the mall, or to question the blind obedience and powerful brainwashing inherent in the military chain of command.

Does that make sense? (really hope it does)
 
 
grant
20:01 / 21.07.05
It makes sense, but that's also just the work of a single director. If you really wanted to get a hardcore zombie unit, you could start with the pre-Romero, voodoo-based (and deeply racist) zombie movies (like White Zombie) and end with 28 Days Later or similar. Even if it's just clips (not necessarily R-rated stuff, if you can sneak 'em by at all).

Actually, now that I think of it, one of the striking turns in zombie movies as a genre is from the racist other to the condemnation of society/groupthink (the Romero films) to... comedy, focusing on geeks/stuck-in-rut heroes blossoming in conflict with "conformism." Shaun of the Dead and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive/Brain Dead both do this. Evil Dead 2 also plays well as a black comedy (and so do some of the Return of the Dead sequels, but I'm less familiar with those).

I think what I'm saying in a longwinded, roundabout way, is that Romero's basically telling the same story in three different ways, while the genre (sub-genre) has actually evolved with a greater degree of difference than that.

I'm also really curious what a bunch of teenagers will make of Network -- do you think it's aged well? I love that movie.
 
 
grant
20:04 / 21.07.05
Oh, and if you'd like some tabloid material (from America), PM me.
 
 
waxy dan
10:45 / 22.07.05
Yeah, I suspect Network goes down well; but I suspect that it won't. It's style is too far removed from today's thrillers/dramas/etc.'s. But it's one of my favourite films; so I hope they like it too.

Good point about the zombie genre. I was trying to use it to illustate how genres change to reflect the fears and hopes of society at the time. But, you're right, I could end up giving quite a narrow view of genre inadvertently. I'll drop in clips from Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later.
 
 
paranoidwriter waves hello
03:06 / 24.07.05
Kind-of on topic: I know, similar to 'The Warriors" (in many ways), you won't be able to clear it with the powers that be, but I always thought that 'The Wanderers' showed a interesting new take on teen culture and zombie films. If you haven't seen it, there's one gang in the film called 'The Ducky Boys' (a dark and scary gang with a seemingly gay / homophobic subtext) who inhabit a run-down, dirty corner of the New York. There's a fairly frightening scene in the film when a couple of The Wanderers drive into The Ducky Boy's area by mistake at night, and are suddenly confronted with LOADS of scary, zombie-like _____ members who seem to appear out of the mists/smoke.

For me, that's one of the suggestions behind zombie-films, the fear of "others", of being beaten to death, raped, converted, and / or killed by a brainless, senseless, infected gang. (IMHO) This fear of "them that are unknown or different", is especially evocative because of our innate fears of violence, poverty, disease, the Devil Within, etc.
 
 
nyarlathotep's shoe horn
19:01 / 24.07.05
wrt to the zombie films,

Evil Dead 2 is Sam Raimi's show-off piece. The entire thing is a fascinating display of camera techniques - it seems a bit trite, but given the comedic nature of this particular horror film, it's not inappropriate.

horror-comedy are flipsides of the same coin - in the face of our fears, would you rather laugh or scream? either way, it's a venting of emotional tension buildup.

ttfn
tenix
 
 
astrojax69
08:18 / 27.07.05
first, i second grant's recommendation for 'white zombie'


but, where's 'commando'??? how can you not have arnie's finest!!
 
 
grant
14:29 / 28.09.05
How's this going? Did the tabloids ever get there?
 
 
waxy dan
14:46 / 14.10.05
Hi Grant; I pm'ed you to say thanks... at least, I remember typing it out. Maybe the web link went kerblooey. I did indeed receive your mail; thanks! That was really appreciated.

Basically the course went poof due to poor marketing and a withdrawal of any real budget (and by the looks of things; the school might soon follow).

I've switched over to a different institution and a different role (educational technologist rather than lecturer).

So... thanks loads and loads and loads for all the help and advice, and I'm so sorry that I don't have anything more interesting to report (I was looking forward to posting updates every once in a while).

Also, if anyone's working on anything similar, I've a couple of schemes of work, lesson plans, and loads of PowerPoint slides and things prepared?
 
  

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