Undergrad years are tough for almost everyone and I've tried
to be reasonably understanding of that as a teacher. But
I've also tried not to shirk away from showing my students
films that I think are crucial, regardless of the
"traumatizing" content. I've shown my classes (some might
say inflicted them with) Cronenberg's THE FLY, Jarman's THE
LAST OF ENGLAND, Fassbinder's IN A YEAR OF THIRTEEN MOONS,
Bergman's THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY and SHAME, Godard's
WEEKEND, Todd Haynes POISON, to name just a few, and have
never had much trouble.
I should say that it's been my experience that it's the
Politically Correct (in the bad sense of the term) *grad*
students who tend to be more of a problem... When I was
working on my masters degree a few years ago, some of the
other grad students were about ready to kill one of our
(very best) professors for showing SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT,
GOOD WOMAN OF BANCOCK, and TRIUMPH OF THE WILL... as if,
somehow by showing those film (in courses on US Independent
Cinema, cross cultural representation in film, and
documentary cinema respectively), it meant that this
professor was pro-rape, pro objectification of women, and
pro Nazi... even though it was very much in the spirit of
those courses that the issues of misogyny, cinematic
objectification of "the other", and fascism be brought up
so that they could be discussed in a scholarly and rational
way!
As for the undergrads I've taught, it seems that when I've
*prepared* them for a shocking film, made sure they were
ready for it , and then *validated* their sense of shock...
much of the potential for disaster has been alleviated.
After showing WEEKEND once, a (very upset) student said:
"That seems like the kind of film Charles Manson would have
made!" I told this student immediately that I thought hers
was a very good observation. We then talked about the
concept of the "implied author", how WEEKEND might well be
seen as a text that actually tries to *imply* a kind of
"Charles Manson" mind-set behind its creation. At the end
of the day this student gave me a very good evaluation and
told me she liked my course very much...
And when I showed the documentary SILVERLAKE LIFE: THE VIEW
FROM HERE in a Homosexuality in Film course, our class had
the best discussion of the entire year, despite the fact
that it shows--in excruciating detail--a man die of HIV
disease right in front of the audiences' eyes. A student
"came out" as having nursed his lover till the end of the
lover's life, and another student came out as HIV positive
in front of 60 other kids. It was, in a way, the most
amazing hour I ever spent in front of a class and yet I
almost canceled the screening to show something less
harrowing, like PHILADELPHIA or JEFFREY.
I must say, finally, that it can get somewhat silly to
worry too much about all of this, though. I know that--at
least in the recent past--Brigham Young University, in my
home state of Utah, hasn't been able to show "R" rated
films to their students, something that a couple of their
professors I've talked with are deeply embarrassed about.
Can you imagine teaching film history without showing a
single R rated film? No PSYCHO, THE GODFATHER, NASHVILLE,
TAXI DRIVER, BLADE RUNNER, SCHINDLER'S LIST, SAVING PRIVATE
RYAN?... (Maybe things have changed there. It was six or
seven years ago when I had this discussion....)
But my favorite example of film school self-censorship has
to be the one that a colleague of mine told me about a few
years ago. (This again involves the much-maligned Ingmar
Bergman...) When I mentioned to this fellow teacher that I
had shown (gasp!) three Bergman films in a class on
European Art Cinema, he said: "You know at *my* school we
had a Bergman seminar... until a student who was taking it
committed suicide one year... WE'VE NEVER TAUGHT A BERGMAN
COURSE AGAIN."
Good Grief!
I hope they also banished Fassbinder, Bresson, Cassavetes,
Imamura and Antonioni at the same time, and that the school
in question made a vow to never give anything lower than a
B+ to any of their students, since students--from time to
time--have been known to commit suicide after having
received bad grades.
I don't want this to sound too flippant, but I really mean
it when I say that sometimes the presentation of a topic
can make all the difference in the world. If the tone of
the class is happy and light and conducive to debate and
validating of the students' concerns, one can usually show
the most harrowing of films. And if a student is going to
be closed minded and announce, simply, that they "will not
watch an 'R' rated movie!" I don't really think I can have
much sympathy for that level of prejudice...
Daniel Isaac Humphrey
Department of Art & Art History
University of Rochester
424 Morey Hall
Rochester NY 14627-0456
www.rochester.edu/College/AAH/people/grad/humphrey.html
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