I very much appreciate Susan Crutchfield's suggestion of _Psycho_ as a text
that's a good compromise between classical and contemporary, us and the
students.

Do other people have experiences of this middle ground?

My own experience is that when students see _Citizen Kane_, most have the
reaction "so what?"  They literally ask me "Why is this film such a big
deal?"

_Vertigo_ can also be a letdown.  A recent group of very well-educated
undergraduates at an elite liberal arts college found it impossible to
identify with Scotty because he is so clearly a misogynist.   All the
psychoanalytic arguments in the world couldn't convince them:  they didn't
"go there."

On the other hand, a colleague suggested using _Edward Scissorhands_ to
teach and analyze mise-en-scene, and that worked wonderfully.

Sincerely,
Edward R. O'Neill

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite