Again, I intervene as a student. I didn't react in the
"so what?" way to _Citizen Kane_. In fact, if it is
contextualized, you can see how much it meant in its
time, just like _Birth of a nation_. The gut reaction
from your students might come from looking at the film
with 21st century eyes.

Moreover, it is an excellent film to exemplify
raccords and different montage techniques. Maybe it's
not a matter of showing the whole film in class, but
just bits and pieces with very specific purposes and
then let the students see all of it on their own and
discuss it later, if necessary.

Silvia Fernandez


--- "Edward R. O'Neill" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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
>
> ----
> Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at
> ScreenSite
> http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite


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