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August 2000, Week 3

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Subject:
From:
"Andrew Albert J. Ty" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 19 Aug 2000 08:49:42 +0800
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Good issue and very much a real one in teaching film. I have to admit though that
much as it would be best to just screen away as long as the film is appropriate for
class, I often had to temper my choices. I still have doubts though on whether I
should have had. In any case, I hope to at least temporarily resolve this dilemma
before I teach again next semester.

I live in a country with a very strong element of the conservative in its particular
brand of Catholicism. Aside from that, I also came from a University run by the Opus
Dei, who probably have the winning edge if we're talking about conservative
Catholics. I've learned (or been brainwashed, for those who may not agree with my
decisions to take student reaction into mind) to take note of the sensibility of my
potential audience then when I select films for screening. Not to do so would
usually end with them closing their minds (and eyes) to whatever I was planning to
teach them--no one wins in such a case.

This isn't the only factor, however. I also have to contend with the fact that most
students in the University which I teach (run by relatively more liberal Jesuits,
incidentally) take the film courses under the assumption that they're easy-A
courses, which is why a lot of them ended up surprised with the workload I gave
them.

Case in point: There was one time when I was watching people register for their
classes. I'm only a few years older than these people and since I was new, no one
knew that I was a teacher. I actually had a girl promise her boyfriend, who was
considering enrollment in my class, not to worry because "Everyone gets A's in film
theory, and I can give you my papers on Kramer vs. Kramer, Amadeus, and Rashomon,"
which is a good way to illustrate the reputation the class has acquired and the
wrong assumption that the films taught by one teacher would also be taught by
another.

In this sense, although I boldly began with Lumiere and Company, which I thoroughly
enjoyed but which I now realize shouldn't have been the first film screened for
students who at the time had no real experience as of yet in academic film
discussion, I had to adjust my schedule and screen Run Lola Run the next meeting.
Barton Fink had a violent reaction, so I may choose another Coen film next
time--Fargo, most likely. I chose not to screen Gregg Araki's Nowhere even though it
suited the reading, because of the rather explicit content, although I did end up
with Velvet Goldmine, which also had its share of shocked sensibilities in my class.
I was going to screen the unpopular Spiceworld for a discussion on celebrity, but
ended up with Being John Malkovich when I finally saw it on DVD and after worrying
about the potential riot that the Spice Girls may cause in my class.

I don't see anything wrong in my doing this, since, like Sandy, I also asked myself
first if I wasn't compromising the syllabus by screening a less offensive film, and
I made sure never to. I've been rewarded, funnily enough, by being proven wrong at
times. I thought for instance that my students would find Masculine-Feminine
difficult, but they were well-prepared for it that a significant majority enjoyed
it. Things however were not always as rosy as that: I was surprised that Miller's
Crossing didn't quite capture the students' attention the way it did my friends and
I, but The Big Lebowski was rather popular.

In any case, a little leap of faith is involved in programming the film schedule for
a class. I try to expose them to films they wouldn't otherwise see and just take it
from there. At the very least, if they end up hating a particular film, I could
always ask them, "At least you were able to see a film like that, right?" (This is
also why I sometimes change film schedules if most have already seen the film I'm
screening, but this is rare.)

My reputation now for relatively quirky choices in films for class is hopefully
enough for me to counter the dread that students feel towards the film teacher who
heavily assigns readings and writing assignments compared to the others, as well as
to introduce some variety to the usually limited expectations of what a movie should
be like that a lot of my students have (through no fault of their own).

What makes my situation here simpler is the fact that the students make up a
relatively homogeneous group, and so I don't have to take note of every individual
sensibility as I would have if I had a strong heterogeneous ethnic/religious/etc.
mix. I only assigned a different film to a small group once, but only because they
saw it the week before in another class they were taking. Still, there were some who
took offense at Life of Brian, which I decided to screen instead of The Seventh
Seal, but not so much as to feel violated, so I feel no guilt there. :-)

Andrew
p.s. Incidentally, I just noticed Ed's email address. You're the John Carpenter fan
from Cine-L, right?

----
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