Timothy Shary writes:



>I always tell my students that screenings for film courses should be 

>considered the same as labs for science courses-- they are required 

>in order to learn the material.



I've tried that, but found that it just doesn't work.  The widespread 

availability of most films on VHS or DVD coupled with the fact that 

most students (at my institution, at least) are focused purely and 

simply on passing the assessments and have no interest whatsoever in 

the subject beyond that, means that they simply don't show up to 

organised screenings.  Another barrier (which is common in a lot of 

UK institutions) is that teaching sessions are timetabled in one-hour 

blocks, and it's very difficult to book a lecture theatre for longer 

than that.  The only other option is Wednesday afternoons, when 

there's no scheduled teaching: but we are strictly forbidden from 

putting on compulsory sessions relating to undergrad taught modules, 

mainly because the Students' Union insists on this, believing that 

it's more important for them to be playing sports, doing part-time 

jobs (understandable, given the economic climate of HE nowadays) or 

drinking themselves to oblivion in the bar.



Last year I was even vetoed from screening a 35mm archive print of a 

film that is not available on any form of retail video, unless I gave 

an undertaking that it wouldn't be mentioned in any of the essay or 

exam questions.  This was because the only possible slot for the 

session would have been a Wednesday afternoon, and I can't organise 

sessions on a Wednesday afternoon which are anything other than 

optional, i.e. over and above the course requirements.  If I'd 

screened the film on that basis, about three students would have shown up.



>The only instance other than illness (or family crisis, etc.) when I 

>excuse students from screenings is when they tell me the content of 

>a film will upset them, which is rare.



I absolutely refuse to do this under any circumstances.  In the first 

session of my 'Archiving the Media' module, and in the information 

which students have when they're deciding their final year module 

choices, I make it clear that in this one they will be shown (for 

example) concentration camp footage, extremist propaganda from both 

left and right, a home movie which shows a public guillotining and 

hard core porn.  If they're not willing to deal with that, they 

shouldn't be taking the module.  These people are adults, not 

children: and the ability to produce a rational and considered 

response to emotionally and/or ideologically problematic material 

should be a core skill for any graduate in a humanities or social 

sciences discipline, IMHO. If they've got personal issues which 

prevent them from being able to make such a response, they should go 

and do a degree in electrical engineering.



Leo



Dr. Leo Enticknap

Curator, Northern Region Film & Television Archive & Senior Lecturer 

in Media Studies

School of Arts and Media

University of Teesside

Middlesbrough

TS1 3BA

Tel. +44 (0)1642 384049

Fax +44 (0)8712 249151 



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