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 ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html