Movies I Love to Show in Class

In no particular order -

The Village




Poor M. Night Shyamalan.  His first few movies (Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, and The Village) were spectacular.  Others, though, (The Lady in the Water and The Happening) are not so.

But when I saw this in the theatre, it reminded me of the works of Nathanial Hawthorne.  I see so much of "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Minister's Black Veil" in this film.

I think it suffered from poor marketing, as it was marketed as a horror film, which it certainly is not.

It's not without its faults (how a blind girl can manage to find her way in the woods? Some terrible dialogue, "We have the magic rocks . . . Why have we not heard of these rocks before?  Why do you wear the cloak of the safe color?" ), but it has elements of symbolism and plot structure that are great for discussion.  And its themes?  Excellent.

Plus, how Shyamalan breaks up the story and scenes to manipulate the reader makes for great analysis and discussion.

Jaws




Ever since I taught Comp II many, many years ago, I have fallen in love with our theme of a film review.  We used to do it on The Natural, but since I've focused on a variety of movies: The Lion King, The Incredibles, War of the Worlds, Little Miss Sunshine to name a few), but Jaws is my favorite.

The story of its making is fascinating.  Remember, this is Steven Spielberg's big screen debut.  Had this bombed, would we have Indian Jones? Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Schindler's List? Saving Private Ryan?

Spielberg's use of the power of suggestion is brilliant.  He knows he's saddled with an incredibly fake looking shark.  Wisely, he holds it off until the very end.  By then we're invested in it so we can put up with how sketchy it appears when it leaps onto Quint's boat and gobbles him up).

John Williams' excellent score.  Play just a few notes of it, and it'll register with you.

Spielberg's great sense of humor balanced with shock.

The incredible suspense created in the dock scene, Ben Gardner's boat scene, and the cage scene towards the conclusion.

The great character development.  We actually care about Chief Brody and his family.  He's a good man and we want no harm to come to him.

How Spielberg plays upon our fears (fear of the unknown and fear of being eaten alive) and makes use of actual shark attacks from history (the Jersey man-eater and the USS Indianapolis).

Training Day




I show this as a modern retelling of Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."

It's amazing how similar the two works are.  The wilderness.  The devil trying to corrupt a young man. The themes of good vs. evil, appearance vs. reality, and temptation.  Even the use of the color pink.

I haven't seen a film related this closely to a short story that it isn't actually based on since Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and American Beauty.

Sleepy Hollow




Though it's been awhile since I've taught this film (it goes best with American Lit or what is our Lit & Lang 11), it's an excellent film to show to illustrate American realism vs. American romanticism.

Here Ichabod Crane is a man of science from the New York City (all elements of science and realism) who must venture into the woods to Sleepy Hollow to face the Headless Horseman (superstition and magic, all elements of romanticism).

Plus, the film is gorgeous and does a great job making me feel like I'm back in 1799.

Crash




I like to show this as a modern comparison of To Kill a Mockingbird.

The idea of putting yourself in someone else's shoes and seeing what their world is like (which is one of Atticus' mantras) is perfectly illustrated here.  As are many of the same themes of Mockingbird.

I also show this in College Comp 2 to illustrate Steven Johnson's concept, from his book Everything Bad is Good for You, about how current pop culture is more intellectual complex than ever before because of multi-plot thread narratives like this one.  I have students track three main characters fro this film and then analyze how they "crash" into each other and impact the overall theme of the film.

The Island

A Michael Bay film? I know.  A lot of pretty people, explosions, product placement, and extreme lapses of logic.  However, it connects well with one of my favorite short stories, "The Lottery."