Year of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MALS: Interdisciplinary Studies

Directing Professor

Brent Stevens

Abstract

Teachers spend years teaching students to interpret texts. This interpretive skill is deemed vital in our education system, but little time is devoted to developing students’ ability to interpret film, the most popular media students engage with. Film is an incredible amalgamation of words, motion, and music. The world of film offers students incredible opportunities to interpret, analyze, and be moved. If our students must be able to interpret literature shouldn't they also be able to do the same in the immense world of film.

This class will not focus exclusively on the history of film or the classically taught historic films. My curriculum will focus on of the five elements of film: literary design, cinematography, visual design, editing, sound design. Beyond exploring these concepts my curriculum focuses on the numerous artists involved in the making of film. Beyond the purely artistic I also use the films in this curriculum to introduce and explore these economic and social issues: redlining, representation, gentrification, school funding and school policing, colorism, code-switching.. To explore these issues and film itself, I focus five films: Raisin in the Sun 1961, Boyz N The Hood 1990, Do The Right Thing 1989, When We Were Kings 1996, Mississippi Masala 1991.. Each of these films’ have been chosen for their engagement and relevancy, and each of the lectures and enrichment activities have been designed to connect with and foster student understanding.

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