On Film Classes

Dan here:

Everyone likes film, right? Isn't that pretty much a unanimous fact (maybe)? I have yet to talk to someone who actually tries to stay away from films for some reason. Yea, people have a certain, sometime fiery, hatred for films, but not film in totality. It is a medium in which people go (or stay home, for that matter) to watch it for so many different reasons: to tune out, to explore, to observe, for escapism, to imagine...whatever.

So let me tell you the practicality of film as a source of understanding the world around us. First off, it is a crucial source of understanding the world around us. To figure out why, just ask yourself one question when see virtually any film: why? Asking this simple yet grandiose question opens a multitude of doors to explore. Here is a list of things you can learn from a film. I am even stating obvious ones:

• It can teach you about a particular topic of another field (in physics, economics, biology, etc.)
• Film is a document of its time and place, meaning that old films don't just have stories but have motivations linked to general mentalities of a certain place in a certain time period.
• As a corollary, film is a document of its culture. We can understand certain mentalities of other cultures and nations through understanding film form.
• Understanding film will give people insight into how they could potentially be manipulated by certain filmmakers (not to throw him under the bus, but Michael Moore is a good example) through form.
• It's fun!

These are general but, I feel, adequate reasons to understand film. Now picture a high school class involving understanding film form and its significance. I know there are some schools that already do this, but...here it comes...how about making a film class REQUIRED? I can hear sighs coming from everywhere, but here me out. If we can educate more people on the ways in which film tells a story, we can allow them more freedom to explore a film. Again, motivate people at a young age to ask why. Giving a student the space to explore a film will allow them to understand the motivations, the ideas, and even the science behind the films they watch. They can understand what made Soviet films of the 1920s Soviet films and how their form was linked to their communist mentalities. They can understand why there was such thing as the melodrama in Classic Hollywood. They can understand the evolving socioeconomic landscape in China, and what sort of mentalities and feelings are being felt by the people witnessing this change.

This sort of class should not be taught in a way an English teacher teaches English. You must not only highlight the thematic symbols, patterns, and feelings expressed, but you must also look into how it is expressed through form, through technique, through the understanding of what cinema really is. I have been in literature classes where we had to watch films. Although it was never a bad experience, looking back in hindsight with all the knowledge I know of film (and how different it is from prose) makes me think that we are teaching kids that film is inseparable of a medium from literature. This shouldn't be the case and I feel people, being taught early on, will understand, again, what film can do in expression of ideas, feelings, and even logic that makes it unique from other forms of art.

I know, as a requirement, that might be asking a lot. I also know that the [STEM fields have been on the decline in America for several years]. Yet, and I am not saying we should not have required chemistry, physics, and biology classes, the fact that mostly everyone goes to see a film compared to, well, have a career in chemistry or engineering, propels me to make the case that all high schools should have a required film class...at the very least have the class as an option. Film, as with many mediums, can be studied in more than an artistic way. It is the leverage one can gain from such education that can lead to better things. Film, I feel, is an easy access to all sorts of topics. I am also not saying that we should have more filmmakers, if you have felt that way since the start of this post.

Of course, we would still have to be careful about what we show students. Not really in the sense of graphic content (though that is obviously an issue), but in what they can provide in constructing a framework of what film can do. With careful consideration of a class filmography, a student can have a firm foundation of a multitude of perceptions of many different subjects. But, careful planning goes with any class and any teacher.

And of course, there are people who have told me, "Well, what if we don't want to learn that?" I mean, people ask that question for pretty much every class they have to take in high school. But, I'll ask them, "Are you going to stop watching film if you take the class?" I can assume the answer to that. Then the next rebuttal will have to be along the lines of, "Studying films will ruin the experience." Again, unless you want to ignore the possibilities of understanding a certain setting, a certain culture, and a certain topic of ideas, and how it is being expressed, then yea their is room for ruination. That also applies to really any subject ever. It is inherently all about willingness to accept that there is more to the medium than superficial feelings. Nevertheless, I find that people will learn a whole lot from films. At least in a classroom setting they are kind of forced to do so...though I kind of feel weird saying that, frankly. More on this in the near future.