For our first in-class film analysis, students viewed and discussed the literary and cinematic elements of Paul Thomas Anderson's 2002 film, Punch Drunk Love. The story focusses on a lonely, awkward, and emotionally underdeveloped protagonist who owns and runs a toilet plunger supplier business. The students, however, analyzed the film for much more than its plot. They looked at the character development of the protagonist (something we would do when studying a novel), as well as the themes and symbols emphasized throughout. Students practiced studying the image, and exercised their visual literacy by focusing on specific questions that I provided for them as they viewed the movie. Throughout the viewing, students were able to point out the use and significance of colours, lighting, camera movement, angles, pacing, diagetic and non-diagetic sound, and set pieces. We discussed the symbolism of the colours, the harmonium, and the underlying themes emphasized by the awkwardness of the characters, costumes, as well as the camera movements and techniques used to suggest certain ideas and evoke certain emotions. One of the major aspects of the film that stood out to the students was the use of sound. They commented on how the non-diagetic sound (the score) was annoying and irritating at first, and in a way reflecting the emotions and thoughts of the main character who was very anxious in the first part of the film. One student pointed out that the protagonist's attempt to play the harmonium (the small piano he finds) throughout the film was a metaphor for him learning how to deal with his emotions, and in particular, how to love... he said that he harmonium was a metaphor for his heart, which he brings with him in the final scene when he expresses his undying love for the female character, Lena. We also discussed how the film can also be seen as an allegory of the superman story! Check out the film analysis we viewed after viewing the film in its entirety and after discussing our own ideas of the story:
Film, in many ways, is like literature. After a quick class discussion the class found that while both are open to interpretation as well as function to spread ideas, and evoke emotions, film differs greatly from literature in that it has visual and audio qualities that text does not have. Moreover, because the world we live in has become so visually stimulating and even sometimes overwhelming... the importance of visual literacy has increased. So, to begin our new film analysis unit, we watched a short video of Martin Scorsese discussing visual literacy and it's importance in schools. Check out the link: nofilmschool.com/2012/11/martin-scorsese-george-lucas-visual-literacy-education To follow up students were given a hand out on the language of film. Here's a short youtube clip that demonstrates different cinematic techniques and examples of the language of film in use: One of the skills we will be looking to improve this year is that of literary analysis. We will focus on your ability to analyze literature, identify and explain literary elements/devices, interpret the text, read between the lines and uncover meaning beyond the literal.
In keeping with the same structure you've learned in regards to essay writing, you were challenged to write a literary analysis of The Crucible, in which you discuss how two characters in the play help to further a theme in the story. Flowpsychology.com's description of mob mentality: "[when] humans [are] influenced by the peers around them in order to adopt such behaviors, purchase items and/or follow trends. Some examples of mob mentality psychology may involve superstitions, stock marketing trends, home décor, and more. Most people try to believe that they have the fortitude of standing by their own convictions on a particular situation. However, many of them still have the tendency to imitate other people’s behavior. The particularly strange thing is that when some of them get together, they end up performing nonsensical, downright and bizarre violent things which were never considered on their own." In other words (and to water it down a little), mob mentality is a sort of peer pressure, that can often lead to irrational decision making, as seen in the Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup riot of 2011 (discussed in class). No doubt, many if not most of the participants in the riots were just going with the flow and doing what they saw as acceptable at the time. There were no negative consequences, in fact, there were positive consequences to the horrible actions people were doing on the streets that tragic evening. It's amazing how we are so easily influenced by our surroundings, by others, by our emotions. The Crucible provides a great example in which the a group of people--the residents of Salem--are effected by a mob mentality. In this case, their fear of the unknown, of evil, and of one another, leads to hysteria, and eventually, tragic consequences for the town of Salem. There are several scenes in the play that portray this type of mentality well...one that that we have read/viewed and discussed shows the girls, motivated by their fear of their elders, naming other girls as witches to get out of the hot seat. As each girl witnesses other girls blame other girls, they follow suit and soon a bunch of names are put on trial, despite there being no substantial evidence of their guilt. One should consider how mob mentality finds its way into several day to day situations. To kick of the weekend, many North Americans took part in a cultural practice known as Black Friday...in which hordes of people line up at shopping malls and Wal-Marts to literally punch and kick their way through to get the best deals of the year. Why is this an example of mob mentality? For the past week and a bit, after discussing cultural anxieties and common fears, we have been begun to study Arthur Miller's The Crucible. The students were given some background and contextual information on the play including the history of the Salem Witch Trials as well as information on the Communist Red Scare during the 1950's. Students learned how Miller was not only retelling history but also commenting or criticizing the current events of his time--the Communist Red Scare and Joseph McCarthy's HUAC (House of Un-American Activities). From the start of the play fear is the dominant emotion and motivating force in the actions and thoughts of most of the characters. To begin, two young girls in the small Puritan town of Salem are acting quite strange and experiencing inexplicable symptoms. Because the town can't understand what the cause might be, and because several of the teenage girls in the town were caught dancing in the woods one night while seeming to engage in Voodoo with a town slave, the town has jumped to the conclusion that Witchcraft is the cause of everything. Mix that in with a little jealousy and a love affair and you've got yourself a concoction fit for irrationally based trials and executions. Though we are only in the beginning of the play, the students have identified the conflict, the motivations of the characters and the theme of irrational thinking caused by fear that runs throughout the play. They can see that the girls are motivated by fear of getting in trouble, and that the adults are motivated by fear of the unknown, and that there is a lot of uncertainty across the board. One of the best strategies for uncovering these things as they read is through doing annotations, so for their first assignment they have been asked to make annotations of the first act. In other words, they are to write short point form notes that show analysis, inference and synthesis skills (taking a part, coming to conclusions, and connecting ideas) when reading the text. I look forward to what they come up with next! Before delving into The Crucible, we read a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne entitled, "Young Goodman Brown." Set in Salem, the story follows a young man who journeys into the woods late at night only to come across a stranger and an evil congregation. Heavily influenced by Puritan culture, Hawthorne's story deals with faith and doubt, fear and uncertainty, hypocrisy of authority and loss of innocence. The students learned about the literary device known as the allegory. While the surface level understanding of the story may be intriguing, what becomes more intriguing is the secondary story, that can only be understood if one uncovers what each of the characters and events in the story represent. Learning this technique will be helpful in studying The Crucible as it is quite clear that Arthur Miller's classic drama is an allegory of the Communist witch hunts of the 1950's. One of the significant purposes of literature is to improve the students ability to uncover meaning beyond the literal, and make connections between the text and the real world, so teaching the allegory, and improving a students ability to read a story on several levels is definitely important! Below is a sketch of Plato's Cave, one of the classic examples of an allegory. If you recall, we talked about this story, as well as The Matrix, Dr. Seuss, Animal Farm, and The Chronicles of Narnia as examples of allegory.
Before moving on with our discussion regarding fear and cultural anxieties, students got their short story retests back and many were pleased as they definitely showed improvement in their reading comprehension and literary analysis. Then, to preface our day's lesson I talked about the importance of oral participation, particularly during this new unit. Students were given a handout that explained how to participate actively. If you lost this handout please see the Google Drive or PCR for an extra copy. Students shared a few news stories with the class as we quickly talked about the common cultural anxieties of today. As you could imagine the following came up: Ebola Isis/Terrorism Shootings/Violent Attacks Natural Disasters We discussed the difference between having a rational level of fear vs. an irrational level of fear. In addition, we looked at how the media reports on these issues and events, often sensationalizing them and evoking fear through their reporting style/word choice. Students looked at several video clips from CNN, CBC, and others and were able to identify the difference between media coverage, and the effect the media can have on the public. Finally, the question as to what the societal consequences are of having irrational fear toward something? Through discussion and reading a few article that tackled this question, students concluded that when the media evokes fear, mass hysteria ensues, and irrational thinking and acting follows. Often people begin to discriminate, assume, stereotype and create rumours because of their fear of the unknown. We concluded class by watching the following video: You have a little over a week left to write and submit your speech on Turnitin. Time is going by so fast... it's already November! Remember that your speeches are due on November 10th on Turnitin. Most of you have already submitted your proposal to me on Google Drive. I wrote comments and questions on those proposals and you must revisit the proposal, read my comments/questions and complete any necessary revisions in order to be approved and begin outlining and writing your speech.
In class, we are beginning a new unit. We started last week with the inquiry questions: 1. What are you afraid of? 2. What are some common cultural anxieties today? We discussed how we have rational fears and irrational fears, or rather, we have the ability to express a rational level of fear and an irrational level of fear. But what happens when irrational fear takes hold of you? You were asked to bring in an article/video clip (share it on google drive) for next class as we will continue discussing these topics and eventually transition into reading/viewing and studying Arthur Miller's The Crucible. The Slam went very well! Congratulations to all poets! You did a great job performing your poem. It took a lot of work to come up with, write, and practice for your performance, and those who put the work into it did a great job during the SLAM. Thank you to all the students for participating, and thank you to all who put a lot of effort into the project/assignment. After the SLAM students learned about the After Dinner Speech, the Famous Speech, and the Dramatic Interpretation. More information on each of these speech types as well as the other types can be found on the Collingwood Public Speaking website. Block G: Your proposal is due on October 27th, 2014 Block C: Your proposal is due on October 28th, 2014. Make sure you share your proposal with me on Google Drive by placing it into your Google Drive English 11 folder (which is shared with me) I look forward to reading your proposals and allowing you to move forward with the speech writing/preparing process. Thanks, Mr. Pimentel I strongly encourage you to share your slam poem with me on the google drive if you haven't already. Moreover, if you are still struggling with your slam poem send me an email with specific questions. In addition, re-read the "Starting your slam" handout to get ideas.
FOCUS your topic: Remember, if you have a topic (eg. procrastination), ask yourself, what are you going to say about procrastination? It's good to make up a topic sentence (though you won't use this sentence in the poem) or a theme statement as it will keep you focused on the message of your poem. Some things you might want to try: 1. Expand a metaphor. Compare your topic to a unique, simple, concrete and accessible image (eg. compare how you might treat a brand new shoe to how we should treat the environment. Instead of talking in such a clear cut way about how we should be treating the environment, talk about it using metaphor!) 2. Write a letter to something as if it were a person (a letter to a social issue, a problem, a way of thinking, etc.). Rant and complain in the letter and turn it into a slam poem. 3. Topics to think about: Pressure to do well in school; the need to be more sustainable; what it's like playing a certain sport; technology is taking over the world; woman are objectified and oppressed. 4. You can also expand on your "Where I'm from Poem" and turn it into a Slam. Or, perhaps a stanza in your "Where I'm From Poem" can be the topic of a slam. There are many other ideas on the starting your slam sheet which you have (hardcopy and google doc). Good luck! |
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December 2014
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