Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Summer School, Part I


I've been lucky enough to teach a semester-long high school film class for the last four years, and next year I'll be lucky enough to start teaching a second semester. That means a big part of my "job" this summer is to watch scads of movies -- not a bad gig.

The new class will focus on six directors, and we'll be watching three films from each director, looking for a unity of theme and style within each director's body of work. Essentially, that mean's we'll be applying the auteur theory throughout the semester. However, I also plan to talk about the limits of the auteur theory -- I don't want to leave students with the notion that all of a director's films are the same, and that there's always a coherent and logical progression throughout a career. I'm envisioning the class as a series of snapshots -- here's this director early in his career, here he is later -- what's the same? What's changed? Like snapshots, these films might or might not be representative of the dominant theme or style a director has employed throughout his career. I'm sure there are pictures of Lindsay Lohan somewhere in which she doesn't look coked up, for example.

Speaking of Lindsay, she starred in Robert Altman's last film, A Prairie Home Companion, one of many of Altman's films that employs a large, ensemble cast. This is the first thing many people think of when they think of Altman, but earlier in his career Altman spent most of his time deconstructing genres in films with smaller casts, like McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, and Thieves Like Us.

Anyway.

So I've been thinking about which Hitchcock films to use with my class. Two of them are gimmes (for me, anyway) -- Rear Window and Vertigo. They're acknowledged masterpieces, plus I taught them in the existing class for four years, so I'll be on some solid ground when I'm starting out. Both employ the same lead actor (Jimmy Stewart) as a physically and/or psychologically wounded protagonist who can no longer work at his action-filled job, and ends up filling his time by spying on people. A lot of subjective point-of-view shots and long, voyeuristic sequences without dialogue ensue. Eventually, the female protagonist puts herself in danger in order to please the man -- results vary. None of Hitchcock's other films are as similar to these two as these two are to each other, but that's OK (Notorious and Psycho probably come closest). It frees me up to pick a snapshot from earlier in his career, his often-overlooked British period. I'm thinking of going with The 39 Steps, a 1935 gem that is the best early example of his "wrong man" films, movies in which a man is picked seemingly at random and accused of a crime he didn't commit, and a double-chase ensues -- the police and/or bad guys after the wrong man, and the wrong man after the truth to clear his name. It's very different than Rear Window and Vertigo, but the more I think (and read) about it, the more I think that's OK. There's still enough there to connect the dots from 1935 to '54 and '58 (critical looks at male/female relationships, the woman risking herself for the man, telling stories with images, ineffectuality or oppressiveness of police, etc.), and I think the students will benefit from seeing a different-looking snapshot. It's as important to look at the differences between a director's films as it is the similarities.

7 comments:

KC said...

an auspicious beginning for sure. i'll blogline you.

trulybrilliant109 said...

Obviously I'm not working hard enough already and am unworthy of my new job. Heck, I've just been hanging out at some weird people's house in Minneapolis and seeing how much non-air conditioning I can take ... Oh well, better start writing a textbook or something.

Tim K. said...

Well, if you want to consider watching a bunch of movies "working," then yes, I'm working hard. I consider it sanctioned goofing off. Don't tell my wife, though.

Jackie said...

My brothers terrorized me with Hitchcock's The Birds when I was little (around five years old). They were babysitting me and The Birds was on, so they made me watch it. Even after watching the film again as an adult and laughing at the outdated green screen scenes, I am still not over my fear of birds. Everytime I see a bunch gathering on a tree or phone line, the hair on the back of my neck tingles.

Great start on the blog.

Unknown said...

What about the kids that have taken art of film 1? Do they then watch the same Hitchcock movies over?

Tim K. said...

What I'll probably do for kids who have already taken Art of Film I is give them the option of doing an independent study on a different director. Luckily, I'll only have to worry about this overlap for two years.

RC said...

what a great new job opportunity...and the opportunity to watch movies...no doubt a pleasure.