Are you a movie-showing teacher?
Relying on movies to teach classics isn’t new. Although, I feel like it’s becoming more and more accepted as the norm. I often wonder if it should be.
When I first started pre-writing this blog post, I truly thought it would lean towards nixing movies. We teach literature, not cinema. I repeatedly barrage my students with, “Don’t get your history from Hollywood”. Let’s not get our classic literature from there, either. Then I sat down with a colleague who knows a lot more about movie/book connections than I do. Not surprisingly, I learned a thing or two.
First, I need to be transparent here and say that I do use movies. I’m guilty of pushing play, so I can grade, too. Not very often, but there are times when a teacher needs to tread water for a bit. Here’s a secret–that’s true for students, too. Nonetheless, I think we can do better. I know I can.
I sat down with my colleague, Mr. Fleske, a twenty-some year veteran teacher. Before I had verbalized the entire question–should we use movies to study classics–he was already nodding emphatically. I wasn’t so emphatic.
Do movies really support the study of classic literature? Are we allowing students to be lazy readers? Are we indulging them in their reluctant reaction to old books?
Take Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, for example. Why on earth any teacher is still showing that movie in class is beyond me. We should be using precious class time to show movies only when the movie truly creates relevance or adds to the understanding and analysis of the original text. That dried up old Gregory Peck flick doesn’t fit the criteria. It doesn’t create relevance. It is a slow-moving, black and white that will frankly bore students.
The movie adaptation of TKAM (1965) sucks all the goodness out of the story. If the movie is the student’s only exposure, he/she misses out on the humor and most of the Southern lit elements. The emphasis on family history and local traditions disappears. Jem’s struggle to respect a father he idolizes but can’t brag about because all he really wants is one who can toss a football with him is lost. Quirky characters who bring Macomb to life like Aunt Alexandra, Uncle Jack, Mrs. Dubose, Link Deas, and Dolphus Raymond don’t exist. Calpurnia, Miss Maudie, Miss Stephanie, and Dill Harris are so watered down, we no longer care about them at all. Their significance in Scout’s coming of age disappears, too. Iconic scenes like One-Shot Finch shooting the rabid dog lose their meaning. It’s such an important chapter, but the movie downplays the suspense of the situation and entirely leaves out Scout’s later comparison of “an empty, waiting street” to a hot courthouse full of townspeople anticipating Tom Robinson’s verdict.
This movie is useless in studying the novel, and that’s what we are supposed to be doing, after all. We are teaching students to appreciate literature, not tolerate old movies. In this case, I actually think viewing the movie detracts from the study of the book.
That’s when our conversation moved to Mr. Fleske’s movie date with his family to see Little Women (2019). He had read the book years ago when he was a high school student. He had tried to reread it shortly before the movie came out and couldn’t get past page 100 because the slow, linear history of the March girls couldn’t compete with the current upbeat rhythm we live in today. However, the modern film created a new connection to the story for Mr. Fleske, his wife, and his three high school daughters. Director Greta Gerwig manipulates the timeline to immediately catch the emotions of the viewers and holds on to the very end. Mr. Fleske’s point is that if we want to keep classics relevant for our students, we need to find a way into that current rhythm. Clearly, Greta Gerwig finds a way.
So does Baz Luhrmann in his Romeo and Juliet (1996) and his Gatsby (2013).
When I saw Luhrmann’s Gatsby at the theatre, I nearly walked out in the first couple minutes. Why is Nick Carraway languishing in a mental hospital? I understand movie directors must pick and choose. An entire book rarely can fit into a movie. However, having Nick so scarred that he ends up there goes against Fitzherald’s character entirely. Nick rises above it all in the end. After all, “to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one fine morning—-”
I did end up staying for the movie and I’m glad I did. Ultimately, Luhrmann truly does create interest and reveal relevance for a new generation. Honestly, it’s the best Gatsby film ever produced, even considering where it deviates from the novel. David Ehrlich writes a brilliant analysis of it in an article for IndieWire. I highly recommend including his analysis in your Gatsby unit. Regardless of whether you watch the film in class, students can learn a lot from studying this beautiful example of analysis. (How many times do we ask students to write literary analysis but never actually let them see it in the wild, so to speak?)
My conversation with Mr. Fleske shifted to plays. Unanimously, yes, please use a good movie version–not as a replacement, but as a support. For example, the “Out, out, damn spot!” scene from the Kenneth Branagh version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth (2015) delivers the insane desperation of Lady MacBeth more effectively than any seventeen-year-old reading from a textbook can. The same idea holds true for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
The 1996 movie adaptation starring Wynona Ryder, Daniel Day Lewis, and Joan Allen varies from the original play, but it’s absolutely worth watching in class. The raw emotions of this perfectly cast movie reveal Miller’s empathetic characters and their crushing circumstances in unforgettable ways. In that last scene when the noose is tightened, cutting off John Proctor mid-Lord’s Prayer, not a breath is heard in the classroom. Monotonous teenage readings can’t deliver the same emotional connection to the characters. Not that we don’t read the play. We do. The intermittent essays Miller plants in the script beg us to. We read the first act or so and then turn to the movie. Then, of course, we turn to Famous Trials website (found on my Literary Links page) for a look at primary sources because, as I preach in class, we shouldn’t get our history from Hollywood. I repeat, we shouldn’t get our classic lit from there, either.
However, if Mr Fleske is right and we must dance to the rhythm of current learning styles and story interests and social issues, maybe we need the movies. The good ones, anyway. Not Mockingbird, nor Unbroken (2014), nor Of Mice and Men(1992). (Please don’t make me even mention Easy A. It’s not actually an adaptation, and it’s highly inappropriate for classroom viewing, anyway.) The question then becomes not should we use them to reveal relevance but how should we use them.
The short answer is strategically. Instead of showing the movie for entertainment or to waste time, show it to analyze the director’s interpretation of the original text. You don’t even need to show the whole movie. Compare/contrast Nick Carraway’s entrance into the Buchanan mansion with Fitzgerald’s description. Analyze the smoky greys, yellows, and blues of Fitzgerald’s language against Lurhmann’s gaudy ostentation. Thematically examine just the introduction of Bahrani’s Fahrenheit 451 (2018). Investigate a novel’s most quotable lines. Sometimes directors give them to different characters. Sometimes they alter the words. Sometimes they exclude the line altogether. Have your students argue for and against the change. The bottom line is that while Hollywood can create a sliding door into renewed interest for a beloved classic, we still shouldn’t replace the book with the movie. Instead, use the movie as a study tool, giving credit and importance to the original text.
But what about those three blissful grading days you’ll be missing out on?
If we truly need a few days to grade, can we maybe hand students a companion text like Stevenson’s Just Mercy for Mockingbird? How about inserting some poetry for Gatsby? “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus which is displayed on the Statue of Liberty, Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, and “A Girl” by Ezra Pound provide excellent tie-in in a dozen different ways. Better yet, hand them poetry books and have them discover their own poem/Gatsby connections. That ought to keep them busy for a while. Your library probably has a ton of poetry books that haven’t been checked out since the creation of the Internet. Your librarian will be thrilled to deliver.
But wait. Did I just propose assigning more work that you will have to grade when you are done grading the original stuff? Well, who said you had to grade it? Exploration and discovery are part of learning. Not all of it needs to be graded.
Mr. Fleske and I ended our conversation with the realization that we really need to collaborate on creating a cinema studies class for our school. In addition, we experienced a renewed excitement about how to rethink using movies to support the studies of classic literature. As we pondered on the future of literary study, he left me with this thought, “There will be new classics, and I hope we are open minded enough to include them and use everything at our disposal to keep kids reading.”
Agreed, Mr. Fleske. Agreed.
BONUS LESSON: Today’s bonus lesson isn’t for your students. It’s a reminder to have these intriguing conversations with your colleagues. Even if that cinema studies class never materializes, both of us came away from the conversation with reinvigorated determination to connect kids to classics. If you don’t have colleagues to chat with, comment or email me. I love to network with teachers in all subject areas and grade levels.
What are your favorite movie/book study combos and how do you use them in the classroom? We’d love to hear your ideas.
I came into this article with the same mindset as you had in the beginning, but you (and Mr. Fleske) make some great points. I am not a teacher, but I do enjoy reading and have been left disappointed with some movie adaptations. I enjoy reading the book and using the text to imagine what a character looks like, etc. There is certainly a lot of vocabulary left out of the movies, as movies do not need descriptive dialog. However, the points made here are good. I do often feel it is hard to keep up with a slow storyline because life moves at a mile a minute. In the end, you are right – teachers will need to adapt to the changing times to keep kids interested in reading.
The idea of using only certain scenes certainly helps.
I enjoyed reading your article. I am a homeschool mom, who also has written a blog post called “The Movie List” where I have compiled a list of movies based on books that can be used after reading.
I can’t wait to check out your list. Exposing kids to great stories is so important, whether it from the page or the screen.
My 5th grade class does an in-depth novel study of Wonder each year. The year the movie came out, we were lucky enough to be able to take a field trip to see it on opening day in the movie theater. Even with the excitement of seeing it before anyone else, virtually every student decided that the novel was better, because they were able to have more insight into each character’s feelings and motivations. Many say that they in the future, if a movie is based on a book, they will always read the book first because it will give them more details.
That’s great! Part of our job as teachers is to create curiosity. You’ve planted that seed to read. Love it.
I would be glad to find more ways to engage our students through what I call Three-dimensional learning.
1. Students read the chapters independently.
2. We go over key scenes in class using the audio book version instead of students reading out loud.
3. Show scenes from the film.
This gives students three approaches to grasp literature and work with students who have different learning styles. I have been catching heat with colleagues who disagree with this approach. What would be a great way to prove my case of showing the movies of books, such as The Outsiders, The Giver, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Monsters on Maple Street, and The Five People You Meet in Heaven? Are there any research articles to prove my point. The issue is that kids don’t like to read today. Only 15% of middle schoolers enjoy reading. I need to prove my case to my administration the value of showing scenes from abovementioned stories.
Good for you for keeping great stories in front of students. I think it’s hard for teachers right now. Do we force reading upon students? In some ways, we need to so that they can improve reading skills. However, introducing students to great stories is so very important. The stories need to enter their brains in whatever way it can. The more ways the brain connects with the stories–listening, reading, seeing, reflecting–the better. Have you thought of doing a PD session where you model your approach? I bet the nay-sayers would be hard pressed to say that didn’t learn something. Best of luck. Let me know how it goes of if you want to collaborate.