The Film Foundation’s Story of Movies presents

The American West and the Western Film Genre

In association with

The Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island

with additional support from the National Endowment for the Humanities

A FREE professional development seminar for educators and librarians

 

Saturday, June 14 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.

&

Sunday, June 15 8 – 5 p.m.

 Swan  Hall  

Agnes  Doody  Auditorium,    URI  Campus,  Kingston,  RI  

 Who & What This  free  weekend  seminar  introduces  educators  to  an  interdisciplinary  curriculum  covering  a  critical  period  of  American  history  (1860  –  1900)  when  the  United  States  was  expanding  and  forging  an  identity,  and  explores  how  filmmakers  of  the  20th  century  represented  this  era.  

• Workshops  focus  on  cinema  literacy/film  language,  and  film  as  historical/cultural  document.    Handout  materials  include  screening  activities  and  primary  source  documents  to  challenge  students’  critical-­‐thinking  skills.  

• Lunch  provided  for  registered  participants.  • Afternoon  &  evening  screenings  feature  classic  Western  films,  each  voted  culturally  and  

aesthetically  significant  by  the  Library  of  Congress  National  Film  Registry.      

How & When to Register Classroom  capacity  is  limited  so  early  registration  is  encouraged.    Continuing  Education  Credits  (CEUs)  may  be  supported  by  your  school  district  for  this  program.  Workshops  require  pre-­‐registration.    Registration  deadline  is  Friday,  May  30.  

REGISTER ONLINE: http://harrington.uri .edu/event/the-story-of-movies/

Why Teach the Western Film Genre?

• A  rich  tapestry  of  literature,  art  and  social  history  exist  to  enhance  the  study  of  the  Western  genre,  making  it  an  ideal  interdisciplinary  subject  for  classroom  study.  

• Because  the  Western  is  an  evolving  and  changing  expression  of  different  stages  of  American  cultural  history,  investigating  the  mythology  of  the  Western  allows  students  to  interpret  how  Americans  –  as  well  as  people  in  other  countries  –  have  viewed  American  political,  social  and  economic  values.    

• The  decline  of  the  Western  genre  in  the  last  decades  of  the  20th  Century  and  early  decades  of  the  21st  Century  presents  an  intriguing  subject  for  argument.  Why  did  the  genre  decline?  And  what  mythology,  if  any,  has  replaced  the  Western  to  explain  our  present-­‐day  American  demographics  and  value  systems?  

• Movies  are  a  door  to  knowledge—of  society,  of  history,  of  art.  The  Story  of  Movies  curriculum  opens  these  doors  by  teaching  students  to  think  critically  about  film,  and  providing  them  with  a  deeper  understanding  of  this  uniquely  influential  art  form.  

Seminar Schedule  

Sessions  Saturday,    June  14  

Sunday,    June  15  

Registration  8:30  

   

 9:00  

Introduction  to  the  Interdisciplinary  Curriculum    &  Common  Core  Connections  

Watching  vs.  Seeing  Screening  Activity:  The  Inciting  Incident,  from  Red  River  

 9:30  –  10:30  

   

Block  1:  Conventions  of  the  Western  Film  Genre  • Manifest  Destiny  and  the  American  Frontier  • Screening  The  Great  Train  Robbery  • What  is  a  Western  Film?  Conventions  of  the  Genre  

Block  4:  How  the  Soundtrack  Communicates  • Selected  Scenes  from  Once  Upon  a  Time  in  the  West  • What  Is  Savage?  Sound  analysis  and  depictions  in  scenes  from  The  Searchers  

 10:45  –  12:15  

Block  2:  Decoding  a  Film’s  Ideology  • Identifying  Ideology  through  Cinematic  Depictions  • Break-­‐out  Session  for  screening  activity:  Selected  scenes  from  Destry  Rides  Again  

• EXPLORING  FILM  MUSIC  with  Professor  Kay  Kalinak,  Rhode  Island  College  

Block  5:  Changing  Ideologies,  Changing  Depictions  • Time  &  Interpretation  &  Racial  Relations:  “Don’t  Scream”  from  Sergeant  Rutledge  and  Broken  Arrow  

• Violence  and  Vengeance:  Scenes  for  analysis:  Ulzana’s  Raid  

Lunch      12:15  –  1:00  

   

 1:00  –  2:30  

Block  3:    Film  Language  –  Composition  &  Juxtaposition  • Four  Elements  of  Film  Language  • Selected  scenes  for  analysis  from  The  Oxbow  Incident  and  The  Outlaw  Josey  Wales  

Block  6:  Pulling  It  All  Together—Mise-­‐en-­‐scène  • Watching:  “The  McBain  Family”  from  Once  Upon  a  time  in  the  West  

• Seeing:  “The  McBain  Family”  revisited  

Matinee  Screening  3:00  –  5:00  

Film  Introduction:  Social  Class  &  Prejudice    Feature  Film:  Stagecoach  (1939,  d.  John  Ford)  

Film  Introduction:  The  Closing  of  the  American  Frontier  Feature  Film:    Shane  (1953,  d.  George  Stevens)  

7  p.m.  Evening  Screening  

The  New  Frontier:  The  Journey  West  The  Big  Trail    (1930,  d.  Raoul  Walsh)  

 

About The Film Foundation The  mission  of  the  Film  Foundation,  a  non-­‐profit  501(c)(3)  organization  founded  by  Martin  Scorsese  and  other  prominent  filmmakers,   is  to  preserve  America’s  cultural  and  artistic   film  heritage  and  to  ensure  that  classic   films  remain  accessible  to  future  generations.  

“Westerns have always been

roadmaps that tell viewers more

about the contemporary U.S. than

about the country as it existed in the

last half of the 19th Century.”

—R.  Philip  Loy,  Westerns  in  a  Changing  America