F I L M S

Universidad Nacional de San MartínPrimeras Jornadas de Literatura y Cine en Lenguas Extranjeras15 y 16 de octubre de 2010

Mercedes A. Foligna

A Journey to Language and Culture in the Language and Culture class

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE II Objectives

Cultural knowledge

Language proficiency

Material Written

History textbooks Primary sources Newspaper/magazine

articles Electronic sources

Audiovisual Fiction films Documentary films

OUR STUDENTS

Buenos Aires Province

CABA T.T.Colleges (J.V.González, J.R. Fernández)

Average Entrance level

(CEFR)

B 1/B2(intermediate)

C1/C2(upper-int./advanced)

Classes in English(clock hours per

year)(2nd year)

364 hs 476 hs.

OUR CLASSES

Oral workDiscussion of material ss. have readAnalysis of events, stories and filmsCorrection of viewing guidesSharing of individual discoveriesPresentations of research work

HOW MUCH THEORY DO THEY NEED?

This is not a Literature course, but...

they need the basics of Literary Criticism Marxist Criticism Feminist Criticism Psychoanalitic

Analysis

This is not a Film Studies course, but...

they need the basics of Genre Conventions Visual and Audio

Code Composition Narration Focalization

FILM AND REALITY

Do films reflect reality? Are they a trustworthy source to learn

History?

FILMS IN THE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE CLASS

Visual impact of historic periods or events Springboard to begin research work Memorable depiction of an event Artistic interpretation of a fact Source to understand the feeling for a time

Subjective and Political“What we are seeing did not actually happen, but is a version of what happened, given to us via researchers, a script, etc. ”

Researchers

Decorators

Make upcostume

Casting

Film editing Cinematography

Music score

Art director

Producers

Scriptwriters

Actors

DIRECTOR

THE LANGUAGE DIMENSION

Average L & CII student: between B2 and C1(CEFR)

Students need: to expand their semantic scope

for recognition for production

to improve their accuracy in the grammatical area the pragmatic area

THE LANGUAGE DIMENSION

FILMS EXPOSE STUDENTS TO listening to native speakers of the

language different dialects (regional, social) extensive language input intensive language input (film guides)

THE CULTURE DIMENSION Language and culture: “ to understand and

appreciate the cultural modes of different native users of the foreign language”

What English? American? British? Australian? Indian? South African?

THE CULTURE DIMENSION

“Language is at once an outcome or a result of the culture as a whole and also a vehicle by which the other facets of the culture are shaped and communicated” (Gladstone 1969)

OUR OBJECTIVE

To teach students to discriminate fact from fiction.

To make them take profit from the possibilities the medium offers.

To let them have extensive and intensive language input.

To teach them work with intertextuality. To replace the “popcorn” approach to

films by a critical one.

ONE EXAMPLE: “T h e S e r p e n t ´s E g g”

B E F O R E Y O U S E E T H E F I L M-DIRECTOR-Find information about the director of this film.

-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND-What problems did Germany face after World War I?How did Hitler rise to power?

-CULTURE-How would you describe the German culture? What adjectives would you use? What are German people like?

-VOCABULARY--Find idioms that contain the following words:HOUSE-EYE-HEAD-TAKE OUT ON- DROP-TIME-BUSINESSFind different ways of offering things:Find different ways of insulting:

“T h e S e r p e n t ´s E g g”

W H I L E Y O U S E E T H E F I L MPay attention to the opening scene. What do you think this represents? What message do you think the director wants to convey?-SHOTS-Find one scene in the film in which one of the following shots is used. What effect is the director looking for? (Remember that he has chosen this shot out of a set of options.)

SHOT SCENE EFFECT

Extreme close-up

Close-up

Medium shot

American shot

Full shot

Long shot

Extreme long shot

“T h e S e r p e n t ´s E g g”

Dynamic Shots

SHOT SCENE EFFECT

Pan

Push in

Pull back

Zoom in

Zoom out

SOUND EFFECT SCENE EFFECT

Voice over

Off screen

Filter

Ambient sound

Silence

-SOUND-Can you find any of the following sound effects in the film? What is the effect?

-LANGUAGE-Which idioms that you looked up before are used in the film? Who uses them?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

AFTER YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM

GENREWhat genre does this film belong to? What makes you think so?

SETTING IN PLACEWhy is the setting in place important? What settings are there inside the setting?

SETTING IN TIMEHow is the setting in time connected to the setting in place?

CHARACTERSHow is the main character constructed visually?How is the character constructed through dialogue?How is the character constructed through performance?What is the significance of the position we are put in as spectators for responding to character?Can those who make the film control our response?

HISTORY IN THE FILMWhat historical facts are mentioned in the film?What is the context? What facts/ events/ people do they talk about?Does History prove these statements true?

Fiction films in HistoryPeriod/Event Film

The hollocaust The Pianist

Israeli-Arab conflict Munich

Communist movements in L.A. Motorcycle Diaries

Second World War Atonement

Vietnam War Apocalypse Now

Vietnam War Born the Fourth of July

The Hollocaust The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Second World War Casablanca

Industrial Revolution Modern Times

Atomic anxiety Dr. Strangelove

McCarthism Good Night and Good Luck

India´s independence Ghandi

Russian Revolution Dr. Zhivago

Fiction films in History

Film Theme/Topic

Wall Street Capitalism – Greed

The Remains of the Day Traditions – Love – Repression

The Go Between Forbidden love – Traditions – Social classes

Billy Elliot Discrimination – Prejudice

The Full Monty Unemployment – The effects of neoliberalism

The Godfather Organized crime – Men and women

Citizen Kane American dream – isolation

The Empire of the Sun Growing up – Japanese concentration camps

A Passage to India Imperialism - Discrimination

INTERNET SITES

www.filmeducation.org www.rottentomatoes.com www.imdb.com www.filmsite.org

T h a n k y o u !

Film as dream, film as music. No art passes Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and our conscience in the way film does, and

goes directly to our feelings, deep down into goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.the dark rooms of our souls.

Ingmar Bergman