In English class, students are introduced to film study where they would take notes and study English language through films. Some of the films they studied include; “The Great Gatsby”, “Sinners”, and “Parasite”. When watching the films, students are required to take notes for each character and analyze where they fall under the villain to victim spectrum. They are also assigned to write TQEs (thoughts, questions, epiphanies) regarding the events in each film.
One film that will be highlighted is award winning “Sinners” directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. “Sinners” is a film that highlights systemic racism within the black community in the metaphors of vampires. The film is not as simple as a horror vampire movie.
English teacher Stephanie Pham, who has taught in MacDonald for four years, and taught for ten years as a whole, shares her thoughts on film study.
“I think the film study was useful and helpful for English not as a replacement to reading books but to compliment other class texts,” Pham said.
Pham has seen the film Sinners multiple times and explains the significance the film has for students.
“I’ve seen it four times in theaters. I enjoyed the rich writing and art of sinners. Instead of creating villains and heroes they created complex characters. The film allowed for students to analyze, research, explore and evaluate using critical lenses – social power, gender roles, and critical race theory,” Pham said.
Pham also has a liking for how the story was written in the film.
She said, “I appreciated that the world building was grand and brought so much historical context of the Deep South during the time period.”
Hayden Honjo, a senior and guitarist who’s been at Kathleen MacDonald High School for all four years also has thoughts on film study.
“You need to focus on storytelling elements rather than cinematography, otherwise it’s a film class. Because movies are more ‘show’ and less ‘tell’, you have to analyze both dialogue and intentional actions made by the moviemakers in order to determine deeper meaning in the media,” said Honjo.
While he does believe that film study is important, he believes reading books is more important.
“It’s imperative that students have required literary work, as we need to keep literacy rates up for not only the individual, but for society as a whole to move forward,” said Honjo.
Lastly, Honjo believes that film study benefits the learning of students.
“Movies have the potential to connect to students on a more personal level, as they can actually see what’s going on, as well as being more engaging so that individuals who don’t find reading fun want to try and analyze the movie,” said Honjo.
Film study is a diverse way of learning in English class. It’s different from studying a book, because students can see visually what’s happening, and will have to analyze the writing of the film from there. However, it is similar in a sense where students have to write their own thoughts and even make interpretations of the story.
