I wrote a long email to the rest of the staff (yesterday) about what I perceived to be the usefulness of these public screenings, and -- having done this for the second time now, I continue to believe in that usefulness.
There is a moment after the movie is over when it's clear that the students need that moment (which is why letting the credits roll for a bit is a good idea), though I'll admit that I may be taking a kind of perverse pleasure in seeing them wrestle with the difficulty of these final moments, or the difficulty in putting their response into words. When they get to that moment -- of putting it into words, that is -- well, that's really the point of the whole enterprise, wasn't it? I don't think we necessarily gain anything by having the communal experience of watching United 93 (well, maybe we do). What is necessary is helping the students get past the shock of the film (tonight there were a number of gasps at the violence on the plane), and get them to a useful, helpful conversation about what they were seeing, how to contextualize what they were seeing, etc.
Andrew, good friend and colleague was particularly good yesterday in framing the conversation in terms that would help them move to their next assignment, and I hope I did justice to that gesture tonight. Reminding them that a film has an argument just as an essay has an argument -- reminding them that there are implicit arguments in many of the film's choices -- helping them to verbalize what the film's thesis might be -- helping them to see that this is one way of retelling the story -- all of these are crucial -- and letting the students watch the film on their own -- well, the danger is, of course, that they won't know to think about these questions.
My brain is tired. Watching United 93 two days in a row is hard work.
2 comments:
Thanks, Tira. I found the viewing useful myself as I had been so moved (stomach upset, jittery) after my first time watching that I think I forgot about the so important final frames of text, which seemed to me a pretty damning indictment of government, military, FAA and the infrastructure meant to protect. I am stressing to students the need to juxtapose these singularly written texts with the images, toward making some judgment about why the director included these and what they mean in terms of framing or contextualizing.
I have to give credit to Andrew for starting that conversation (about the final frames) the night of the first viewing. I think my experience of watching the film was certainly enhanced by the enforced repetition, even though that in itself was exhausting. I certainly notice many more details than I would have otherwise -- the smash cuts, for example, which are their own internal commentary. I wish I had more time in class to discuss all these details.
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