MVHS students and staff review the use of films in the classroom – El Estoque

As a film lover, Honors American Literature (HAmLit) teacher Vennessa Nava has always integrated films and various media into the HAmLit curriculum. She believes that exploring different forms of media or “texts” not only strengthens understanding of topics but is also more applicable to students’ lives today.

“I say text with quotation marks because I think that as a modern human living in society, we no longer just read words on the page,” Nava said. “We come across all these different types of media, whether it’s just podcasts or movies or just little clips. Instagram and TikTok and those types of media are very visual in nature, and I think it’s a more engaging way to access the same types of concepts.”

To give her students the skills needed to properly consume media in everyday life, Nava explores a variety of films that reflect the critical perspectives and themes covered in the class, such as Marxism and postcolonialism. She says that over the past few years, especially during the pandemic, HAmLit teachers have created an additional optional “film club” where students could watch various films, such as “parasite” And “Moonlight“ to complement the texts discussed in class.

HamLit recently released the film “Us“, a psychological horror film in which a family faces terrifying doppelgangers, revealing a deeper commentary on identity, privilege and societal division. The film is used to complement the social class critique in The Great Gatsby, a core text in the HAmLit curriculum, and to introduce more explicit aspects of race and class. Senior and former HAmLit student Ridwan Khan believes watching “Us” was a way for students to realize the importance of what they were learning.

“It showed a worst-case scenario if we don’t pay attention to critical race theory, and that really helped us understand how important it is,” Khan said. “By showing this through a world of fiction, it shows the potential real-life implications and shows us that we should care more.”

Other literature courses, such as American Literature, also use media to supplement reading. American Literature student and junior Lauren Moore agrees that watching films puts emphasis on the themes taught in class, adding that the visual elements of film and media make storylines and symbols more powerful. For example, the symbolism and depth of luxury in The Great Gatsby became clearer to her when she watched the film adaptation of the novel in class. Although there are sometimes inaccuracies in film adaptations of classic literature, Moore believes they can still be beneficial in helping students understand themes by analyzing the filmmaker’s visual choices.

“It really helps to understand the media in different ways, see facial expressions and really capture what the characters were feeling through visuals,” Moore said. “In ‘The Great Gatsby,’ the symbolism is huge and includes things like colors and conditions – like whether something is really pristine or something is really worn out. It’s not shown that much in the book, so I feel like the film helped me see the symbolism a lot better.”

Both Moore and Khan believe that watching films that reference classroom texts provides an additional level of understanding of the topics that the text sometimes could not provide. For example, Moore points out that watching films can help clear up any confusion caused by confusing dialogue due to the characters’ accents in the book. According to Moore, watching a movie often leads to clarifying the text by adding a visual element, which is particularly helpful for students who don’t like to read. Khan agrees with this sentiment, adding that the ability to “look” at the text creates a deeper understanding that he saw in his current AP Literature course.

“I know we’re watching an episode of ‘Black Mirror’ this year to try to explain the concept of social media and its impact,” Khan said. “It really exaggerates what’s actually going on in the text and makes it easier for us to understand and visualize. It’s really captivating and really helps to understand the topic.”

Nava is a strong proponent of using more media in the curriculum, but points out that there are also disadvantages if they are not used effectively to enhance the learning experience in the classroom. She describes that using films as supplementary material is not really effective if the class only watches the film. It’s more about combining films with the themes in the text and unpacking them to highlight intellectual rigor. She described how some students were put off watching “Us” simply because of the horror genre, but otherwise she had received overwhelmingly positive responses to the films she screened in class.

“After we started using and interpreting films as literature, the students kept telling me, ‘I can’t watch films the same way anymore because I’m starting to see a lot of things I haven’t seen before . ‘” Nava said. “That is my goal as a teacher. I want to give students skills that they can leave the classroom with and apply in the world around them. Hopefully they will continue to enjoy the films they watch in class.”