Film History class for kids?

[flip]

My two nephews, 11 and 9, are getting home-schooling right now because of covid, and they've expressed an interest in learning about film history. My brother, who's teaching them, was thinking about how he might do that, and I thought scfz'ers might have some good ideas. So i'm curious, if you were giving a 'class' to two ten year olds that should be enjoyable for them, but also somehow 'educational' (taking a liberal view of that word), bearing these things in mind:

- the 'class' would run about 20 hours, including film-watching
- the kids like superhero movies, Ocean's 11, and the Bourne films right now, but used to love Miyazaki and Chaplin
- some experimental and silent film would be fine (welcome, even), though a lot of subtitles would be undesirable
- the teacher has seen a lot of film (from lots of genres, from Brakhage to Costa to Hitchcock to Godard) but isn't a film theorist or historian by vocation

what would you consider doing? Grateful for any replies!

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

What a fun idea! That's about the age I started to get into film. What excitement that was. I think I watched Citizen Kane, King Kong, Casablanca, and several Capras around that time, and all of those could be great entryways.

My first thought would be that, at least if I was doing it, I would lean toward doing a crash course in the development of film comedy. Accessible, fun films that can highlight certain key aspects of film history or even theory but without hopefully getting too technical or scholarly. Spend some time on silent slapstick comedy (an Alice Guy chase film, a short Chaplin, maybe Keaton's Sherlock Jr.), briefly cover the coming of sound, and then look at the screwball comedy of the 1930s (His Girl Friday's overlapping dialogue springs to mind, maybe My Man Godfrey for Carole). And then if there's time end with maybe a sound-era Chaplin film (Modern Times?) to see how he's adapting or purposefully refusing the new technology of sound, or maybe a Jacques Tati for how he combines dense sound design with silent-homage visual gags. The idea here being that this might fill in a rough sketch of film history and also potentially spark some thinking about film form and how its changed over time through technology, but at a hopefully quite accessible level. One wouldn't have to spell all this out, depending on how much the kids' could take in, but it would be there for them to draw out of the films in conversation, at least potentially. That's where my brain would go, at least. Looking forward to hearing what others have to say!

[Umbugbene]

I've been teaching film history for the last 4 years, and while I've never taught students below college age, a lot depends on their curiosity. Depending on their readiness, I'd try to expand their interests in a few different directions.

Here are a few things I'd try:

- Revisit something they've already seen and try to get them to view it differently. Modern Times or City Lights would be ideal. Try to show how the movies do more than just getting an audience to laugh. One of the most valuable lessons you can teach is to see a movie more than one way.

- Find one or two movies that they won't necessarily appreciate now, but which will plant a seed in their minds. 11 years is the optimum age for this, I think. When I was 11 my parents took me to a variety of films at a revival house, and years later I started to look back at them with wonder.

- Show at least something with subtitles anyway, to soften their resistance. At that age they might enjoy something like Pan's Labyrinth or Wild Tales (I've shown the latter to a four-year-old!)

- Try not to think about genres too much. Classifying films by genre focuses too much on how they manipulate emotions, which isn't the most fertile way of looking at movies. Try to pick films that open space for the students' own reactions.


I haven't taught any classes in five months, and I miss it a lot right now. I'm thinking of offering free online classes in the near future, so I might post about that sometime soon.

[flip]

i asked my artistic partner about this just now, so i thought i'd record their suggestion here too:

- play, back to back, five minutes of film from each decade (not sure what criteria would guide the choice of excerpts)
- talk to the kids about what they notice, differences, similarities, what they like, what questions they have, etc
- from there try to abstract what interests them about film, what they're most curious about, and let that guide the direction the class goes in

thanks for the replies so far! i'll be sending my brother a link to this thread, so he'll read them all

[greennui]

Seeing as they loved Miyazaki, maybe some more anime films can ease them into Japanese cinema?

Monty Python and the Holy Grail? I remember our history teacher showing it to us and the entire class loved it.

[MrCarmady]

I think films that provoke a sense of wonder are a good place to start in addition to comedies as already suggested. I remember watching Lawrence of Arabia as a kid and being blown away. Same with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Gladiator, though that one might be too violent for some kids. Lagaan? Obviously kids don't have the best attention spans so these super-long ones might have to be split in a couple of viewings, but I think they're easy to engage with as they're mostly morality tales and are visually very engrossing even if you know nothing about mise-en-scene or the technical aspects of film-making.

[Holymanm]

they themselves "expressed an interest in learning about film history"? man, i've been watching all kinds of movies for four decades, and i've never felt any remote interest in learning about film history or theory (even - especially not - when studying it in university). so i have nothing to contribute, really, perhaps aside from being able to relate to children of that age on their level of sophistication, but i guess i would suggest making sure they're really interested in all that and not just in wonderful, open-eyed film 'appreciation'. some movies from different times and places and such. movies are great!*



* except for when they stink

[flip]

they themselves "expressed an interest in learning about film history"?

I'm not sure they would have come up with the idea completely unprompted, but they just did a music history 'class', and since music and movies are the two artforms they seem most interested in, it makes sense that a film course would be something they'd suggest as a followup.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Ten is maybe a little young for what I'm thinking, but The 400 Blows is ideal for tween/pubescent boys; I definitely think it's a movie that benefits from being seen for the first time in adolescence. If it serves as a gateway film for subtitled movies, so much the better.

[flip]

followup! my brother has been doing this film class, i sent him a link to this thread, and he took some suggestions from it. among other things the kids loved jacques tati, his girl friday some other screwball comedy, and where is the friend's home? they're going to watch 400 blows soon too.

new request for suggestions: he's been going through film somewhat chronologically, obviously with deviations (kiarostami, panahi), and he's reached the 1970s. but he's now wondering what to show them from the 1970s-1990s. they've seen a lot of the 'classic' kids films like e.t. and gremlins (and they like those a lot). i guess these would be rough criteria:

- the films should be potentially enjoyable for 10-11 year olds
- the films should be worthwhile for some reason - good films, or important in film history, etc
- things that are not good: anything sad (they hate sad films), anything too adult (miracle of morgan's creek didn't go over well, too much explanation required), anything too scary (the younger nephew refuses to watch jaws for that reason), and i doubt my brother would want to show them anything particularly violent
- too much subtitling probably isn't great, some is fine, they speak french though (and english)
- they're watching most things on lunch breaks, so anything really long probably isn't good

thanks in advance for any recs!

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Glad to hear they liked Tati. I show his films to college students regularly, and some of them hold it against me for the rest of their lives.

Some possibilities that jump out at me:
70s:
The Black Stallion
Rocky
Donkey Skin (since they speak French)
Young Frankenstein

80s and 90s is much trickier for me to think of anything. But you could get into Don Bluth animation with Secret of Nimh or something. I also remember really liking The Gods Must Be Crazy at around that age, which could be kind of used as in introduction to... something I guess. lol.

[greennui]

Hedgehog in the Fog
Fantastic Planet?
Truffaut's The Wild Chld?
is Hausu suitable for kids? Can't remember.
Stand by Me

[Monsieur Arkadin]

s Hausu suitable for kids

The violence is cartoonish, and not very scary... so I think it comes down to your views on nudity.

[Curtis, baby]

Small change!!!!!
Amarcord (u can see breasts tho)
Shadows in paradise
Bill and Ted
Any Rohmer...but especially 4 adventures. Full Moon in Paris I think is also a v kid friendly depiction of adults. Pauline@beach might be too sexual for lil ones. Seasonal tales could be good too
Only yesterday
Ocean waves
Jerry Maguire
Slacker??!!
Rushmore
Kurosawa's dreams
Paper Moon
The forbijn project
Grey Gardens
Do the right thing
Killer of sheep
George Washington (green)
The sting

[Curtis, baby]

Also since it's xmas he can show them

The Snowman (1982)
Christmas Inventory
The sweater
Classic Disney animated Christmas tales are great too

[nrh]

the funny thing with curtis legitimately terrible recommendations is that i can imagine them all working if he's talking the kids through the trauma.

[Curtis, baby]

they are all terrible??? even small change? bill and ted??

[rischka]

grey gardens?? GREY GARDENS??? this was traumatic for me in my 30s

[Umbugbene]

You said they've already seen some Kiarostami... does that include Where Is My Friend's Home? Because that seems to fit your requirements.

Also, I watched Picnic at Hanging Rock around their age, and it made a tremendous impression on me then. I'd also suggest Diva.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Walkabout? Pee Wee's Big Adventure?

[nrh]

they are all terrible??? even small change? bill and ted??

shadows in paradise???

[wba]

the funny thing with curtis legitimately terrible recommendations is that i can imagine them all working if he's talking the kids through the trauma.

Yeah, was thinking the same.

[wba]

Small change!!!!!
Amarcord (u can see breasts tho)
Shadows in paradise
Bill and Ted
Any Rohmer...but especially 4 adventures. Full Moon in Paris I think is also a v kid friendly depiction of adults. Pauline@beach might be too sexual for lil ones. Seasonal tales could be good too
Only yesterday
Ocean waves
Jerry Maguire
Slacker??!!
Rushmore
Kurosawa's dreams
Paper Moon
The forbijn project
Grey Gardens
Do the right thing
Killer of sheep
George Washington (green)
The sting

I hope you just didn't notice this part of the info:

"the films should be potentially enjoyable for 10-11 year olds"

[Curtis, baby]

I srsly don't get how any of those movies aren't good for children?? MAYBE grey gardens, I GUESS

[wba]

I srsly don't get how any of those movies aren't good for children?? MAYBE grey gardens, I GUESS

I'd love to hear about your kids' reaction when you show them those films when they are 10!

[wba]

I srsly don't get how any of those movies aren't good for children?? MAYBE grey gardens, I GUESS

Maybe you're talking about kids from other planets and not from earth?

[MrCarmady]

I love Do the Right Thing but it would be an exceptionally weird choice to show to an 11 year old. I love Rohmer even more and though his films aren't inappropriate for kids, I don't think they'd get much out of them as a rule. Totally with you on Bill and Ted and The Sting, tho.

[...]

Kinda depends on what the hoped for lesson is about film history. Just to get a chance to see different films from different eras and countries maybe or to get a better idea of how films work and how to appreciate them or to be a bit more about how to "read" a film, at least in the sense of understanding film/media storytelling techniques and what/how they get you to respond.

I'd see the first method as the most low key, more or less a pleasant travelogue through film history, making stops at a bunch of different locales, maybe by clips, which might be available on youtube or some such, as a way of getting some basic feel for the flow. The other two approaches might be more directed in their aims, in which case they might require a bit more coaching and careful selection. The second approach would probably be something like a light introduction to the "canon" of "great" films and their styles, while the last would probably be best served by showing things that got ignored by the canon or history for reasons of cultural and media values reflecting the status quo. For that last group, clips from movies like Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, for just one off the top of my head example, might be options to show the history that wasn't seen very often.

[Holymanm]

Salo
Caligula
Eyes Wide Shut
Satyricon

[greennui]

Watership Down ought to do the trick.