Film Friday I was rewatching the Pixar film Up last week (it kicks off a series I am running on “animated films for adults”) and saw one scene that was simply too fantastical for belief. Geriatric hero Carl Fredricksen is battling with the even older Charles Muntz and both throw their backs out in the […]
Tag Archives: Film
Comparing Jane Austen and Frank Capra
Film Friday Teaching Sense and Sensibility in my Jane Austen First Year Seminar is giving me the chance to once again relish the magnificent way that the author dispenses poetic justice. This time through, I found that the ending of the novel reminds me of the ending of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Since […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Frank Capra, It's a Wonderful Life, Jane Austen, Justice, Sense and Sensibility Comments closed
Clooney Is Clark Gable + Cary Grant
Film Friday I’ve spent many hours talking about film with my friend Jim Bershon, a retired dentist who loves movies. When my life became too busy a couple of years ago, Jim took over a monthly film series at a local senior center that I had started. He sent along the following introduction to his […]
The Titanic and Adolescence, 2 Disasters
Film Friday I have been recently writing about how Jane Austen’s 17-year-old heroine in Northanger Abbey uses gothic novels to negotiate the challenges of early 19th century life. Today I talk about how the greatest box office success in Hollywood history did the same for middle school girls in 1997. In fact, a major reason […]
My Favorite Film: Spirit of the Beehive
Film Friday In today’s post I write about my favorite film, one that pulls me into the world of a child’s imagination like no other artistic work. The film is Victor Erice’s Spirit of the Beehive (Espíritu de la colmena), which came out in 1973. The film is set during or immediately after the Spanish […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Fascism, Franco, politics, Spirit of the Beehive, Victor Erice Comments closed
Beowulf (the film): Fathering Monsters
Jolie as Grendel’s Mother Film Friday I’m teaching Beowulf at the moment and of course my class wants to know what I think of the movie, by which they mean Robert Zemeckis’s animated 2007 version rather than the 2005 Swedish film Beowulf and Grendel. Neither is very good but it’s interesting to see what each […]
Thru Zombie Flix, Our Kids Fight Back
Night of the Living Dead Film Friday Many of my students are fans of zombie movies (of all things). The genre has, in fact, taken off in recent years—a sure sign that one can never predict which symbol systems are going to grip our minds from one moment to the next (and why movie making […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, George Romero, Identity formation, Night of the Living Dead, zombie movies Comments closed
Jane Austen’s Emma as Teenpic
Alicia Silverstone in Clueless Film Friday I’m currently preparing to teach a first year seminar on “Jane Austen and the Challenges Faced by Regency Teenagers.” For years it didn’t strike me forcefully enough that most of Jane Austen’s heroines are either teenagers or recent teenagers. That’s because (1) Austen heroines seem fully adult and (2) […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, Emma, Jane Austen Comments closed
