Classic Movie Club: Discovering Literary Elements in Classic Movies

Can you study literary elements through the stories of great movies? Yes! All stories contain basic literary elements, the important building blocks that help to accomplish the writer's purpose. And movies are stories told through the medium of film. They provide a wonderful opportunity to identify these elements and discover how they add to the story writer's purpose. Students may come and go in this class as desired, but they will need to enroll with enough time to watch the movie of the week before that week's class.

In this ongoing course, students will watch an assigned movie on their own time each week. I will provide a viewing guide to help them focus on particular aspects of the story. Weekly sessions will begin with a brief historical background of the movie and/or book on which it is based. We will quickly move into a class discussion, giving students the chance to share their thoughts and opinions about the movie and it's themes. This discussion time will be focused, but casual, teacher-guided but student-led. 

I'm excited to introduce students to older classics that they may not have seen before! Each movie will be appropriate for ages 12 and up. Many are classic movies, old enough to carry an NR rating. They have all been chosen for their rich storytelling and clear use of literary elements. Although many deal with serious and important themes and occasionally tense situations, they are also broadly family friendly in terms of content. Parents are encouraged to use Common Sense Media or IMDB to check any detail of themes or other elements to determine whether the movie is appropriate for their family's viewing standards. 

Movie List 
This is a list of movies currently planned for this course. The schedule may change, and additional movies may be added, depending on student interest and requests. 

Movie #1: 
High Noon (1952)
*Conflict, Characterization, Setting

Movie #2:  
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
*Symbolism, Theme, Setting

Movie #3: 
Babe (1995)
*Character, Point of View

Movie #4:
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
 *Setting, Suspense, Point of View
           
Movie #5: 
12 Angry Men (1957)
*Character, Symbolism, Themes

Other movies that may be included:
"Life is Beautiful" (1997)
"The Princess Bride" (1987)
" To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962)

All movies are available to stream or rent from various major streaming services (Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play) or possibly borrowed on DVD from a local library. Average streaming rental price without memberships is approximately $3-4.