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Englishpal
Joined: 05 Nov 2012
Posts: 71
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 Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 3:11 am Post subject: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance |
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| Has anyone had any success showing this or other John Ford Westerns to English Majors? |
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shaka
Joined: 19 May 2014
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 6:43 am Post subject: |
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A black and white film? I bid you the best of luck, sir or madam.
Might I suggest you instead show them two hours of a test pattern? |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Are you doing this for your own enjoyment or to benefit the students? |
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Aristede
Joined: 06 Aug 2009
Posts: 180
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:22 am Post subject: |
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| shaka wrote: |
A black and white film? I bid you the best of luck, sir or madam.
Might I suggest you instead show them two hours of a test pattern? |
I once asked a student who had read "Gone With the Wind" if she'd seen the movie, and she answered, "I think it is probably too old." She couldn't even give me a reason why old film = bad film. GWTW of course is even in color, but still, "too old." Sad to say, a lot of Chinese students really do have the mindset that old things no longer have value. Maybe that mental "light switch" is an adaptive mechanism they've needed to deal with the many abrupt changes in China.
Personally I love John Ford westerns. To the OP, I hope that if you show one it works out, but I wouldn't bet on it. On the other hand, I showed the OK Corral fight from "Tombstone" once and they loved it. Probably because the gunplay is a bit more...visceral. Maybe acclimate them to westerns with some clips first to provide context. Otherwise a full movie may be too much to chew on. |
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Dan123
Joined: 08 Jan 2014
Posts: 112
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| Aristede wrote: |
| Sad to say, a lot of Chinese students really do have the mindset that old things no longer have value. |
It's not just Chinese students. A lot of (most?) young people all over the world are like it, whether they're from the East or the West.
Source: I'm 23, and most of my friends back home would never dream of watching something like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (nice choice by the way!). |
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asiannationmc
Joined: 13 Aug 2014
Posts: 1342
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:56 am Post subject: |
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| Try "Gift (Video 1993) - IMDb" Perry Farrell can deliver the relevancy |
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OhBudPowellWhereArtThou
Joined: 02 Jun 2015
Posts: 1168
Location: Since 2003
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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| I showed "To Kill a Mockingbird" to college students who had the same mindset: old is bad; new is good. When I told them that the movie was a recent one and shot in B&W to convey a specific American era, they got over the prejudice and enjoyed the movie. |
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Englishpal
Joined: 05 Nov 2012
Posts: 71
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I have movie classes this term. Really wanted to go with a theme revolving around the best classic films, but I am losing courage. I am going to give ET a go next week. |
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Aristede
Joined: 06 Aug 2009
Posts: 180
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| OhBudPowellWhereArtThou wrote: |
| I showed "To Kill a Mockingbird" to college students who had the same mindset: old is bad; new is good. When I told them that the movie was a recent one and shot in B&W to convey a specific American era, they got over the prejudice and enjoyed the movie. |
Nice maneuver. Sometimes deception is for the greater good. 
It's just too bad that they have that bonehead old/new dichotomy prejudice in the first place. But I think the previous poster who said young people around the world are currently like that is probably right. I raised this issue with an American teacher in his mid 20s once, and he admitted that as a general rule he wasn't interested in watching a movie that was more than 10 years old. I really couldn't relate to him after that. At times like these, the "generation gap" becomes palpable.
So if one does want to introduce "old" movies or music to students, I think there are a couple ways to go: (1) draw them in first with a story that grabs their attention and provides cultural/historical context, starting with short clips before moving to something feature length (2) flat-out trick them the way you did! |
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