This document discusses using films in a language and culture class. It outlines the objectives of exposing students to cultural knowledge and improving language proficiency through films. Films can be used to learn about history and culture in an engaging way. The document provides examples of how films can be analyzed in class, including discussing genre, shots, sound, characters, and comparing the film's portrayal of history to actual facts. Websites for further film resources are also listed.

1. F I L M S
A Journey to Language and Culture in the
Language and Culture class
Universidad Nacional de San Martín
Primeras Jornadas de Literatura
y Cine en Lenguas Extranjeras
15 y 16 de octubre de 2010
Mercedes A. Foligna

2. LANGUAGE AND CULTURE II
 Objectives  Material
 Written
 Cultural
 History textbooks
knowledge
 Primary sources
 Newspaper/magazine
articles
 Language  Electronic sources
proficiency  Audiovisual
 Fiction films
 Documentary films

3. OUR STUDENTS
Buenos Aires Province CABA T.T.Colleges
(J.V.González, J.R.
Fernández)
Average Entrance
B 1/B2 C1/C2
level
(intermediate) (upper-int./advanced)
(CEFR)
Classes in English
(clock hours per year) 364 hs 476 hs.
(2nd year)

4. OUR CLASSES
 Oral work
 Discussion of material ss. have read
 Analysis of events, stories and films
 Correction of viewing guides
 Sharing of individual discoveries
 Presentations of research work

5. HOW MUCH THEORY DO THEY
NEED?
This is not a Literature This is not a Film
course, but... Studies course, but...
 they need the basics  they need the basics
of of
 Literary Criticism  Genre Conventions
 Marxist Criticism  Visual and Audio Code
 Feminist Criticism  Composition
 Psychoanalitic  Narration
Analysis  Focalization

6. FILM AND REALITY
 Do films reflect reality?
 Are they a trustworthy source to learn History?

7. FILMS IN THE LANGUAGE AND
CULTURE CLASS
 Visual impact of historic periods or events
 Springboard to begin research work
 Memorable depiction of an event
 Artistic interpretation of a fact
 Source to understand the feeling for a time

8. Subjective and Political
“What we are seeing did not actually happen, but is a version of what
happened, given to us via researchers, a script, etc. ”
Actors
Researchers
Scriptwriters
Decorators Producers
DIRECTOR
Make up
Art director
costume
Casting Music score
Film editing Cinematography

9. THE LANGUAGE DIMENSION
 Average L & CII student: between B2 and C1(CEFR)
 Students need:
 to expand their semantic scope
 for recognition
 for production
 to improve their accuracy in
 the grammatical area
 the pragmatic area

10. THE LANGUAGE DIMENSION
 FILMS EXPOSE STUDENTS TO
 listening to native speakers of the language
 different dialects (regional, social)
 extensive language input
 intensive language input (film guides)

11. THE CULTURE DIMENSION
 Language and culture: “ to understand and
appreciate the cultural modes of different native
users of the foreign language”
 What English?
 American?
 British?
 Australian?
 Indian?
 South African?

12. THE CULTURE DIMENSION
“Language is at once an outcome or a result of the
culture as a whole and also a vehicle by which
the other facets of the culture are shaped and
communicated” (Gladstone 1969)

13. OUR OBJECTIVE
 To teach students to discriminate fact from
fiction.
 To make them take profit from the possibilities
the medium offers.
 To let them have extensive and intensive
language input.
 To teach them work with intertextuality.
 To replace the “popcorn” approach to films by a
critical one.

14. ONE EXAMPLE:
“T h e S e r p e n t ´s E g g”
BEFORE YOU SEE THE FILM
-DIRECTOR-
Find information about the director of this film.
-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND-
What problems did Germany face after World War I?
How did Hitler rise to power?
-CULTURE-
How would you describe the German culture? What adjectives would you use? What are German
people like?
-VOCABULARY--
Find idioms that contain the following words:
HOUSE-EYE-HEAD-TAKE OUT ON- DROP-TIME-BUSINESS
Find different ways of offering things:
Find different ways of insulting:

15. “T h e S e r p e n t ´s E g g”
WHILE YOU SEE THE FILM
Pay attention to the opening scene. What do you think this represents? What message do you think the director
wants to convey?
-SHOTS-
Find one scene in the film in which one of the following shots is used. What effect is the director looking for?
(Remember that he has chosen this shot out of a set of options.)
SHOT SCENE EFFECT
Extreme close-up
Close-up
Medium shot
American shot
Full shot
Long shot
Extreme long shot

16. “T h e S e r p e n t ´s E g g”
Dynamic Shots
SHOT SCENE EFFECT
Pan
Push in
Pull back
Zoom in
Zoom out

17. -SOUND-
Can you find any of the following sound effects in the film? What is the effect?
SOUND EFFECT SCENE EFFECT
Voice over
Off screen
Filter
Ambient sound
Silence
-LANGUAGE-
Which idioms that you looked up before are used in the film? Who uses them?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

18. AFTER YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM
GENRE
What genre does this film belong to? What makes you think so?
SETTING IN PLACE
Why is the setting in place important? What settings are there inside the setting?
SETTING IN TIME
How is the setting in time connected to the setting in place?
CHARACTERS
How is the main character constructed visually?
How is the character constructed through dialogue?
How is the character constructed through performance?
What is the significance of the position we are put in as spectators for
responding to character?Can those who make the film control our response?
HISTORY IN THE FILM
What historical facts are mentioned in the film?
What is the context? What facts/ events/ people do they talk about?
Does History prove these statements true?

19. Fiction films in History
Period/Event Film
The hollocaust The Pianist
Israeli-Arab conflict Munich
Communist movements in L.A. Motorcycle Diaries
Second World War Atonement
Vietnam War Apocalypse Now
Vietnam War Born the Fourth of July
The Hollocaust The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Second World War Casablanca
Industrial Revolution Modern Times
Atomic anxiety Dr. Strangelove
McCarthism Good Night and Good Luck
India´s independence Ghandi
Russian Revolution Dr. Zhivago

20. Fiction films in History
Film Theme/Topic
Wall Street Capitalism – Greed
The Remains of the Day Traditions – Love – Repression
The Go Between Forbidden love – Traditions – Social classes
Billy Elliot Discrimination – Prejudice
The Full Monty Unemployment – The effects of
neoliberalism
The Godfather Organized crime – Men and women
Citizen Kane American dream – isolation
The Empire of the Sun Growing up – Japanese concentration
camps
A Passage to India Imperialism - Discrimination

21. INTERNET SITES
 www.filmeducation.org
 www.rottentomatoes.com
 www.imdb.com
 www.filmsite.org

22. Thank you!
Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our
conscience in the way film does, and goes directly
to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of
our souls.
Ingmar Bergman