Film Engagement

This course will provide students with the tools to engage critically with popular films and offer intelligent feedback on their technical, moral, and cultural value. In addition to watching the assigned films, coursework includes reading film reviews and analyses, listening to brief lectures on film structure and critical thinking, writing weekly short response papers, participating in weekly discussions, and preparing a final project in which they select a movie from an approved list, find and compare reviews from both Christian and secular sources, conduct research on its creators and their worldviews, and write a critical review.

Note: One of the assigned movies is rated R for violence or disturbing images, and students under 17 should watch it with a parent or guardian. Mrs. Howell is happy to provide parents with a summary of the movie and her reasons for including it in the assignments upon request.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

1. Outline potential problems with conventional approaches to movie viewing and engagement from a Christian perspective (passivity, relativism, subjectivism, etc.).

2. Provide instant feedback on a movie’s technical quality (acting, screenwriting, effects, etc.), moral quality (how it lines up with a Biblical worldview), and cultural quality (what part it is playing in the current cultural conversation).

3. Find and engage with quality film reviews from both secular and Christian sources.

4. Identify and describe basic plot/structure points.

Texts:

• Super Structure, by James Scott Bell
• Meaning at the Movies, by Grant Horner

Video Introduction