Using Film to Increase Literacy Skills

Author(s): Michael Vetrie

Source: The English Journal, Vol. 93, No. 3 (Jan., 2004), pp. 39-45
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
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 POPULAR CULTURE

Michael Vetrie

Using Film to Increase

Literacy Skills

Popular culture is about more than just the current time and place, notes high school teacher
Michael Vetrie. Connecting classical Greek and Elizabethan theater to contemporary film, he shows
how at-risk students can increase their literacy skills through reading film as text.

I n the fifth century BC, a man walked

out on a stage with blood pouring
from his eyes. He had discovered that,
despite his struggles against fate, he
had killed his father and married his mother. In the
was concerned with the consequences, not the act of
violence itself. The violence usually took place off-
stage, and the audience members had to visualize the
act in their imaginations. What they did see was the
primary concern of the drama: the impact of the vi-
resulting anguish of this terrible recognition, he olence on the characters' lives.
blinded himself. Even if one's classical education is In the film A Simple Plan, the main characters
minimal, the plot of Sophocles' Oedipus the King is commit an impulsive act of violence to keep the il-
probably recognizable. legal money. Although the act is shown vividly on
Jump forward 2,500 years. Two brothers and the screen, the remainder of the film deals with the
their friend devise a plan to keep money discovered consequences and ramifications of this terrible act as
in a crashed airplane rather than turn it in to the au- the characters spin out of control toward a Greek-
thorities. From this simple but far-reaching decision, like inevitability.
a series of violent events begins to unfold with dis-
astrous consequences for all involved.
The Popularity of Film
What do these two dramas, separated by thou-
sands of years, have in common? Both deal with vi- Film is our most popular "popular" culture. It is so
olence in a unique but similar way and both were admired that we have characters from other media
presented as the most popular culture of the day. quoting from it. In the popular television series The
Oedipus the King was as popular with Greek au- Sopranos, characters in the drama
And just as in the Greek
diences as most films are with today's audiences. The are fond of quoting from The
Greeks knew the inevitability of the plot. This man Godfather trilogy. "Just when I and Elizabethan periods,
was going to kill his father and sleep with his mother. thought I was out, they drag the world reflected by
Many other poets had tackled the same story. They me back in" mimics one of the today's popular culture is
knew nothing was going to change in the plot and characters. The irony of a gang- a violent world.
could recite the lines uttered by Oedipus in his blind- ster quoting from a fictional
ness. It was through this familiarity that the concept gangster is not lost on the other gangsters or the au-
of pity and fear was invoked: pity for Oedipus and dience (at another level of irony, we enjoy a fictional
fear that it could happen to them. Knowing the end- gangster quoting from another fictional gangster).
ing to the story also led to a strong sense of irony that In an earlier period, the quote might have been
destiny could not be avoided no matter how one tried. from another popular hit: "O limed soul, that strug-
The Greek playwrights also recognized that vi- gling to be free, / Art more engag'd!" (Hamlet 3.3.
olence in drama had its greatest effect when the play 74-75). In Hamlet, the king is seeking forgiveness

English Journal Vol. 93, No. 3 January 2004 39

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 Using Film to Increase Literacy Skills

for killing Hamlet's father but becomes more and spond with my favorite line: "Hell of a thing, killin'
more involved in the resulting intrigue. Most Eliz- a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna
abethans, familiar with the play as popular culture, have" (William Munny, Unforgiven). Are we to de-
would have recognized the quotation and appreci- spair because students choose not to remember lines
ated its irony. from characters in Shakespeare or Sophocles or mod-
In the classical Greek and Elizabethan periods, ern classics, such as The Grapes of Wrath or The
the audience found its popular culture on the stage. Catcher in the Rye? Of course. But the wise educator
Today, it can be found in film. And just as in the does not ignore the popularity of film and instead
Greek and Elizabethan periods, the world reflected learns how to use it.

by today's popular culture is a violent world. If it is agreed that there is a place for popular
culture in the language arts classroom (rap music,
for example, as poetry), finding a place for the fea-
Criticism of the Popular
ture film is the most problematic. After all, don't we
Greek and Elizabethan academics dismissed the pop- partly blame film and television for the low literacy
ular stage for playing down to the level of the masses. levels in society? And haven't teachers over the years
Sophocles was considered a newcomer and upstart for misused film? I am referring to the habit of turning
changing and popularizing the legends, and Shake- films into a visual aid-turning on the projector or
speare was criticized for not adhering to the classical VCR and letting the film do the teaching with lit-
unities of time, place, and action. There are modern tle comment or questions. Teachers sometimes use
educators who believe that film does not belong in the film as a relief or a nonteaching break. The worst
any educational curriculum. Film is entertainment. application of all is to use a feature film as an enter-
It is too violent. It features the language of the street. taining reward between the conclusion of a teaching
Nudity is rampant. And the most compelling con- unit and a holiday, a practice that is unethical as well
demnation: Students should be reading in the lan- as illegal. (If you show a film you have rented or pur-
guage arts classroom, not watching films. chased as a component of a lesson plan, it is fair use,
Critics from both the left and right find com- but that is another discussion.)
monality in attacking the use of any popular culture Teachers could provide students with simple
in the classroom. Those on the right consider any ex- interactive activities like the double-entry journal
ample of it "as a form of bar- while they are viewing the film. We could ask chal-
The worst application of
barism," and those on the left lenging questions (the higher levels of Bloom's Tax-
all is to use a feature
believe that those who embrace onomy) to check for understanding or interpretation
film as an entertaining popular culture are "passive of the film. And we should have students react to
reward between the dupes." The right believes it is the cinematic techniques used to convey information
conclusion of a teaching used to manipulate the masses by comparing and contrasting those techniques with
unit and a holiday, a (Giroux and Simon 4). Conser- similar techniques used in print literature (see fig. 1).
vative critics such as Arnold Yet, there are school districts that are so fright-
practice that is unethical
Toynbee, Jose Ortega y Gasset, ened of film in the classroom that permission of ad-
as well as illegal.
Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot ministrators is required and parents must sign
have gone so far as to view any form of popular cul- individual releases each time a film is shown. Some

ture as "a threat to the very existence of civilization districts, such as the Burbank Unified School Dis-
as well as an expression of the vulgarization and deca- trict, do not permit the showing of R-rated feature
dence of the masses" (Giroux and Simon 6). films at all; teachers may use only excerpts.
There is little doubt that the feature film is
very popular with students. While The Matrix was
Reasons for Teaching Film
in the theaters, a favorite line was, "Never send a
human to do a machine's job." Even though Scarface If we agree that the responsibility of a language arts
premiered before most of my students were born, educator should be to improve a student's reading,
they love to quote the lines of Tony Montana: "I al- writing, speaking, or critical thinking, how then can
ways tell the truth. Even when I lie." I usually re- I justify the showing of a movie? Am I not talking

40 January 2004

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 Michael Vetrie

FIGURE 1. A Comparison of Literary and Cinematic Signs

LITERARY SIGNS CINEMATIC SIGNS

The Word-The word book is a signifier. Wh

represents is the signified. There can be a gr
distance between the two. book, conceptually, than the word. Signifier and
signified are almost identical.

"The power of language systems is that there is a very great difference between the signifier and the signified;
the power of film is that there is not" (Monaco 158).

Metaphor-a comparison of unlike things in a The Index-measures a quality not because it is

highly connotative sense identical but has inherent relationship to it

The Symbol-convention (in the deployment The Symbol-The signifier represents the signified
of speech and writing) through convention rather than resemblance.

The Picture The Icon-The signifier represents the signified

by its likeness.

"A film is difficult to explain because it is easy to understand. The image impresses itself on us
everything that is not itself" (Metz 69).

about two different modes, the literarydetermined form to all its symbolic expression.
and the vi-
sual? How can a feature film fit within When
any the
kind of
expression is of unusual significance, we
curriculum emphasizing literacy? These are fair
call it ques- (236). These "significant" garments
literature"
that drape
tions and very important ones because schools themselves about our spirit today are
have
been mandated to improve literacy skills more through
likely to be found by students in the language
such recent laws as No Child Left Behind.of the cinema. We need to understand and appreci-
Film can be used to increase literacy ate
skills
that if it
in order to bring about an improvement in
is taught as literature. By that I mean a literacy
serious con-
skills.
tinuation of that form of expression that began when
We must teach film as the significant garments
the primitive hunters gathered around the fire
of our to We
spirit. actstart by choosing the films that en-
out and express their struggle and adventures
gage students in
in creating an environment to think
killing and bringing home the game. Atand a desire
that time,to communicate.
Wepreserved
must use film as other lit- We must teach film as
it was an oral tradition, passed down and
erature
in the memory of master storytellers. is used: as a basis for
At another the significant garments
time, it was recorded in ink, pressed onanchoring most writing and of our spirit.
parchment,
and then printed on a printing press. critical-thinking
Today, it is activities.
Over
moving from being recorded on celluloid to a decade ago, the National Council of
being
processed digitally in the computer language ofEnglish
Teachers of I's recognized that film had an im-
and O's. portant role in the classroom. The 1991 Report on
I am using literature in the sense defined by Trends and Issues said: "[Dlefinitions of contempo-
Edward Sapir in his chapter, "Language and Litera- rary 'literacy' must recognize that an understanding
ture." He said that languages "are invisible garments of visual, as well as verbal, texts is essential in today's
that drape themselves about our spirit and give a pre- world. ... Inclusion of the study of media certainly should

English Journal 41

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 Using Film to Increase Literacy Skills

no longer be optional in our schools. ... We must send in explaining it, mediate perception, or guide re-
students the message that critical thinking extends sponse (Stiefenhifers). We basically see and respond
beyond print" (Suhor 2; italics in original). to stimuli through the eyes of our experience.
Other educators have suggested that we must This connecting to the schemata is probably the
classify viewing as the "fifth language art" and include most important step in the success of any lesson plan
critical-viewing skills across the curriculum in much in any subject area. If we expect students to learn and
the same way we use content-area reading and writ- remember, we must discover what they know and
ing activities in all subjects (Teasley and Wilder 117). have experienced and design our curriculum to tap
My use of the feature film in the classroom is into or connect to that knowledge. We must spend
not to create a new and contemporary literacy or a whatever time is necessary. In many cases, the time
fifth language art, although I am not opposed to such connecting to the schemata can involve more time
concepts. I have found that the use of film for at-risk than the actual execution of the day's lesson. The fea-
students far surpasses literature as facilitation for in- ture film offers a relatively easy way to make the bond
creasing the literacy and critical-thinking skills of between analyzing the schemata and connecting to it.
my students, and that includes, surprisingly enough, Educational theorists emphasize the impor-
their reading and writing skills. tance of connecting student knowledge with school
Watching my students' reading scores improve knowledge.
as their film work progresses is connected to what Jo
Educators who refuse to acknowledge popular cul-
Stanchfield, professor emerita of Occidental College,
ture as a significant basis of knowledge often de-
calls the "interrelatedness" of the literacy skills of lis-
value students by refusing to work with the
tening, speaking, reading, and writing. Reading, I
knowledge that students actually have and so elim-
have discovered, cannot be taught in isolation. Stu-
inate the possibility of developing a pedagogy that
dents who can listen, discuss,
links school knowledge to the differing subject re-
I have found that the
and think are going to learn to lations that help to constitute their everyday lives.
use of film for at-risk read more effectively. I can add (Giroux and Simon 3)
students far surpasses from my experience in more
literature as facilitation than ten years of teaching film Recent brain research supports this pedagogi-
as literature that students who cal approach. For information to move from short-
for increasing the literacy
gain experience in listening, term memory to long-term storage, the learner must
and critical-thinking skills
speaking, and writing through have two questions answered. First, "Does this make
of my students, and that interaction with film begin to sense?" In other words, can the learner understand
includes, surprisingly radically improve their reading the item based on experience? Does it fit into what
enough, their reading and and writing proficiency. the learner knows about the world (the schemata)?
writing skills. The primary purpose of And second, "Does it have meaning?" Is the item
teaching film as literature is to relevant to the learner? For what purpose should the
give the students a reason, need, or strong desire to learner bother to remember it?
communicate. That communication usually takes Selecting a film that relates to the students, con-
the form of writing, which they do in volumes, es- nects to their schemata, and engages them with its
pecially if the film engages them in an effective man- story (by answering the questions of experience and
ner. But they also begin to improve their reading relevance) provides the teacher opportunities to im-
when film is coupled with a schoolwide emphasis on prove students' communication. Aronowitz under-
reading and literacy. scores the importance of such teaching: "[Bleginning
from student experience, validating what students al-
ready know, is just good pedagogy that can influence
Film and Schemata
the process of language acquisition, written expres-
I use film to engage students by tapping into their sion, in short, the learnings that are currently grouped
schemata or background experience. I am using the under the rubric of literacy" (216-17). In other words,
term schemata as it applies in psychology: a pattern choosing a film that strongly fits within the experi-
imposed on complex reality or experience to assistences of the students and has relevancy for their lives

42 January 2004

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 Michael Vetrie

SkAr=SP9AIRJZE ? "ROMEO ANP' ULIET" IS AN I RR4N JAZLt) UPTI-E TILE

A4( TM*SFZ? GRFAT PLAY, BUT NOBODY i FOI SE NVIgQUEE.
IV41RESTED. PEOPLE WOULD
RTIAER STAY HOME AND) WWOA
NOPE. I2EALI1YWI

WHO WWTS

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GRAND AVENUE reprinted by permission of United Feature Synd

creates a dynamic environment in

thought, enter into which
an agreement the
to exploit thestudents
Jews
for building his express
think about the film critically, factory. The teacher can use popular
their opinions
graphic organizers that have been prepared for liter-
orally, and write profusely.
A Bronx Tale, directed by
ature and adapt Robert
them to the film. DeNiro,
Another approach is
one film that my students find engaging.
to the preparation This
of the showing of Schindler's is the
List is
story of a young boy who
to employ is befriended
the KWL byto a local
(What I Know, What I Want
Know, Whatas
Mafia chieftain and struggles I Learned)
a youngor KWLW (What
adultI Know,
to rec-
oncile the differences inWhat I Want to Know, What
lifestyles of I his
Learned,working-
Where It
class father and the mafioso,
Was Learned) both of whom
chart as a previewing activity. he loves
and admires. One of the most dramatic additions to my stu-
Most of my students are Hispanic and many dents' schemata occurred during a visit to the Los
have had experiences with gangs at one time or an- Angeles Museum of Tolerance, where I had taken
other. The Italian American lifestyle films dealing them to prepare for the show-
But a goal of the film-
with gangsters, such as A Bronx Tale and Goodfellas, ing of Schindler's List. A sur-
as-literature teacher
have a great appeal to them. But they also find Amer- vivor of the Holocaust stood
before them and talked of his should be to undertake
ican Beauty and The Cider House Rules engaging. The
angst of the young people seeking meaning in their experiences. As a conclusion to increasingly complex
lives and the question of abortion are themes that his talk, he reached down and projects as the students'
engage my students regardless of ethnicity. pulled up his shirtsleeve to sophistication and
Presenting films around which students have show his concentration camp
knowledge base increase.
already built strong interconnected structures is tattoo. At that moment, his
much easier than trying to build a new knowledge wife, who had accompanied him throughout the
base or schemata from scratch. But a goal of the film- tour, pulled her sleeve aside and placed her arm next
as-literature teacher should be to undertake increas- to his to show their tattoos side by side. One can
ingly complex projects as the students' sophistication imagine the impact this had on even the toughest of
and knowledge base increase. the young people in the class. Schindler's List engaged
To fully appreciate the film Schindler's List, it is the students in part because of this experience.
important to spend time building the students' back- Casablanca is another film that students may
ground on the Holocaust, especially the unique rela- have difficulty connecting to at first. The film-as-lit-
tionship and history of the pogroms against the Jews erature teacher could concentrate on teaching the
among the Middle European states long before the early years of World War II; the unique position of
rise of Hitler. They need to understand how a basi- Vichy, France, in North Africa; and the plight of the
cally good man, Schindler, could, without a second many refugees. This preparation could take as much

English Journal 43

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 Using Film to Increase Literacy Skills

or more time than the actual showing of the film and class just because it is rated R, I would not be able to
the completing of the study guides. give my students the experience of Schindler's List, The
To connect to a student's schemata, teachers Pianist, A Bronx Tale, or Glory, to name only a few. In
should (1) present information that builds background order to be able to show R-rated films in my district,
ideas, concepts, and principles; (2) show (don't tell) I am required to have the parents of every student in
through demonstrations, multimedia, and graphics; my film class sign a waiver that gives me permission
(3) use outside resources, trips, and speakers; and/or to show these films.

(4) tell about the topic from personal experience. The Greeks recognized that violence was a
Building a new knowledge base around chal- popular subject for the stage because it was a com-
lenging and complex films that do not initially engage mon occurrence in life. Today, it is a popular sub-
the students is a long-term goal of the film-as-litera- ject for film for the same reason (although there are
ture teacher. The first step is to find engaging films. those who would argue which came first). The
Greeks took violence, focused on the effects on the
lives of the characters, and turned it into a moral
Engagement, Literacy, force. The better films that feature violence, those
and Critical Thinking
that are sometimes the most engaging to my stu-
Once students are engaged, either through the selec- dents, are the ones that neither romanticize nor
tion of an interesting and entertaining film or through glamorize it. They focus on the effects of violence on
the work of the instructor at building background the lives of the characters.

knowledge, the challenge then is to transfer their in- We must remember that our purpose in bring-
terest in the film to a need to listen, write, discuss, ing film into the classroom is to utilize it as litera-
and utilize critical-thinking skills. The instructor does ture. Sometimes, like the Greeks, we cannot keep
this by creating challenging writing and discussion the violence offstage (off the screen). When we
prompts. The intensity of the students' need to com- choose films that feature violence, we must deal re-
municate seems to depend on the intensity of the stu- alistically with it, focusing our discussion and writ-
dents' interests and involvement. ing prompts on the awful consequences of the violent
I have found in my class that when the students acts. When we do this while in the process of chal-
are caught up in a film (I observe them responding lenging students to improve their literacy skills, we
at the proper moments with reactions and interac- can at the same time teach a critical awareness of the
tions), they are more successful with their writing impact of violence in our popular culture.
and discussion prompts. They write more and express
themselves better. The discussions are heated and in- Works Cited

tense. My task then is simply to focus this urge or Aronowitz, Stanley. "Working-Class Identity and Celluloid
Fantasies in the Electronic Age." Popular Culture,
need to communicate by carefully guiding them into
Schooling, and Everyday Life. Ed. Henry A. Giroux and
the writing and discussion prompts. Whatever stu- Roger I. Simon. Granby: Bergin, 1989. 197-217.
dents gain in understanding about film genres, film Giroux, Henry A., and Roger I. Simon. "Popular Culture as
a Pedagogy of Pleasure and Meaning." Popular Cul-
history, and cinematic tech-
The Greeks took violence, ture, Schooling, and Everyday Life. Ed. Henry A. Giroux
niques is incidental and a wel- and Roger I. Simon. Granby: Bergin, 1989. 1-29.
focused on the effects
come addition to that goal. Metz, Christian. Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema.
on the lives of the Some of the films I show Trans. Michael Taylor. New York: Oxford UP, 1974.
Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: The World of Movies,
characters, and turned it are rated R and some are vio- Media, and Multimedia. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.
into a moral force. lent. The language of R-rated Sapir, Edward. Language: An Introduction to the Study ofSpeech.
films is the language that my New York: Harcourt, 1921.
Stiefenhifers, Helmut. "Schemata and Networks-The
students experience today. The literature they find
Building Blocks of Cognition." 27 Aug. 2003 <http://
appropriate and engaging is full of violent words www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/diglib/stiefenhoefer/seminare
about a world that is threatening and dangerous, a _lili/cog_psy/schemata.html>.
Suhor, Charles. Report on Trends and Issues. Urbana: NCTE, 1991.
violent R-rated world (which is consistent with their
Teasley, Alan B., and Ann Wilder. Reel Conversations: Reading
personal inner-city experiences). I try to avoid R-rated Films with Young Adults. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook,
films whenever I can, but ifI omitted a film from my 1997.

44 January 2004

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 Michael Vetrie

Although Michael Vetrie has taught in several universities, he finds his most challenging assignment teaching in an alterna-
tive high school in inner-city Los Angeles. The California Continuation Education Association named him California Teacher o
the Year in 2000. email: [email protected].

You can see related handouts and other materials at EJ on the Web. Go to http://www.englishjournal.colostate.edu and click
on EJ Additions.

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