Past classes

Past Classes

Spring 2008

Invasion of the Body Snatchers: That was a great class, many thanks! We had very interesting discussions each week. I was very pleased with the way that everyone participated. Also, I doubt many classes have understood the text or movie as well as you all did. I just wish there had been a bit more love for the 1978 version, but if you watch it again you may discover that you like it a lot.

Autumn 2007

True Grit: Wow, what a class! Most of my friends reacted very dubiously to the choice. "A John Wayne movie?" But as the book belonged to Mattie Ross (of near Dardenelle, in Yell County) we really enjoyed the story and getting to know Mattie. And John Wayne was wonderful, too!

Spring 2007

Billy Liar: This was a very interesting film. A bit challenging with the British accent and different culture, but it made us think about our life and our place in society. Funny, but thoughtful. It is the 20th movie I've taught at Community College. Our present class has studied all but the first two.

Autumn 2006

Cat People: This movie has quickly become one of my favorites. Very deep. Wonderful script and unforgettable transition to a panther. And so sad...

Spring 2006

Clueless: This was based on Jane Austen's novel Emma. That was a challenging but rewarding book to read. I hope that you will enjoy reading it again soon! The movie is really fun.

Autumn 2005

The Passion of Joan of Arc: This was intense! It was an interesting experiment to use a silent movie for our class. I think it was very successful.

Autumn 2004

Conrack (imdb): I really enjoyed the class. Thank you for your great efforts, and I was especially glad to find how much you liked the story of Mr. C teaching "overseas".

Spring 2004

The Maltese Falcon (class site): I love film noir. The Maltese Falcon is considered to be the first film noir. In any case, the movie and book are both excellent artistic achievements and there will be a lot to talk about.; One of my favorite film noir movies is Kiss Me, Deadly . If you liked The Maltese Falcon, please explore some more films noir!

Autumn 2003

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (class site): What a funny movie. The books were very funny too, especially Dorothy's story in "...But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes".; I was especially glad that many students grew to love the movie and admire Marilyn Monroe.

Spring 2003

The Magnificent Ambersons (imdb): What a great movie. I was impressed by how Orson Welles told the story so clearly and cleverly.; The book was incredible too, I was kind of surprised that everyone could read it without too much trouble. Booth Tarkington wrote elegantly...; Because this was an Orson Welles film we had a lot of discussions about film technique and about Mr. Welles himself.
Trivia point: the set for the Ambersons was used in Cat People.

Autumn 2002

A Christmas Story (class site): A very funny movie, based on excerpts from two hilarious books.; It was a lot of fun to get to know Ralphie. We learned a lot about what it means to be a child in America... But things are changing quickly. I just saw the movie Thirteen, yikes these kids grow up fast these days!

Spring 2002

Stuart Saves His Family (class site): I think that this is one of the best movies I have seen. I really love how Stuart helps people, and how well his friends treat him. Watch it!; I think the ending is one of the most affecting I have watched.

Autumn 2001

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (movie database): Like A Raisin in the Sun this movie was a bit on the serious side and there was much background information to understand in order to appreciate the movie.; The movie and book were a bit different, and I had the impression that the students really internalized the book. This made it a bit difficult to watch the movie, as the book, like any by Carson McCullers, described the characters extremely well.; Thus, the people we saw on screen were often quite a bit different from our expectations. This is quite a contrast to the experience we had with A Raisin in the Sun, where we saw characters that were only sketched out in the play, and who were played by the actors who were chosen for their parts on Broadway and who were in a derivative work that followed its original very carefully.; What this all added up to was a class that was very rewarding, but in some ways was more of an intellectual exercise than an emotional experience like we had in A Raisin in the Sun.; I am looking forward to Stuart Saves His Family (the Spring 2002 class) to return us to to a more emotional connection with the movie under study. Also, Carson McCullers's Member of the Wedding will work very well as an intellectually and emotionally satisfying movie. We may take that up for study soon.

Spring 2001

A Raisin in the Sun (class site): This was a very moving film. There was a lot of history and culture to necessary to understand in order to fully appreciate the movie so I ended up speaking a bit more than I like to do in class.; Some of my favorite memories of class are of A Raisin in the Sun, as I often recall the charged atmosphere the class often had while we were watching the movie.; One interesting thing was that the movie was based on a stage play, so the reading material was very spare. I think that helped as the movie filled in the dialogue found in the play.

Fall 2000

The Wizard of Oz (class site): We had a wonderful time with the Wizard of Oz.; Especially fun was our discussions of alternative endings for the movie.; We also had a good time talking about the special effects and the impact of this movie on American culture.

Spring 2000

Breakfast at Tiffany's (class site): The book is a gem, and the movie is a lot of fun in addition to being a sassy, sexy comedy.

Autumn 1999

Fried Green Tomatoes (movies database): The book was fairly long, and told its stories in flashback and flashforward fashion. It had many subjects (The Old South vs. The New South, women's rights, the Depression, racial discrimination, wife abuse, midlife crisis, old age to name a few) and several intertwined stories.; Accordingly, it was a bit difficult at first. But somewhere around halfway through most students got comfortable with the structure and language and began to read it smoothly.; During this class I spoke more than usual. About half of the class time was a question and answer format. Fortunately the questions were very good. We discussed the language and cultural context of the book, along with some basic literary analysis of plot and character. It was exciting to see how everyone was able to apply our discussions to a better understanding of the book and the movie.; Each student made a short report on a character from the story. These reports showed a very deep understanding of the character's psychology. I was extremely pleased with the content and the presentation of the reports.

Spring 1999

The World According to Garp (movies database): Garp is one of the best-loved of modern American novels. I know many people, including my brother-in-law, that count it as their favorite book.; It is a challenging read for non-native speakers. But well worth it; The movie could only tell one part of the story, so there was a lot of material in the book that was not in the film. Reading the book was optional, but most people at least tried to give it a go.; We talked a little about the book, but spent most of our time with the movie. It is a great story, and very well filmed.

Autumn 1998

Forrest Gump (movies database): Gump was a very popular movie, featuring yet another great performance by Tom Hanks.; The book is a hysterical satire, essentially a modern retelling of Voltaire's Candide.; Most students were at first shocked at how different the movie and book are. But most of them ended up reading the book quickly, enjoying it for what it was and then enjoying the movie for what it was.; Once in a while we would discuss the differences between the movie and the book, but most of the time we simply discussed the movie and how it was made. Another significant part of the class was discussing the culture of the 1960s, '70s and '80s America.; The movie Gump has a very interesting structure, so we were able to discuss the movie in literary terms (plot, character development, setting, foreshadowing, symbolism, and so on).; I knew it would be a good class when we did the opening scene on the first day. The students in each group discussed what they noticed about the scene and what they felt it meant. After we compared our thoughts many people were surprised that so much meaning was packed into a few seconds of film. It set a very good tone for the class.

Long ago

Dead Poets Society (movies database): Most people agree that the movie is great.; The book is a novelization of the movie, so it follows the movie very closely. It is a good read, and is aimed at a young person's vocabulary so it is relatively easy for an ESL reader.; Since the book was simply support material for the movie, we spent almost all of our time on the movie itself.; Since the movie had many themes and was very well made, there was much to discuss in the story and in the movie production areas.; It has been a long time since I taught this class, so I would be tempted to teach it again sometime. There are a couple of reservations I have about teaching it again, though. First of all, there are so many good candidates for movie/book combinations that it would be a shame to put them off. Secondly, the book does not expand the student's perspective as much as an originally written text would.; Still, novelizations are great for language practice, language acquisition and confidence building. In general I urge you to find the novelization, or the screenplay, for movies that you like. You will profit much from the reading.

To Kill a Mockingbird (movies database): My favorite book, my favorite movie.; Both the movie and the book, not to mention the culture of the Deep South of 1930s America, are relatively unknown in Japan. The movie deals with many social and cultural issues present in modern-day America, and itself is a big part of American culture. Thus, it is a great vehicle for learning about culture and history.; The book is written for persons of any age so it is relatively accessible.; The movie follows the book very well, although some scenes and characters had to be left out to keep the story focused.; Even though it has been a long time since I taught this class I hope to teach it again soon. One reason is that I now have a letterboxed version of the movie and would like to use it. Another reason is that it is an compelling story and I am looking forward to sharing it with another group.

Past Classes

Spring 2008

Autumn 2007

Spring 2007

Autumn 2006

Spring 2006

Autumn 2005

Spring 2005

Autumn 2004

Spring 2004

Autumn 2003

Spring 2003

Autumn 2002

Spring 2002

Autumn 2001

Spring 2001

Fall 2000

Spring 2000

Autumn 1999

Spring 1999

Autumn 1998

Long ago

Longer ago