Christian Responses to Film Violence

Jeffrey Overstreet, a regular film critic and author of a recent book on faith & film (as well as a great blog, http://lookingcloser.org), has an interesting piece on his blog about how different Christians respond to violence in film. I'd like you to read it over the next few days and answer some questions in response. (DUE by class time on Thursday.)

Read through the entire blog posting (see link below), with these questions in mind:

1. Choose 2-3 points from the article that you found especially interesting or thought-provoking. You may quote directly from one writer’s comments (copy/paste, if you want to) or summarize a broad idea that shows up in several responses. For each point, add a few sentences of your own thoughts on why you find the idea interesting/thought-provoking.
   
2. Find one major point of disagreement in the different responses to violence. Summarize the two or three (or more?) different opinions on the issue, trying to represent each point of view as fairly and accurately as you can. (~6-10 sentences)
3. Where do you stand on the issue of violence in films, after reading many different opinions on the issue? Explain/defend your position.

After reading, type up your responses to these questions and either print out your responses or post to your own blog.

Here's the link to Jeffrey Overstreet's blog entry on Christian responses to violence in film: http://lookingcloser.org/more/articles-interviews/wrong-right-and-r-rated-part-three-killing-the-violence/

Casablanca Discussion

For our first film, we'll carry on a discussion together on this blog.

To post your thoughts and/or questions on Casablanca, comment on this post and follow the directions. You should post at least once on the film, before or after we finish watching it.

Some questions, for starters:

• Write about a specific scene, film technique, actor, or other aspect of the film that strikes you as noteworthy, confusing, thought-provoking.
• What did you think of Rick? What motivates him? Analyze the ways he’s presented throughout the film, and/or how your reactions to his character change as the story unfolds.
• What motivates Renault, the police captain? He plays a surprisingly large role in the movie; why, do you think? How does he connect different characters, and connect to different characters, as the story progresses? Is he finally a shallow character, or a complex one?
• The film interweaves two main stories—the story of World War 2 and the story of “three little people” caught up in their own past and present stories. How do the two stories intersect? How does the film use a war story to tell a love story—but also use a love story to comment on the war story?

Top Ten Assignment

Your first assignment, as I explained in class, is simply to come up with a Top Ten list of favorite movies, with one complete sentence for each movie explaining why you chose it.

If we don't run into some technical hurdles, I'd like you to post your Top Ten list as the first posting on your very own blog. Talk to me if you have trouble at any point in the process.

Due date: Blog set up and Top Ten list posted by Thursday, Jan. 22. (*If you can't set up a blog yet, for whatever reason, then post your Top Ten list as a Comment on this post.)

HCHS Film Studies

Welcome to the brand-new blog for Film Studies/Spring 2009 at Holland Christian High School. We'll be using this site for a bunch of class-related stuff--and you'll be using your own blog even more. (More on that soon.)

Stay tuned...