Use+of+Media+in+Literature+Study

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USE OF MEDIA IN LITERATURE STUDY Authored by Christina Pendergest

An English classroom can greatly benefit from the use of media in literature study. Music and film are two specific types of media that are widely used in today's classrooms. The use of film and/or music in literature study offers rich opportunities for comparisons in several ways. Film and music can help make literary classics understandable for students. This can be achieved by demonstrating similarities in themes, especially in those expressed in parallel scenes from book to film. Film and music that is related to a topic or style of literary text can simplify, clarify, and summarize themes, ideas, relationships, and other textual aspects.

Film or audio may be used in several different ways to compliment literature. When combined with literature, music can enhance students' cognitive and affective experiences. The use of music is also an effective way of engaging and motivating students. Film, like music lyrics, can be used as case, metaphor, symbolism, and meaning. Both types of media can be used to foster critical skills. Well chosen films can develop students' analytical skills, as well as offer many opportunities to form metaphorical images. As in literature, symbolism is also communicated in films and, therefore, very useful to teachers. It is easy to use a film scene before or after discussing a similar element in a piece of literature. Using media before discussion gives students a visual image to which they can compare the topics under discussion. Film can be used before (called "previewing") the interpretation phase to provide essential background information. Showing a film or listening to a song after (called "postviewing") discussing literature concepts also lets students apply what they are learning.

Teachers who use film study are broadening their students' repertory of signs to include theatrical and cinematic signs which will compliment their linguistic ones. For example, teachers can incorporate the following theatrical and cinematic terms into their lesson: body, costume, space, set, lighting, shot types, camera angle, frame areas, composition, editing, and sound. Film should therefore be considered a way of enhancing our lesson plans and enriching students' experience with a literary work. Three main advantages to the use of film in literary study are: (1) film can help students perceive the atmosphere of a piece of literature, (2) film can help students understand the subtext, and (3) film can help students see that different, yet valid, interpretations can stem from the same scene. If teachers provide their students with texts from differing viewpoints, students will learn to evaluate the implications of messages and motives behind a text.

=**Connections between literature and music**=

Jonathan Lethem's //Motherless Brooklyn//
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 * //[|Lesson Plan : "Tell your story walking" - based on novel "Motherless Brooklyn"]//

John Steinbeck's //The Grapes of Wrath//
media type="youtube" key="B-c6GphpAeY?fs=1" height="238" width="385"
 * __[|Lesson Plan: "The Ghost of Tom Joad" - based on novel "The Grapes of Wrath"]__

George Orwell's //1984//
media type="youtube" key="scgDWLewgQk?fs=1" height="274" width="339"
 * Song "1984" (by David Bowie)

Emily Bronte's //Wuthering Heights//
media type="youtube" key="BW3gKKiTvjs?fs=1" height="292" width="363"
 * Song "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush

Albert Camus's //The Stranger//
media type="youtube" key="y7lULaE6kv4?fs=1" height="291" width="359"
 * Song "Killing an Arab" by The Cure

Joyce Carol Oates's //Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?//

 * Song "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" by Bob Dylan
 * Song "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan

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American Literature (in general)

 * Song "Soak up the sun" by Sheryl Crow
 * Song "The End of Innocence" by Don Henley

Prominent and persistent themes in American literature that are also apparent in these two songs:
 * 1) the search for identity
 * 2) individualism
 * 3) freedom
 * 4) the journey
 * 5) initiation/rite passage
 * 6) the frontier
 * 7) moral struggle
 * 8) rebellion versus conformity
 * 9) American Dream/Nightmare

=Connections between literature and film=
 * //The Misanthrope// (written by Moliere)
 * Connection to film: Dangerous Liaisons
 * //Invisible Man// (written by Ralph Ellison)
 * Connection to film: Roger and Me
 * //Night// (written by Elie Wiesel)
 * Connection to film: Rabbit Proof Fence
 * //The Diary of Anne Frank// (written by Anne Frank)
 * Connection to film: Schindler's List
 * //A Lesson before Dying// (written by Ernest J. Gaines )
 * Connection to film: Dead Man Walking
 * //The Most Dangerous Game// (written by Richard Connell)
 * Connection to film: Young Frankenstein

Examples of ways film can be used to compliment the study of //To Kill A Mockingbird,// by Harper Lee

 * 1) Compare parallel scenes in the //To Kill A Mockingbird// film to those in the novel by Harper Lee
 * 2) Compare things that are added or left out in the film version of //To Kill A Mockingbird//
 * 3) Study the title scene from the film and have students list the items in the little girl's old cigar box. This activity will allow students to speculate about the symbolic value of the objects. This will also reinforce themes within the novel, such as the racial issue represented in film through the black and white marbles colliding, the Lincoln penny, and the broken glasses. Furthermore, it will also give students a chance to highlight other important themes (for example, time passing through the ticking clock or the beauty of innocence in the harmonica) that are suggested through the film.

**Books on teaching film**
Boggs, J.M. (2003). The art of watching films (2nd ed.). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield. Bone, J., & Johnson, R. (1991). Understanding the film: An introduction to film appreciation. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Company. Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2004). Film art: An introduction (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Costanzo, W.V. (1992). Reading the movies: Twelve great films on video and how to teach them. Urbana, IL: NCTE. Costanzo, W.V. (2006). Great films and how to teach them. Urbana, IL: NCTE. Golden, J. (2001). Reading in the dark: Using film as a tool in the English classroom, Urbana, IL: NCTE. Golden, J. (2006). Reading in the reel world: Teaching documentaries and other nonfiction texts. Urbana, IL: NCTE. Goodman, S. (2003). Teaching youth media: A critical guide to literacy, video production, and social change. New York: Teachers College. Krueger, E., & Christel, M.T. (2001). Seeing and believing: How to teach media literacy in the English classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. Perkins, V.R. (1993). Film as film: Understanding and judging movies. New York: Da Capo. Teasley, A. B., & Wilder, A. (1997). Reel conversations: Reading films with young adults. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

=Resources & Supporting Articles=

[|SIBL Project]

[|Quoting Films in English Class]

[|Film as a teaching resource]

[|Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature Perspective]

Fehlman, Richard H. "Quoting Films in English class". //The English Journal.// Vol. 76, No. 5. (Sept 1987), pp.84-87. __ http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8274%28198709%2976%3A5%3C84%3AQFIEC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3 __. (22/09/10).
 * Works Cited **

Harper, Sandra N. "Strategies for Teaching Literature at the Undergraduate Level". //The Modern Language Journal//. Vol. 72, No.4, (Winter 1988), pp. 402-408. __ http://www.jstor.org/stable/327752 __. (23/09/10).

Semali, Ladi and Hammett, Roberta. "Critical Media Literacy: Content or Process?" //Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies.// Vol 20, No.4, (1998), pp.365-384. __ http://dx.doi/org/10.1080/1071441980200406 __. (23/09/10).

Griffin, C.W. "Teaching Shakespeare on Video". //The English Journal.// Vol. 78, No.7, (Nov. 1989), pp.40-43. __ http://www.jstor.org/stable/817953 __. (23/09/10).

Champoux, J. "Film as a teaching resource". //Journal of Management Inquiry.// Vol. 8, No. 2, (1999), pp.240-251. __ http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.119.8078&rep=rep1&type=pdf __. (22/09/10).

Towell, Janet H. "Teaching Reading". //The Reading Teacher.// Vol. 53, No. 4 (1999/2000), pp.284-289. __ http://www.jstor.org/stable/20204792 __. (23/09/10).