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Examines the role of films as an instructional aid in class activities devoted to learning a foreign language as well as one's native tongue with the support of modern technology. One of the primary ways of using film to encourage learning is to interest the students in criticizing the film and then to expose them to published criticism of the same film. (16 references) (CK)

Makes a case for asking students to produce their own film version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Explains how to manage student filming projects logistically; how to teach students about filming techniques through the study of modern movies; and how filming becomes a lesson in the interpretation of Shakespeare. (TB)

Argues that the filmwork of Alfred Hitchcock shows his manipulation of melodramatic silence in that his films demonstrate a link between silence and truth. Concludes that in the simultaneous longing for and denial of the power of film silence lies the modernist complexity of Hitchcock's films that suggests the uses of melodramatic language in a postmelodramatic world. (PA)

States that the boundaries of any genre are slippery, but this is particularly true of the postmodern horror film, since the definition of postmodern is itself blurry. Argues that postmodern horror films include films from 1968 onward. Defines postmodernism and the characteristics of postmodern horror, including violence, violation of boundaries, irrationality, and lack of narrative closure. (PA)

States that many critics concerned with genre theory deny that the genres of horror and science fiction are flexible and adaptable. Discusses a group of recent American horror films that present a distinct variation of the horror film, including "Fatal Attraction,""Single White Female," and "After Hours." Concludes that horror is adaptable, and discusses this adaptability. (PA)

Posits that the birth of the road film is linked to interrelated postwar phenomena: the advent of the automobile as an expression of individuality, and the emergence of a large strata of restless youth. Discusses road films from 1950 to the 1990s. Finds that the gradual depoliticization of road film rebellion must itself be understood finally as political. (PA)

Argues that films and documentaries are useful in promoting critical analysis and classroom discussion. Discusses films that are effective teaching tools. Warns that some films may provide only one side of a story, and teachers must be careful to present a balanced discussion. Includes sources for obtaining these films. (AJL)

Discusses Joe Hembus's "Western-Lexikon," a German encyclopedia of the western, and one particular entry: "Der Schatz im Silbersee," or "Treasure of Silver Lake," a uniquely German western adapted from a story by Karl May. Explores the impact that this film had on the European--and eventually, American--filmmaking market. (PA)

Explores the prevalence of the gunfighter as mythic hero. Compares the depictions of Clint Eastwood's characters from the beginning of Eastwood's career ("A Fistful of Dollars" and "Pale Rider") to "Unforgiven," finding similarities and differences in each character. (PA)

Explores the significance of Robert Altman's film "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson." States that this film examines the western as a national myth and as a commercial entertainment form. Discusses questions about the moral authority of the hero and the consequences for Native Americans of western literature, art, drama, and film. (PA)

Examines the dissonant and "camp" effect inherent in describing "Johnny Guitar" as a Joan Crawford western. Argues that the film's camp effect depends on its crossing of a female star vehicle with the western, a stereotypically masculine genre. Summarizes Crawford's childhood and rise to fame. Concludes by exploring the lesbian and "butch-femme" aesthetic in "Johnny Guitar." (PA)

Explores the similarities and differences between the portrayals of General George Armstrong Custer in "They Died with Their Boots On" (1941) and "Son of the Morning Star" (1991). Analyzes the effects of revisionist history and ideological transformations that occurred in the 50 years between the 2 films. (PA)

Discusses the prevalence of castration anxiety in Clint Eastwood's film "Unforgiven." Describes the situations in which the castration theme is presented, and the inherent symbolism in each situation. Points out that castration does not have to be physical, citing incidents from the film as proof. (PA)

Analyzes similarities and differences between Henry Fonda's character Colonel Thursday in John Ford's "Fort Apache" and the historical figure of General George Armstrong Custer. States that historical parallels between Thursday's military defeat and Custer's are, for the most part, fairly obvious. (PA)

Argues for a series of classroom strategies designed to help inner-city students distinguish between violence in their lives for which they are responsible and violence in their lives cause by larger societal structures. Describes possible readings, films, and corresponding writing exercises. Describes contact with community nonviolence groups and attempts to share Zen practices with students. (TB)

Presents two articles in which teachers describe how film can be used in the language arts classroom to accomplish many of the same things that books can. Shows, in particular, how film facilitates the teaching of literary terms and devices and how it heightens interest in the student research paper without detracting from the basic lessons of the project. (TB)

Argues for the use of film in composition classes. Provides a system of inquiry for students that is both dialogic and generative, one that enables them to critique movies and see them not as a repository of ideologies and values but as an apparatus for producing meaning. (TB)

Explores the possible intersections between postmodern theory and educational change. Attacks recent backlashes against postmodernism as counterproductive. Describes today's students as inhabitants of a border region between modernism and postmodern culture, as seen in recent films about adolescents. Relates such a view to pedagogical change. (HB)

This discussion of the movie "Field of Dreams" analyzes the film's structuring of individual perceptual response to its visual messages, as well as its contribution to our cultural myths using baseball as visual metaphor. The central premises of the film revolve around seeing and reading the visual messages correctly according to the point of view of the protagonist. The movie is specifically about the individual's pursuit of his dreams. The film builds on the distinction between those who can see and believe in the baseball team, and those who cannot. As the audience identifies with those who can see, it watches dreams come true. "Field of Dreams" structures the dream experience of the film on all levels to integrate the audience into its order and its myth, through visual symbols. (Contains 7 references.) (SLD)

Traces contemporary literary analyses of Latin American melodrama and the romance, looking especially at the work of Peter Brooks and Janice Radway. Suggests that the film "Lejania" produces a spectatorship of shifting positionalities, which mitigate against a passive spectatorship that would serve as a reactionary force. (RS)

Discusses two films ("Dos veces mujer" and "Intima raiz") of Patricia Howell. Demonstrates how thoroughly the feminist themes Howell's films weave together around motherhood are inflected by the specific Latin American and Costa Rican contexts in which she works. (RS)

Discusses in depth the film "Cartas del parque" ("Letters from the Park"), the first of six films in the "Amores Dificiles" series. Notes that the film is pervaded by the traditional overdetermination of gender roles. Suggests that an intrusive and authoritative narrator makes of this both a "readerly" and a "writerly" film. (RS)

Recounts the life of Adela Sequeyro, actress, journalist, and producer of two feature films in the 1930s. (RS)