This is an entire curriculum for a high school English Department elective class called The Story of Movies. In this class, we look at movies in their historical context and analyze them for their literary and cinematic qualities. The largest emphasis is on analyzing movies like we would literature.
The movies included are
~Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 television version)
~ City Lights
~ Singin’ in the Rain
~ Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
~ Stagecoach
~ Citizen Kane
~ Life is Beautiful
~ Casablanca
~ Double Indemnity
~ Arsenic and Old Lace
~ High Noon
~ Some Like It Hot
~ The Birds
~ Psycho
~ West Side Story
~ In the Heat of the Night
~ Driving Miss Daisy
~ Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
~ 2001—A Space Odyssey
~ Jaws
~ The Cowboys
~ Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Story of Movies--Literature, History, Cinematography by Jane Anderson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Thanks Jane- This was great. I actually saw you present this at the NMCTE Conference last year never thinking that I would have the opportunity to actually get to teach such a course. You saved me a tremendous amount of time by making this available for purchase.
August 5, 2010
Thanks for all the extras - commentary on characters, vocabulary, etc. You have given me excellent ideas to supplement my own film class!
June 30, 2010
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I have taught for 14 years. Three of those were in middle school, but the rest have been in high schools. I teach at an innovative high school in Rio Rancho, NM, which is a rapidly-growing suburb of Albuquerque. I helped open the high school ten years ago. It combines English and Social Studies for all students. I teach American Humanities in the Fine Arts Academy. I have helped develop the district's Humanities curriculum every summer for ten years. I serve as the 11th grade Humanities section leader. I am fortunate to work with an outstanding group of educators.
