[Tea] Movies and Literary Elements

Welcome to "Tea with Julie," a weekly missive by me, Julie Bogart. My wish is to give you food for thought over a cup of tea to enhance your life as an educator, parent, and awesome adult. Glad you're here. Pinkies up!
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Cincinnati, January 13, 2024

Hi Friend,

The following are excerpts from our free digital guide, Brave Writer Goes to the Movies.

Movies are just as important as the novel was in its hey-day. Movies are not a sub-standard art form that only the poorly educated enjoy. On the contrary, film today is just as important as literature and we would do well to enjoy it and study it, rather than to shun, condescend to, and disapprove of it.

Did you know, for instance, that at the time of Jane Austen, the novel was suspect as being frivolous entertainment? Literate and educated English felt that novels were only read by the weak-minded. As a result, novel reading was routinely shunned in much the same way movie viewing is discounted as inferior entertainment to the more stolid study of books today.

The truth is, books (non-fiction and the novel) and film (documentary and fictional tale) each hold a place in the well-rounded education of our young people. Additionally, some works of fiction become more interesting to read after having seen the movie.

Books and movies can generate interest in each other and neither ought to precede the other necessarily, though individuals will most certainly have strong preferences!

Movies and Literary Elements

I want to share a story with you. I had a 17-year-old student in a literary elements course a few years back who was a real movie buff. One day in class, he mentioned a film he had just watched. I happened to be a big fan of that film and his eyes lit up like Christmas lights when I expressed enthusiasm for that particular movie. He held me up after class, eager to discuss its themes, the characters and what I thought the meaning of the movie had been. He was late for his next class, but it was worth it. Over the course of the next six months, he’d get to my class early to tell me about all the movies he’d watched over the previous weekend. We’d chat about the ones I’d seen and those I hadn’t, always digging into their depths for insight.

Interestingly enough, as we worked through literary elements in fiction in class, he began to apply those insights to his movie viewing and his insights suddenly plunged to new and thrilling depths. What I found interesting is that at one point, his mother asked me what I thought of her son’s movie viewing habits, since he was consumed with film and less so with reading that year (though he had read voraciously for years prior). I was happy to reassure her that her son was getting a very real education through film, one that many of his peers had never considered as beneficial for higher education at all. All Andrew needed was a dialog partner. Because he had found one in me, he was growing leaps and bounds, not just “zoning out” in front of the TV. I am so glad I could be that sounding board for him.

So I hope you’ll be the same for your kids. Rather than worrying about movies, see them as a rich opportunity for:

deep conversations,
entertainment,
and education in the power of story!

Enjoying movies can be a great break from the heavy-duty demands of high school education while maturing your kids at the same time.

Warmly,

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