Film School, part I
It’s cold out there! And in my mind, there’s no better way to spend a chilly evening than curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and a good movie. The problem is, I’m having difficulty finding a movie I actually enjoy. The fault is entirely the responsibility of Operation: Films We Need to See.
It’s a project that’s been ongoing in our family for over a year. Last year while I was browsing the movie section of the local library, I noticed an old film, North by Northwest. It’s a Hitchcock thriller in which Cary Grant, in a double case of mistaken identity, is on the run from the bad guys and the law. It had suspense, romance, and Cary Grant. I couldn’t go wrong!
But when my husband and I plugged it in that night, something happened. As we watched Cary Grant flee his pursuers across Mount Rushmore, a light went on. “Hey, that’s just like that Family Guy episode!” we shouted in unison.
Then suddenly, we paused. No, the Family Guy episode was like the Hitchcock film. And then we realized: we knew the parody of a classic film, but not the original. We hadn’t even recognized it as parody when we’d seen the TV episode the first time. (The title of the episode was even “North by North Quahog,” but we hadn’t understood the connection.) How many times had this happened? How many parodies, songs, quotes, and the like were familiar to us, yet we’d never known the source?
“Uneducated” is often bandied around as a description of the current generation, and Hollywood’s usually one focus of blame. Ironically, though, it seems as though North Americans are equally unschooled where film is concerned. Hollywood isn’t just a modern influence, but has played a big role in Western culture for decades.
This isn’t just in the areas of manners and social mores; quotations, songs, expressions, and plot lines from classic films have become so embedded in everyday culture that we don’t pay them special notice. We began to realize just how undereducated we were in classic film. How many old movies had made a significant impact on popular culture, or had set the stage for the various film genres or elements we see today, yet we’d never even heard of them?
This experience culminated in Operation: Films We Need to See. The American Film Institute (AFI) created two Top 100 American Movie Lists (one in 1998, and an updated version in 2007), and we’ve been slowly working our way through the list. We’re determined to see every film the AFI recommended, and to try to figure out what makes those films so historically, culturally, or cinematographically significant.
We’re about halfway through, and it’s been not only entertaining but also very instructive. Although we’ve loved some films, hated others, and puzzled over a few, the overall experience has been enlightening—and it hasn’t been limited to two hours on the couch. In the second part of this article (to appear within the next few days), I’ll discuss some of the benefits we’ve seen already. In the meantime, check out the list, and try a few of the films. It’ll be a fascinating experience which may completely transform the way you feel about cinema.
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This is so true! I was brought up watching classics and older films but still so many I haven’t seen.
[...] School, part II In Part I, I wrote about our family’s latest project: educating ourselves in the classic film fare that [...]
Film School, part II « Woozles & Heffalumps said this on January 15, 2010 at 8:32 pm |