Professor Hobo – college, students, professors, & cats

John Wayne in The Searchers

For the last few weeks I’ve been working on prepping the Introduction to Film course I’ll teach in the fall. The class has a lab during which we have enough time to screen full length films. That means I have to pick which films to show, and that can be harder than it sounds.

When dealing with a young audience, anything made before they were born often comes off as odd and unapproachable. The dialogue seems funny, the special effects dated, etc. For this fall’s class, that means anything prior to 1990. Obviously I can’t limit myself to just films made in the last 20 years, but going beyond those years means not only addressing the previously listed concerns, but also one of morality. You see, many people can’t quite wrap their heads around the idea that the world was a place of questionable morality before they were born. It’s as if we all think original sin began with us. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…