RESOURCE: CCS- Comparing The Book vs The Film

[Frank W. Baker]

Many of your students may have seen the current crop of docu-dramas, but how many of them have read the book from which the film is adapted?   Read more about meeting the CCS for film here. You may also be interested in my Teacher Guide to The Academy Awards web page.

[Michele Vogt-Schuller]

Thank you for this great resource. While I love using films, I alway wonder at the value about the book vs. movie construct, especially in terms of the way the standard is written. The articles posted are very helpful.

Frankly, I think one of the biggest ways to "mis-teach" is to read the novel and then see the movie (not all of the time, but very often). What is usually more useful it to use an analogous text: Song of Solomon and Eve's Bayou or To Sleep With Anger, for example (besides, there's no Song of Solomon movie!).

I think a good way to use a type of analysis might include looking at "Saving Mr. Banks" and comparing it to the real story and do an investigation framed by the following questions? Who benefits from this movie? Who made it? Whose interests are being served?" This will lead to questions about capitalism, the power of branding and distribution networks, the question of "truthiness" that may be used in the service of "art."

This might lead to a larger investigation of the type of product some studios produce, what their narrative is, and how they get and keep their audience, and other considerations that are considered when producing media that is intended to be consumed by a large audience.

[Ryan Goble]

Yeah, the F2F thing CAN BE the lowest common denominator of using film in the classroom. It is really important to structure that work around higher level questions - that is where it can get very interesting!