Tomorrow I'm showing my students Howl, which is a documentary about James Franco, a gay, Jewish poet who really knew his way around a harmonium. Yes, I've seen it. And no, it's not bad...assuming you have learned to watch movies with a greedy eye towards their pedagogical value (it's a teacher's habit, I think, and a mostly self-serving one - sort of like when certain little old ladies pocket Sweet & Low packets when they go out for their tuna sandwiches and hot Lipton). Howl is 1 hr. 24 min., and totally justifiable. I mean, it's one of the few poems I teach my students that has an accompanying feature film.... It's not like I get to be all, you know: "Okay, guys, today we're gonna take a cinematic look at Gerard Manley Hopkins' most famous poem, then watch CGI's The Windhover, starring Val Kilmer's voice." Caw! Caw!
No comments:
Post a Comment