It's been a winter of change for me. Milwaukee has seen as much snow as winters from my rural Minnesota childhood, I've been losing weight instead of gaining it, and my year-long search for a full-time job outside of academia is finally over: Monday I start a position in technical writing. This past week was the last week of Winter Quarter at Milwaukee School of Engineering, where I teach, and while I will have a night class in spring, for some reason I have a sense of closure and, understandably, change.
Teaching is educational not just for the students, but also for the instructor; if she is a good one, she can learn as much from the students as they learn from her. Sometimes it's accidental, like picking up the current slang the kids are using, and sometimes it's purposeful, like making the students do reports or speeches on current issues in their fields. I've learned a lot about green architecture and the future of battery technology that way.
Occasionally students, full of enthusiasm for a recent discovery, will acquaint me with their favorite music or films. And I don't just mean wearing a Death Cab for Cutie or EVIL DEAD t-shirt to class, but literally by sharing (um, okay, sometimes file sharing). Some of the coolest have burned CDs and DVDs for me and sent songs to me on Facebook. One afternoon last year, a student spent an hour in my office telling me about his favorite websites and rock bands, several of which I checked out. Sometimes I'll just ask them, in a get-to-know-ya session or a quiz, what their favorite movies and/or actors are. Because many of my students are 19, I hear a fair bit of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley. Also, because I teach at an engineering school, I hear from a lot of students who adore the LORD OF THE RINGS and STAR WARS series (not to perpetuate a stereotype, but, ah, heck, screw it: 
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they're science geeks). And more often than not, they surprise me.
So this column is dedicated to them, the students who, no matter how they try, will never convince me to give World Of Warcraft a whirl, but they have been successful in opening my eyes to a few films I might not have encountered without their endorsements.
THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (1999)
I had passed this one off as just another gangster film in Boston. You know the type: loaded with violence, Matt Damon-style accents, Irish siblings & their drama, and other such whatnot. But, okay, it's actually quite good. Willem Dafoe is a detective trying to figure out some mafia killings, done by two brothers who feel they are performing God's will by ridding the world of evil. I know sometimes when someone says something really, really funny or clever, I'll think, "I wish I'd said that," but how weird must it be to represent the law, investigate murders, and feel so impressed that you wished you'd committed them?
MAN ON FIRE (2004)
From guy-friendly director Tony Scott (TOP GUN, BEVERLY HILLS COP II, DAYS OF THUNDER, TRUE ROMANCE—need I continue? You get that he directs movies that guys like, right?) MAN ON FIRE didn't originally appeal to me because of the casting, Oh, no, I've got no beef with Denzel (he can be in any movie he wants as far as I'm concerned); it was Marc Anthony and Dakota Fanning as Mexican father and daughter that bugged me; but whatever, I guess that's not the point. Washington plays John Creasy, a former assassin haunted by his past, suicidal and remorseful. He is offered a bodyguard gig by his friend Rayburn (Christopher Walken). He's sent to Mexico City to watch over the Ramos family. While I didn't buy Fanning the adorable Ramos child, the story of John and Pita's growing friendship and eventual tight bond hooked me. SPOILER 
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ALERT: Pita gets kidnapped and you better believe John finds reason to live, at least until Pita is found.
TOMMY BOY (1995)
In my time teaching at Marquette University, there was always much buzz about TOMMY BOY because, in the movie, Tommy (Chris Farley) had attended MU for seven years. But shortly after Tommy finishes college and returns home to Ohio, his father dies and it's up to this dimwit to thwart cons and big business in order to preserve his father's company, and ultimately save the town that relies on that company for its survival. Doesn't sound like a comedy, does it? Oh, but it is funny.
Honorable Mentions:
WAKING LIFE (2002)
Over a year ago, a student lent me his DVD of WAKING LIFE, and it sits on top of the Sony Playstation to this day. I have until August to watch it, when he returns from a year abroad.
OFFICE SPACE (1999) deserves mention because although I saw it before I actually began teaching, it is a perpetual student favorite, and with good reason.
On the flipside, there are countless books and films that my students wouldn't have known about without me. In courses ranging from regular old composition to Contemporary Issues in the Humanities, here are some of the films that have invigorated my students' minds:
EDDIE IZZARD'S DRESS TO KILL (1998)
I was first introduced to Eddie Izzard by my friend, Dr. Karma, and since then I have found countless ways to work his best stand-up act into my teaching repertoire. From history and French lessons to unpacking such complexities as the art of American film, puberty, and global economics, Izzard teaches not just with the content in his routine but also with his style. Students understand audience analysis as well as Aristotle's Three Appeals by the end of the viewing and discussion of DRESS TO KILL. But mostly we just laugh our asses off.
HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)
Some of them are shocked, some are amused, some are moved, but all students are glued to the screen. It isn't until the exam and essay due after the film that some students realize that they didn't watch a movie about a unique romance, but rather, a film that analyzes freedom, economic disparity, and the validity of war.
AMERICAN HISTORY X (1998)
Edward Norton's powerful performance as Derek Vinyard opens the floor for frank discussion about our roles in, and responsibilities to, the communities in which we belong.
CANADIAN BACON (1995)
At a time when I was too chicken to show BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE or FAHRENHEIT 9/11 in my classes but knew that there were important issues under the surface just waiting to bubble out, I decided that a composition class that included satirical writing was a the perfect stage for my pedagogical debut of CANADIAN BACON, which I had in a dusty old box of VHS tapes. Luckily, my school still has at least one VCR, so we were in business. Most of them had never heard of it, and most missed the proclamation "Written and Directed by Michael Moore" in large, bold letters on the screen, so they had no preconceived notions. Swift's "A Modest Proposal" hovered just out of grasp in that space above their heads (probably just due to simple intimidation) and too many of them take THE ONION seriously, so, with Alan Alda as a U.S. President with weak ratings (simply because nothing was going wrong) and his advisers' harebrained scheme to wage a fake war with Canada, CANADIAN BACON was just the ticket this class needed to tackle satire. Of course, not all of them found the exaggerated Canadian accents and polite demeanor hilarious, because, in their eyes, South Park had already done it.
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Every other Sunday
Semi-wholesome Midwestern girl and certified Geek Magnet offers her suggestions - often new, sometimes classic - for DVDs that are definitely queue-worthy.
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| Denise DuVernay |
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