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To introduce students to screenplay writing by creating a story synopsis and one developed scene;
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To introduce students to the role of the screenplay writer and the process of converting stories and plays for film work;
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For students to illustrate a storyboard for either a full scene or a shot sequence.
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PRESENTATION:
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¥ Students will be presented with the book,
American Historical Images on File; The Black Experience
(Media Projects, Inc., 1990), and will flip through its pages to gain an overview of the hundreds of prominent African-American people who played major roles in our nation’s history;
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Students will also be given a “Black History Time Line” from this book and each student will be instructed to select a specific event from which he or she will write a fictionalized scene;
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Students will be instructed in the basics of dramatic structure;
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The class will have an oral reading of “Writing Film Scripts” (
Writing Magazine,
December, 1986, pp. 3-10).
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METHOD & APPLICATION:
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¥ Students will research their topics and this research will be used to help create an authentic quality to their work;
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Students will develop the setting for their scenes and will begin to develop the main characters by sketching their physical, emotional, psychological and social qualities;
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Students will explore the themes of their pieces, and with these in mind, will begin to map out the story, exposition to denouement;
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Student maps will be converted to synopses, from which students will select scenes for development;
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Students will do thumb-nail sketches to illustrate their scene selections in storyboard fashion, with due regard for the camera techniques discussed in the unit thus far;
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Students will create dialogue between the characters and they will rely on their storyboards to include technical requirements and direction;
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Students will design a marquee to advertise their “movie”;
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Students will present their work in a report that will include—a cover showing the title and author (a photocopy of the Marquee design), a table of contents, a synopsis, a screenplay writing sample (scene), a storyboard, and a bibliography.
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EVALUATION
Student marquee work will be on display in the Library Media Center, and the class will give oral presentations of their screenplay writing work to a small audience of invited students and teachers. The audience will be asked to rate the work of each presenter as if they were movie producers looking for scripts.
Having gained an overview of stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and scapegoating; and having addressed some of the political and economical behind-the-scenes aspects of social unrest from films presented thus far in this unit, students will continue to explore issues of ethnic discrimination and bigotry in the next three presentations with regard to Mexican-and Jewish-Americans, and the Oglala Sioux of North America.
Before continuing to the next film, the class will refer to their “Research File” and review the map presentation that was given earlier on in the unit (during
A Nationwide Town Meeting
). We will also read several selections entitled “America’s People” from
Exploring American History
with respect to various cultural groups in our country. After viewing the next three films, students will begin work on a collage project depicting cultural diversity in America. In preparation for this work, students will discuss and decide upon which ethnic or cultural group each one of them will represent. Throughout the next three presentations, students will collect material for the collage—magazine pictures and clippings, clip art, photocopied material, etc.—as part of their homework assignments.
Stand and Deliver (1988)
“Neither the Greeks, nor the Romans were capable of using the concept of zero. It was your ancestors, the Mayans, who first contemplated the zero, the absence of value. True story. You burros have math in your blood.”
So explains the “finger man” who can multiply by nine using his hands and who inspired eighteen kids from his class at Garfield High School in East L.A. to pass the Advanced Placement Calculus exam in 1982. In subsequent years, the numbers grew with thirty-one students passing AP Calculus in 1983, sixty-three in 1984, seventy-seven in ‘85, seventy-eight in ‘86 and eighty-seven in ‘87.
Stand and Deliver
tells the real-life story of Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos), an extraordinary teacher who oversteps his bounds in teaching “logarithms to illiterates.” Escalante takes the unpopular stance, against the better judgment of his colleagues, to believe that students will rise to great expectations to the degree that teachers are willing to envision their potential for achievement, supply them with necessary skills and foster confidence in their abilities to attain goals. In his first year at Garfield, Escalante does just that. By the end of the year, having conquered the students’ apathy and resistance, his class passes the AP Calculus exam with flying colors. But the American dream has two strikes against them—their names and their complexions. Consequently, the students are accused of cheating. Ready to give up, Escalante laments to his wife: “You know what gets me? It’s that they lost their confidence in a system that they are now finally qualified to be a part of.”
But his indomitable spirit and “ganas” (desire) will not allow defeat. Escalante confronts the Educational Testing Service representatives who have deemed his students’ scores invalid. He disputes their decision, which they claim is based on two factors: 1) the students’ use of unorthodox and illogical computations resulting in a preponderance of correct answers, and 2) a consistency of error in very few incorrect answers. Escalante argues that he taught them all the same way. Hence, the test results, but his argument falls on deaf ears. The only consideration the ETS reps will allow is for the students to retest. With only one day to prepare, Escalante’s kids take the test over and once again pass with high scores. From their ancestral roots, and by the overwhelming commitment of their teacher, these eighteen Mexican-American kids came to intrinsically understand the absence of value by filling up the hole that societal prejudice and discrimination had left to them—with their diligence, their courage and their dreams.
Students will view this film in 35-minute segments over the course of three classes (leaving approximately fifteen minutes for exercises toward the end of each class). Since the introductory segment focuses largely on Escalante’s teaching skills in introducing his students to basic math concepts, the class will discuss these concepts as well as how Escalante presented them in a way that motivated his students to learn. Students will be given a definition sheet of these concepts for their “Resource File” and this will be used during the last class of this topic area.
In the second class, we will see how Escalante’s students, who would otherwise be falling into a pattern of existence in keeping with the status quo of barrio life, become transformed through their scholarly pursuits. They give up a great deal to focus their attention on calculus in the hope of improving their lives. They forfeit free time, their summer vacation, jobs, boyfriends, girlfriends, and in the case of Angel (Lou Diamond Phillips), running the streets with his brothers of the night. Motivation will again be discussed in this class, but with emphasis focused on the students and their willingness to envision dreams and work to achieve to them. Self-discipline as a means to achievement will be addressed by reviewing several quotes by the students as well as by Escalante and discussing these in relation to ourselves, our school and our community. The homework to be assigned will be to read: “The U.S. and Mexico” (
Exploring American History Teacher’s Resource Book
, Reading Enrichment, p. E70.)
The last third of the film will be shown in this next class, which strongly depicts the courage and commitment of Jaime Escalante and his students to persevere in a system that offers them little more than futility. Prejudice against Mexican-Americans will be discussed in relation to the homework and students will discuss how “ganas” can serve to meet a challenge even in the face of unfair disadvantages. Students will engage in a writing exercise after viewing this section, which will involve brainstorming ideas that address disadvantages and dreams. “Spanish in our Language,” another enrichment reading assignment from
Exploring American History Teachers Resource Book
(p. E 23), will be assigned for homework.
The last class for this presentation will introduce students to List poems. “Genesis” (one through eight) from
The Bible
will be read to students as one of the earliest examples of list poetry. This form will also be described as a kind of catalog that offers a series of events and organizes details. Prior to writing, students will read the story of “La Loba” from the book,
Women Who Run With the Wolves
by Clarissa Pinkola Estés (pp. 23-24), which will be an oral class reading. It is the story of La Loba, “wolf woman,” an old hag who roams the desert collecting bones and transforming them into a beautiful creature through her magical song. The story serves as a wonderful allegory for the creative process. With respect to their list poetry writing, students will, in a sense, use La Loba’s methodology.
collect the bones = gather ideas (prior writing, research, math concepts, Spanish words, etc.)
assemble the skeleton = arrange ideas
decide upon a song to sing = select poetic form (List)
sing louder and louder = brainstorm and stream-of-consciousness
let the creature go = let a focal point emerge
keep singing = writing and revising
Ravel’s “Bolero” will be played during this writing assignment. We will review progress and students will be instructed to complete their poems for homework.
To Be or Not to Be (1988)
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“Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
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The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
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Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.
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And by opposing, end them.”
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—Shakespeare,
Hamlet
(Act 3, Scene 1)
After Nazi troops annexed the Rhineland in 1936 and Austria in 1938; occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939 and moved on to the western border of Poland that same year, Europe tenuously awaited World War II. “But in Warsaw, despite the threat of eminent invasion, the Polish people [forgot] their troubles at the Bronski Theatre.”
To Be or Not to Be,
the Mel Brooks 1988 remake of the 1942 film (under the same title) directed by Ernst Lubitsch, will be shown in its entirety (as an in-school field trip screening). The film tells the story of the Bronski Theatre Company and their escape from the Nazis during the Occupation of Poland.
Who but Brooks, who had the chutzpah to turn the Torquemada, “can’t-talk-him-outta-anything” grand Inquisitor into a song and dance man (followed by a chorus of Ester Williams-type swimming nuns performing water ballet) in
History of the World, Part II,
could display such super silliness in his portrayal of actor, Frederick “He’s-world-famous-in-Poland” Bronski, not to mention mugging Adolf Hitler in yet, another musical number entitled “Naughty Nazis.” Well! . . . Jack Benny, I suppose, who played the role in the original, but Brooks gives it music and choreography, and perhaps surprisingly—considering his schtick style and genre-bashing career—some deeply poignant moments. After this full-feature screening, students will be given a reading assignment for homework: “World War II Begins” (
Exploring American History
, p. 556).
After the initial screening, students will further explore the historical content of the film, as well as some of its technical aspects. In this second class, students will review the “Naughty Nazis” musical number in which Frederick Bronski plays the role of Hitler. Bronski, as Hitler, enters his office and is greeted by two SS officers who alternately greet him with, “Heil Hitler,” “Heil Hitler” and to which he responds, “Heil Myself.” Having reacted to the negative press of foreign newspapers, he (Hitler) claims that he is not a monster, nor a madman; that he doesn’t want war; he only wants peace, peace, peace . . . “A little piece of Poland, a little piece of France, a little piece of Portugal and Austria perchance . . . ”
The song (also written by Brooks with Ronny Graham) continues. As Hitler prances and sings of his gluttonous desires for little pieces of the world—“a little slice of Turkey, a little spot of Greece . . .”—his officers tear off corresponding countries from a world map. After viewing this clip, students will be presented with an article from
Life Magazine
written in 1939 entitled, “U.S. Readers Can Now Examine Adolf Hitler’s Creed in Full.” This is a two-page spread that includes excerpts of Hitler’s
Mein Kampf
(published in Germany in 1925) with an unfavorable introduction portraying him as “naive,” “cranky” and “paranoid.” The spread also displays two maps; one showing pre-Hitler Germany, Hitler’s acquisitions (up to 1939) and arrows indicating Hitler’s future plans for occupation; the other, Germany’s pre-War African colonies. Dramatic emphasis in this regard will be focused on satire and how the apparent silliness of Brooks eating up the world serves as a metaphor for Hitler’s megalomaniacal appetite. Technical focus will also be directed to the roles of the musical composer and the choreographer. This class will end with the homework assignment to read: “Frequently Asked Questions” (a handout prepared by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). This two-page handout addresses questions regarding what the Holocaust was; who the Nazis were; why the Nazis wanted to kill large numbers of innocent people; how they carried out their policy of genocide; and how the world responded to the Holocaust.
In the next class the homework will be reviewed. Several clips from the film that deal with “Final Solution” Nazi prejudices will be viewed, and the labeling of people with patches, such as the yellow Star of David for Jews and the inverted pink triangle for homosexuals, will be discussed. Students will then begin a writing exercise that deals with the word, “respect.”
Respect will be defined by its Latin roots,
re
(again) and
specere
(to look); “to look again.” In this context, students will be advised that respect means more than looking with one’s eyes; that in order to truly treat others with respect, we need to “look again” using intelligence—the perceptive qualities of thought—and compassion, the vision in our hearts. Students will then be instructed to write a piece about the concept of respect. They will first brainstorm for ideas until they find a focal point. The work will be reviewed at this point and students will be instructed that they may chose any poetic form of writing that they wish for the final expression of the work. Work that is not completed in class, should be finished for homework. At the end of this class, students will also be given the assignment to read: “America’s People, The Jews” (
Exploring American History
, p. 110).
In the last class for this section, students will be introduced to the story of Anne Frank as a young Jewish girl, about their age, who hid from the Nazis during World War II. The story of Anne and her family hiding in the “secret annex” will be briefly summarized, emphasizing the diary and the most famous line in it—“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Several poems written by the children of Tereizenstadt from
I Never Saw a Butterfly
will also be presented to the class, as well as the two quotes from Shakespeare that are used in the film,
To Be or Not To Be—
the first mentioned at the beginning of this topic area; the second (on the next page) from Shylock’s famous lines in
The Merchant of Venice,
(Act 3, Scene 1).
Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means, warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
From these poems and quotes, students will compose a cento poem, which is poetry that is made up from pieces of existing poems by other authors. Work will be shared and critiqued by the end of class.
Thunderheart (1992)
“You know, Ray, when we were kids, we used to play ‘Cowboys and Indians.’ I always wanted to be Gary Cooper. I didn’t want to be an Indian. Boarding school made sure of that—cut my hair, washed my mouth out with soap when I spoke my own language.”
—Sheriff Walter Crowhorse to Ray Levoi in the film,
Thunderheart
U.S. government boarding schools for Indians began opening up around the turn of the century and as the quote illustrates, were instrumental in abolishing the aboriginal cultures of this land. Ironically, brainwashing children to “Christian” ways and away from their “savage” roots through shearing their hair, changing their dress and forbidding them to speak their own language or practice their beliefs (under the threat of severe beatings), was actually considered humanitarian in its day. Considering the ethnocide that took place after the Treaty of Laramie (1868) was made all but null and void by General George Armstrong Custer (who had opened up the sacred Black Hills and Bozeman trail to financial concerns as well as poor miners), the virtual internment of Indian children was, by comparison, humane. Custer may have gotten his comeuppance at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, but it wasn’t long after that the formidable force that had defeated him would “surrender” at the Red Cloud agency in Nebraska, led by Crazy Horse and followed by three hundred warriors and a thousand Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne, herding in twenty-five hundred ponies.
Thunderheart
, which will be viewed in three classes (in 35-minute segments), speaks to issues of ethnocide as well as the reclamation of culture. Basically a police procedural, the story opens with a murder of a “native” in the Badlands of South Dakota. FBI agent, Ray Levoi (Val Kilmer), is put on the case. Much to his chagrin, Levoi has been selected for his Sioux ancestry, which he has spent most of his life trying to deny. But as a token of diplomacy, he is advised by his superior, William Dawes, that although “This is a murder investigation . . . It’s also about the people. Helping people caught in the illusions of the past come to terms with the realities of the present.” (Undoubtedly, the character of William Dawes was named after the Dawes Act passed by Congress in 1887, which parceled off tribal lands in 160 acre plots in order to break up the tribes.)
As Levoi comes to find out, “the realities of the present” are, in fact, illusions. More accurately, they are lies force-fed to the Oglala Sioux in order to do what the U.S. government has always done—rape their homeland for profit; in this case, profit gained from the illegal test drilling of uranium on reservation land. At odds at first with the Oglala Sioux, Levoi gradually begins to befriend Sheriff Walter Crowhorse (Graham Green), who cloaks his finely-honed detective skills in the kind of stereotypical mysticism that Native Americans are often associated with. In the course of his investigation, Levoi not only begins to unravel the case, but to unravel his identity as well. In the process, he discovers his heritage. The “real” mysticism begins when Levoi starts having visions of a ghost dance (a ritual dance designed to bring back the old ways). While Hollywood takes liberties in dramatizing this kind of stereotyping, the ghost dance works symbolically in this story in that it gives us a translucent view of the history behind the story.
In the first class for this section, the symbolism portrayed in the film segment to be shown will be compared to actual accounts of Sioux history. We will have an oral reading of “The Decline of Native Americans on the Great Plains” (
Exploring American History
, pp. 346-349). This selection chronicles the early Sioux and U.S. government relations that led to the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. After this class, students will be given a reading assignment for homework: “Native Americans—How did Native Americans Fight for Equal Rights?” (
Exploring American History
, pp. 629-631).
The homework will be reviewed in this next class and we will discuss the various events that led up to the Occupation of Wounded Knee on February 27, 1973. During this time period, AIM (American Indian Movement) activists and local Oglala Lakota Sioux took over the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and a trading post in an attempt to have their grievances regarding civil rights and honoring treaties heard. While the Occupation of Wounded Knee pitted Native Americans against the U.S. government, it also subtly represented the conflict between traditional “native” values and Native American assimilation into a Eurocentric culture.
Thunderheart
represents this conflict through dramatic tension created in the character of Levoi and his struggle to understand and accept his Sioux roots and culture; as well as in the conflicts between Traditionalists and the Tribal Police, and Traditionalists and the FBI. After viewing the second segment of this film, students will discuss various quotes taken from the movie that clearly show this kind of conflict. Two examples are listed below:
“I feel for them
[Native Americans],
I do. They’re a proud people, but they’re also a conquered people and that means that their future is dictated by the nation that conquered them.”—
an FBI agent
“We know the difference between the reality of freedom and the illusion of freedom. There is a way to live with the earth and a way not to.”
—a Traditionalist Sioux
The final segment of
Thunderheart
will be viewed in this next and last class. Afterward, students will be introduced to the poetic form of epitaph. In introducing this form, I will refer to the scene at the graveyard at Wounded Knee, and the gravestone carved with the names of the many Sioux who were killed in the massacre (of which “Thunderheart” is one). Thunderheart—as explained by Tribal Chief, Grandpa Reaches (Chief Ted Thin Elk), to Levoi—was a holy man who was killed at Wounded Knee: “It is his blood, the same blood that was spilled in the grass and snow, that runs through your heart like a buffalo.”
Students will be instructed to review their reading for this section and to select a subject for their epitaph writing assignment. They may choose a person, such as Crazy Horse or Custer; or they may choose an event, e.g., The Dawes Act of 1887 or the extermination of the buffalo with less than 1,000 left in 1895. Subjects will be discussed by the class and styles of epitaphs will be demonstrated, i.e., serious, sarcastic, rhymed, unrhymed, etc. Students will begin this work in class and will finish it for homework.
