By Holli LeMarr
Staff Writer
Now earning units is as simple as watching a movie. Well, you’re required to do more than just watch the movie, but accumulating credits while being entertained isn’t too shabby either.
A Social Science Perspective on Film, a series of one-unit, credit/no credit film classes, is now being held on Sunday evenings in Elkins Auditorium and Keck Science Center examining themes such as international studies, great ideas and relationships between teachers and students. Fifteen variations of the original course have been created since 1986 by Humanities professor Dr. Michael Gose.
“Basically what you are doing is reading one book, seeing 11 films, and either considering how truthful those films are or what values they communicate,” Gose said.
“I believe the imaginary experience of movies gives you an unusually good possibility for applying academics in an engaging and personally meaningful way.”
Gose believes these classes serve many purposes including giving students something productive to do on Sunday evenings, forging new friendships, fulfilling elective requirements and hopefully enlightening young minds to the underlying themes and values in films.
Gose is especially excited about the international studies film class. Before it began, he surveyed the international students on campus to receive feedback about the types of films he should show in this class. It has been a success thus far.
“I really like this class,” telecommunications major Brianna Dellinger said. “The idea of combining film production with learning about cultural differences is a great opportunity for me. The films we have seen seem to have deeper issues than the American how-can-I entertain-people-for-two-hours approach.”
Dellinger’s class had the opportunity to view the film “Finding Home” while it was still in its production stages and make comments directly to the film’s director and producer.
“When thinking about these film classes, I like to quote Elliott Eisner (a professor of education and art at Stanford University),” Gose said. “Eisner said, ‘the real need at a college university level for students is to have sufficient real and imaginary experiences by which to test educational concepts.’”
Gose believes these classes accomplish this goal.
Students who have taken these classes have had the chance to not only view films they might not go out and see on their own, but to meet some of the stars. The lists of celebrities that have visited the campus include Mel Gibson, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck and Robert Townsend.
“I’ve always thought of this class as the 128th unit, not the driving force of the curriculum,” Gose said. “However, I’m very interested in life long learning. These classes tie into the interests of many students and allow them to pursue these interests in an open-ended way.”
In addition to these classes, a minor in film will be offered in the fall. This minor will consist of 17 units including women and film, African Americans and film, religion and film (still in its approval stages), Italian cinema and screen writing. According to Gose, it will take approximately two years to complete the required 17 units. As the unofficial advisor, he suggests that only freshmen and sophomores add this minor to ensure completion before graduation.
The growth of film classes seems to parallel Pepperdine’s recent support of films in general. This year, for the first time, Pepperdine will be an official sponsor for the City of Angels Film Festival in Hollywood. The university has teamed up with other sponsoring universities to create the Spiritas Award, which will recognize critical writing that calls attention to the various types of uplifting values that humanitarian awards presently acknowledge.
Pepperdine also participates in a film festival sponsored by Dr. Susan Salas from the Telecom Department.
For additional information go to: http://arachnid.pepperdine.edu/goseweb/GSGS/index.html.
Caption:
Photo courtesy www.spe.sony.com.
STARS: Film class lets Pepperdine students watch Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen and Zhang Zi Yi in the action-packed, foreign film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.”
February 07, 2002
