Subject Areas |
Art and Culture
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Film |
History and Social Studies
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U.S. History - Civil Rights |
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U.S. History - Women's Rights/History |
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World History - Human Rights |
Literature and Language Arts
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American |
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Biography |
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Time Required |
| Four to six class periods |
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Skills |
| historical comprehension
historical analysis and interpretation
literary analysis and interpretation
information gathering and research
critical thinking
creative writing
visual, auditory, and kinesthetic orientations development
collaboration
Internet skills
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Date Posted |
| 5/21/2002 |
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Scripting the Past: Exploring Women's History Through Film
Introduction
In this lesson, students employ the screenwriter's craft to gain a fresh perspective
on historical research, learning how filmmakers combine scholarship and imagination
to bring historical figures to life and how the demands of cinematic storytelling
can shape our view of the past.
Learning Objectives
To learn about the craft of filmmaking and role of
the screenwriter within the filmmaking process. To
examine a first-person documentary narrative from a screenwriter's point of view,
focusing on the kinds of information needed to create a story that will bring
the past to life on film. To gather contextual
details required for a film treatment through historical research.To
consider the relationship between historical narrative and the storytelling conventions
of film.To produce a film scenario and script
a scene based on the life of a historical figure.
Guiding Question:
How do filmmakers bring history to life, and how does
filmed history represent (or misrepresent) historical realities?
1 Begin by explaining
that in this lesson students will examine a figure in women's history through
the lens of filmmaking, producing a screenplay based on an autobiographical narrative
and their own research into the time period in which that autobiography is set.
2 Introduce students
to the filmmaking process with a visit to the Cinema exhibit at the
Learner.Org website, accessible through EDSITEment. Here students can learn
how the screenwriter, director, producer, actors, and editing team collaborate
to create a finished film. Guide students through the exhibit or have them read
through it on their own, focusing on the role played by the screenwriter and director.
If time permits, students can also try their hand at writing a scene
with an online activity.
3 Divide the
class into small study teams of three or four students, and have each team choose
one of the autobiographical narratives listed below as the basis for their film
script. (Note that these autobiographies range from full-length books (Fremont
and Tubman) to chapter-length extracts.)
-
Jessie Benton Fremont
(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/calbk:@field(DOCID+@lit(C188D0001)):)
The wife of John C. Fremont, renowned explorer of the American West, describes
her 1849 trip to California and life on the family's ranch east of San Francisco
during the Gold Rush era in A Year of American Travel (1877), available
through EDSITEment at the American Memory
website. -
Harriet Tubman
(http://docsouth.unc.edu/harriet/menu.html)
This legendary figure in the struggle against slavery tells her life story
in Harriet, The Moses of Her People (1886), a biography written by her
friend Sarah H. Bradford, which is available through EDSITEment at the Documenting the American South website.
- Marie Haggerty
At age
72, Haggerty recounts her experiences growing up on a New England farm in the
late 19th century and her life as a domestic servant for wealthy Boston families
in a seven-part oral history available through EDSITEment at the
American Memory website. (Use the American Memory search engine with the keyword
"Haggerty" to locate these documents.) -
Alice Hamilton
(http://historymatters.gmu.edu/text/2097a-hamilton.html)
A physician who worked with Jane Addams to improve working class conditions
during the Progressive era, Hamilton recalls her efforts to expose the dangers
of lead and other industrial poisons in a excerpt from her autobiography,
Exploring the Dangerous Trades (1946), available through EDSITEment at the
History Matters website.
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Katharin D. Morse
(http://historymatters.gmu.edu/text/533i-Morse.html)
A "canteen girl" during World War I, Morse describes how she brought comfort
to American servicemen far from home with hot chocolate and movies in an excerpt
from her memoir, Uncensored Letters of a Canteen Girl (1920), available
through EDSITEment at the History Matters website.
As they read their selected narratives, have students gather
preliminary details that they can use in their film scripts. For example: background
information about the main character; identifying information about supporting
characters; the period and setting for specific events; important or dramatic
episodes in the story; lines of dialogue or quotations they might work into their
script. In addition, encourage students who have selected a long narrative to
choose a portion of the story that seems most suitable for film treatment.
5 After this preliminary reading, help
students brainstorm a list of questions they can use to begin visualizing their
narrative in film terms. The list should include questions that set a direction
for historical research and questions that can be answered by close reading of
the narrative itself. The framework below can provide a starting-point.
Visualizing the Scene - What did it look
like where these events took place?
- How
did people live at that time? How did they dress? How did they furnish their homes?
How did they travel?
Visualizing the Society
- What social attitudes were characteristic of
those times (e.g., prejudices, assumptions about gender roles, class distinctions,
etc.)?
- How were social relationships of
the time similar to and different from relationships today (e.g., family relationships,
sexual relationships, interracial relationships, economic or workplace relationships,
etc.)?
Visualizing Character -
What did the characters look like? How old were they? What were their habits and
manners?
- What are the characters' most
distinctive personality traits? How do they interact with others? What do others
say about them?
Visualizing Action -
What issues or values motivate the main character? What
episodes test the character's motivation and commitment?
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What is the main character's goal at this point in her life? How is her life changed
by the pursuit of this goal? What is her life like after this effort?
6 When they have
prepared their lists of questions, have the student teams gather information for
their screenplays. Divide this part of the lesson into three stages, providing
ample class time and independent research time for each step in the research and
preparation process. - Period Portfolios
Have
students use library and Internet resources to create "Period Portfolios" that
reflect the look and character of the time period in which their film will be
set. These portfolios might include images of everyday life, important events,
and famous individuals, as well as news reports, advertisements, and other primary
documents. By creating their own portfolios, students should gain a feel for the
period that will help them visualize the settings and social milieu for their
films. The EDSITEment websites listed below can provide a starting-point for this
research. Students
can also use NAIL (the NARA
Archival Information Locator) at the Digital Classroom website
to search the online holdings of the National Archives and the
search engine at the American Memory
website to search the online collections of the Library of Congress, as well as
the EDSITEment search engine to search all EDSITEment websites. -
Character Profiles
Have students prepare short profiles of the characters
they will feature in their filmscripts, based on close reading of their narratives.
These profiles can include physical description, personality traits, characteristic
phrases and gestures, etc. Encourage students to imagine they are writing for
the actors who will portray their characters as they prepare these profiles.
- Story Elements
Finally, have students create an inventory of
story elements for their filmscript by selecting and organizing episodes from
their narrative. Encourage them to focus at this point on singling out the kernels
of action amid the passages of reflection and commentary in the narrative, and
on identifying dramatic events they can imagine translating into film scenes.
Students should also look for episodes that test the motivation of their main
character, and those in which she makes progress toward her goal.
7 Following this
preparation, have students outline a plot for their movie, a process that will
usually involve reshaping history somewhat to fit storytelling conventions. Remind
students of the basic stages of plot development: conflict, complication, crisis,
and resolution. Students may also find inspiration in some of the standard formulas
Hollywood filmmakers use: - Romance:
A woman and man meet, feel a mutual attraction, encounter obstacles or lose one
another, and finally get back together again.
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Quest: An individual or group work to achieve a goal, encountering obstacles,
adventures, discouragement, and ultimately success.
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Conversion: An individual is changed, suddenly or over a period of time,
by experiences, the influence of others, or the impact of events.
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Confrontation: An individual or group struggles
to overcome, elude, or outsmart an adversary in order to survive.
8 Finally, have
students script a key scene for their film, including scenic directions and dialogue.
Remind students that images tell much of the story in a film, serving to evoke
the emotions and thoughts of the viewer. To capture this visual element, students
might talk through the scene with their teammates, describing what appears on
screen, or they might close their eyes and try to see the action unfolding in
their imaginations. Students should also strive to integrate their dialogue into
the action of the scene. Rather than have characters deliver speeches, for example,
let them talk while they are moving or doing something that will add visual interest
to the scene.
9 Conclude this
lesson by having each student team present its scripted scene to the class. Then
lead a discussion reflecting on the process of translating history into film and
the extent to which film conventions may influence our perceptions of the past.
Based on their own screenwriting experience, for example, students may have a
new insight into the way stereotypes implicitly shape film portrayals of women,
ethnic groups, children, occupations, etc. They may also begin to recognize how
the assumptions wrapped up in the term "Americana" help determine the kinds of
stories we tell about America's past and the values we seek in our history. Use
this discussion to explore the power of popularization in historical filmmaking
and to foster more critical viewership.
Extending the Lesson
Continue your study of the relationship between storytelling conventions and our
perception of historical and social realities by investigating traditions in children's
literature. Visit the U.S. Women's History Workshop website
for an Electronic Classroom exhibit on Children's Literature
that focuses on the way these stories reveal the moral assumptions of a society.
Additional resources on children's literature are available in the "Childhood"
area of the History of Education website,
including World of
the Child: Two Hundred Years of Children's Books at the University of Delaware,
History of Children's
Literature by Kay E. Vandergrift at Rutgers University, and
Casting Characters: An Introduction to the History of Juvenile Literature to 1900
by Suzanne Semmes Dennis at Dartmouth College.
Standards Alignment
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