Film Studies Week 24 Update

Good morning and welcome to week 24!

We finished our first film of our dark comedy series; dark comedy is a subgenre of comedy that makes light of a subject matter considered taboo, or to serious/painful to discuss. Going through our film list from the beginning of the year, the students unanimously picked two films that take a VERY different approach to the genre.

The students seemed to love the Parasite. For many, it was their first foreign film and first time watching a subtitled film (there was no English audio track so they had to watch subtitles). This is a very bright group of kids and we had an awesome discussion on the films themes, examination of the director’s style and use of cinematic techniques compared to American directors, as well as cultural distinctions between America and South Korea.

For the second film, for a good measure of juxtaposition, we started Stranger than Fiction directed by Marc Foster and starring Will Ferrell. Definitely not your typical Will Ferrell film (it isn’t crass or vulgar like The Candidate or Stepbrothers, Stranger than Fiction addresses topics such as life/death, what it means to live your life, not putting off activities that you’ve wanted to do, etc. The movie aside from mild language, there are some make-out scenes and suggestive language but that’s about it.

What’s new with Mr. Dudek?
It was yet another busy weekend for me. Peter had a volleyball game (they won and he made all his serves!), took Myla to dance class, set up video for the basketball games, went to a kids birthday party in Phoenix. This was all just Saturday. Sunday did some of the honey-do nesting projects Amanda wanted me to get started on, which isn’t easy when Raelynn is turning into such a daddy’s girl. Oh, and celebrated my birthday Friday night with some sushi and cake.

Have a great week roadrunners!
Mr. Dudek
pdudek@santancs.com