Teaching Kubrick - Group Discussion - Friday 19th July

Pedagogy became a recurrent theme over the course of the workshop, so a session was dedicated to it on Friday morning. This took the form of a led discussion. James Fenwick asked the participants why they teach Kubrick.

Daisy Baxter, a literature student, commented that her teacher chose Kubrick’s films because they lend themselves to textual analysis. Kubrick’s work is also a gateway to film studies in general. Kubrick is also a gateway into teaching more complex ideas, e.g. Nietzsche. His films still have resonance today, especially on the themes of environmentalism and violence. Nathan Abrams chose him for a course on Auteurs because his twelve films fitted neatly into a teaching semester. 

Jeremi Szaniawski discussed the idea of Kubrick as a “bad object” for film studies, especially in the US. Kubrick’s status as a great white male, his violence and perceived misogyny and the subject matter (especially rape) require that his films are accompanied by trigger warnings, or are sometimes not shown. There is a prejudice against Kubrick in the US as homophobic, racist etc. Far more problematic than this are those students who find the racism and homophobia funny. There is the question for educators of how to deal with this issue.

Kate McQuiston gave the analogy of music educators who must tackle Don Giovanni. The opera has had a #metoo moment in recent years (see, for example, the 2017 Musicology Now blog post, “Holding Don Giovanni Accountable” by Kristi Brown-Montesano). Rather than making Don Giovanni a bad object, tackling the issues of misogyny and rape head on has incited a much richer discourse around the opera. So perhaps Kubrick’s films can be treated in the same way? In relation to trigger warnings, it was noted that the website “Unconsenting Media” (https://www.unconsentingmedia.org/), is a good resource to which students can be directed. Those students who need trigger warnings can then find them independently. Rodney Hill stated that in principle he is against trigger warnings, but in practice he has learned to use them.

Nathan suggested as a possible essay question “Can Kubrick Studies be ‘woke?’” – especially given that film studies modules are often expected to be gender balanced. Karen Ritzenhoff has had success using Kubrick to teach a course on war propaganda, which also involves a class conversation with a veteran. Peter Kramer spoke about his course on Kubrick where Lobrutto’s biography was the only set text. The class watched Kubrick’s films in chronological order and then discussed them. Peter says that this is the best way to teach film but university faculties hate it. The lesson is to not try to explain the films in advance or anticipate the students’ response, but rather to watch them and talk about it. This allows the students to develop a critical appreciation of the films. Kate advised not to direct them too much: “We come in with so much knowledge and so many assumptions. We should not rob students of their discovery.”

By: Rod Munday

Rod Munday is lecturer of digital culture and gaming at the University of Aberystwyth. He has written A Dictionary of Media and Communication with Daniel Chandler (2011), and is writing a PhD on virtual reality, social interaction and space. Rod is also the curator of the Kubrick Site (http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/index.html).