Movies, Culture, Language, Time, and New Perspectives, Tradition, Holidays

Movies provide amazing insights into time periods and cultures.  Movies in different languages offer perspectives that are otherwise invisible.  Turner Classic Movies provides a wealth of films that reflect some of the best America has had to offer.  As a teacher, I used the movie It's a Wonderful Life to introduce ideas about American culture--the great depression, World War II, small-town life, the evolution of industry.  The film is rich in all of these things.  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington offers English language learners a glimpse into the history of politics in the United States.

While fiction, many movies have become traditions and capture much of the culture of their times.  In my family, Thanksgiving (near the end of November) is the time for Miracle on 34th Street which begins with the Thanksgiving Day parade of Macy's department store in New York City.  We also watch White Christmas and Holiday Inn (two versions of the same movie), and are sure to see It's a Wonderful Life before Christmas.  Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol is also part of our holiday fare.  I saw a delightful new version in "Real 3D" of Disney's A Christmas Carol with Jim Carey earlier this week.

When I was learning Italian, I lived in Italy as a graduate student for six months and went to lots of Italian re-runs.  As the audience laughed themselves silly, I was struggling to keep up with the folow of the words.  Before long my Italian improved and I laughed along with the rest of the audience.  Many of the Italian films and much of the Italian humor differed greatly from what I was used to in American films.  It was delightful to get to know the movies in Italian.  One title I remember was very different in Italian and in English.  I believe it was an Italian western.  The Italian title was Giu la testa (keep your head down).  The same movie's title in English was Duck, Stupid! later changed to Duck, You Sucker!

Recently, to bring back my French fluency, I began watching French films from Netflix.  One movie is entitled Une hirondelle . . . a fait du printemps (The Girl from the Spring).  The English title for the same movie is The Girl from Paris.  The French title is much more in keeping with the theme of the movie though the girl does come from Paris.  Another French movie I have recently watched and enjoyed was Priceless.  Again, the culture and humor of the film is very different from typical American movies.

Watching familiar DVD's in other languages is also a great way to bring fluency back.  Many DVD's have sound tracks and closed captions in multiple languages and it is a great way to review and refresh fluency by working with a combination of oral and written languages with viewing the DVD's.   Some of my favorites to watch in multiple languages are Dave, French Kiss, One Fine Day, and Groundhog Day.