Have any of you ever read a book then watched the movie adaptation and analyzed it the whole way through, deciding you either hated or loved the movie adaptation at the end? We are English Majors. Of course you all have. I started wondering about how I could take the movie adaptations of some of our favorite books and use them within the classroom. What I came up with is something similar to what I had in one of my high school English classes. The students will read the book or play. Lets say that they were reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. After they read the play, they will watch a movie version of Romeo and Juliet. Most people like to show the Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio version over the older versions and I would tend to agree. The Claire Danes version is more action packed and theatrical than the older version and will keep the students' attention easier. As the students watch the movie, have them keep a piece of paper folded vertically down the middle with a heading on the top left and the right listing the similarities and the differences between the movie and the play. They must have so many of each and be able to discuss these in class after watching the movie. This will make the students actively pay attention to their readings and the movie and be able to critically analyze the film and the play. You could also make the students pay attention and take notes on different filming techniques used within the film to convey a particular emotion or emphasis on detail and how that effects the reading of the play.
Have any of you ever done a classroom assignment like this? If so, what did you think of it?
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