This article explores the fates of two queens who reigned in neighbouring kingdoms in the 16th century. Both linked and opposed, they had to rule in a man’s world, in a conflict-ridden society, where religious and political unrest were rife and conspiracy and treason were the norm. Through the new biopic, Mary Queen of Scots, … Continue reading “Two Queens”
If Beale Street Could Talk, a love story set in 1970s Harlem, is the first English-language film adapted from one of James Baldwin’s novels. This video and interactive book can be used in class to explore Baldwin’s work and the film. It is a romance but also an ode to loving family bonds. And it … Continue reading “Love in Harlem: Teaching Tools”
Films about Stuart queens are like buses — there are none for ages, then two together, just in time for the Oscars. Mary Queen of Scots and her descendant Queen Anne are both gracing our screens in radically different biopics, both diverging from history as it has traditionally been portrayed. The Favourite portrays the reign … Continue reading “Queens on Screen”
If Beale Street Could Talk, one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films has impeccable credentials: the first English-language film adapted from one of James Baldwin’s novels, it was both adapted and directed by Barry Jenkins, who won the 2017 Best Picture Oscar for Moonlight. Like Moonlight, and Baldwin’s work, it is centered on a working-class African-American … Continue reading “Love in Harlem”
Green Book — winner of the 2019 Best Picture Oscar —is a road movie about friendship and race relations in the 1960s American South. The biopic is based on a real story: In 1964, Dr Don Shirley, a virtuoso classical pianist, was booked to play a series of concerts across the Deep South. Dr Shirley … Continue reading “On the Road with the Green Book”
The Hate U Give is a bestselling young-adult novel and now a new film. The carefully nuanced novel, written in part from experience by young African-American author Angie Thomas, gives a fascinating insight into the life of a teenager caught between two worlds: the mostly black neighbourhood where she lives and the mostly white private … Continue reading “The Hate U Give”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had quite a year. The Supreme Court Justice has been the focus of a biopic and a documentary, which has been nominated for an Oscar. At 85, and despite frail health, Bader Ginsburg seems to have reached greater influence than she ever imagined. The 85-year-old is the doyenne of the Supreme … Continue reading “Myth and Hero”
The biopic about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is excellent for discussing gender issues in this class. This short clip should really get students talking. It’s suitable from B1+, as there is a lot of implicit content. It’s a scene from early in the film, On the Basis of Sex. It’s 1956, and Ruth … Continue reading “Teaching with Film: Ruth Bader Ginsburg”
This A2 article about musicals and the tradition of high school performances in the USA should be of particular interest to those among your students who may have seen the exhibition in Paris, but also to any student with a taste for films or music. As usual, the document is but a starting point for … Continue reading “Musicals”
The new biopic about Oscar Wilde’s final years after leaving prison takes its ironic title from one of the children’s stories he wrote for his sons. The film, written, directed and starring Rupert Everett has a wonderful supporting cast (Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson.) This B2 downloadable resource includes work on an article about … Continue reading “Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince”