Table of contents for Winter 2015 (78) in Screen Education

That Sugar Film (Damon Gameau, 2014) is openly geared towards creating dialogue about our health, food choices and changing ideas about what constitutes ‘healthy eating’. Its title plays on this expectation, anticipating that viewers will continue talking about the documentary after seeing it, and it is presented in a dynamic and entertaining way in order to make it a valuable tool for teaching nutrition and food sciences to middle years and senior students. Moreover, the accessibility of the subject matter opens up opportunities for film analysis and critical thinking whereby students feeling challenged by the message of the film can examine its construction, genre, style and persuasive techniques, assess the success of these features, and weigh them up against the importance and significance of its agenda, pedagogical purpose, and audience…

It’s not often that we get a female hero headlining a show, and it’s even rarer for such a hero to be a person of colour. But that’s exactly what we get in Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra ( TLOK ), a 2010s American cartoon that models its visuals and narrative form on anime. The titular Korra is the latest reincarnation of the Avatar, a powerful figure who can control all four elements in a fictional world where people can ‘bend’ only one or none at all. Throughout the show, we watch as Korra masters water, earth, fire and air (along with other skills, in the process), and clashes with opponents including the Equalists (who wish to ‘cleanse’ the world of bending), a…

The Ren & Stimpy Show , often remembered simply as Ren & Stimpy , is an American children’s cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon from 1991 until 1995, with fifty-two episodes across five seasons. The main characters – temperamental chihuahua Ren and dimwitted cat Stimpy – were conceived by the show’s original developer, John Kricfalusi, for his own amusement. Over time, however, they have become iconic along with the show itself, which has a timeless quality as the writers consciously avoided making jokes specific to the period. Ren & Stimpy was nominated for several Emmys, with audiences drawn to its classic Looney Tunes feel and twist of ‘post-modern animation zaniness’. 1  The animation has a visceral quality to…

CENTENARY EVENTS LISTING WWI is currently the focus of a raft of activities and events to mark the centenary of the conflict, which lasted from 1914 to 1918. The IWM established the First World War Centenary Partnership to encourage commemoration, discussion and reflection on the event. For more information, visit <www.1914.org>. NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA The National Archives of Australia (NAA) has created extensive online resources specifically for teachers, including the Discovering Anzacs website, a collaboration between Archives New Zealand and the NAA. Students can access a collection of the digitised service records of every Australian and New Zealand serviceman and servicewoman who enlisted – there are more than 400,000 records. The database can be searched by name or location, the latter allowing students to find out about those who…

The camera sweeps over vast landscapes of waste and urban sprawl. Nature has long disappeared; there is no greenery to be seen. High-rises are overcrowded and collapsing under the weight of too many bodies. Accompanying these grim images are the sounds of sirens – not seductive mythological creatures, but electronic, bodiless emergency alarms. Superimposed over this bleak scene is the statement: ‘In the late 21st century Earth was diseased, polluted and vastly overpopulated.’ The film then cuts to a shot that captures the spherical shape of Earth from the vantage point of space. Another statement appears on screen informing us that ‘Earth’s wealthiest inhabitants fled the planet to preserve their way of life’. More fast-paced aerial shots then reveal another realm, one that is pristine, and bountiful in its plant…

SYDNEY FILM SCHOOL The information listed here relates to the courses on offer in 2015, and is intended as a guide only. Courses and/or fees may be subject to change. Established in 2004 by a team of filmmakers and teachers, Sydney Film School (SFS) is a private training institution offering practice-based courses in film production. Located in the inner-city suburb of Waterloo, the school houses a production studio and 100-seat cinema, and provides students with access to a raft of industry-standard equipment including numerous digital and 16mm film cameras, lighting equipment, grip equipment and post-production facilities with industry-standard software. Admission to SFS’ diploma-level course is very open, with no prior experience in or knowledge of film required. This makes the school a particularly attractive option for those wanting to learn…

For much of the past two decades, living rooms across Australia have been bathed in the glow of The Simpsons every weeknight at six o’clock (and several times over the weekend). It has become part of not only our collective routine but also family dynamics across the world; earlier this year nearly 2000 Bolivians protested a change in the program’s daily slot. This familiarity means that very little of The Simpsons’ cultural weight is not exploited. It seems that almost everything about the twentieth century has been referenced in some way over the show’s twenty-six-year history, making it a veritable goldmine for teachers. A study of surrealism can be enriched by one particular gem from The Simpsons’ eighth…

The best children’s television always had an air of barely restrained anarchy. Such was the case with British spy pastiche Danger Mouse . Created by legendary animation house Cosgrove Hall Productions from 1981 to 1992, the show’s 161 episodes (ranging in length from five minutes to half an hour) always felt gloriously out of place alongside the dominant, largely American cartoon fodder. Unlike the platitudinous Hanna-Barbera shows or the merchandise-spruiking He-Man or Transformers , Danger Mouse was irreverent, inventive and frequently laugh-out-loud funny. It didn’t hurt that both the titular character and the narrator were voiced by the great David Jason (also known to a generation of kids as Count Duckula and Toad of Toad Hall).…

A century after the start of World War I, we are awash with exhibitions, artworks, books, films and TV series about the Great War. From Paul Cummins and Tom Piper’s extraordinary artwork Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red1 to the Nine Network’s Gallipoli series, the stories of those who served in WWI are coming to our screens and our public places at a rate designed to catch and intensely hold our collective attention. Two television series arrived near the beginning of the planned four-year period of remembrance that look at WWI from a refreshing perspective. The ABC’s Anzac Girls and the BBC’s The Crimson Field present the WWI experience from the perspective of the female nurses serving on the front. The contribution of nurses in the battlefields was significant,…

There has been much written and said on the Anzac legend and its role in creating an Australian identity. The tragic Gallipoli campaign has often been discussed in relation to the Australian ideals of mateship, courage and ingenuity in the face of overwhelming odds. Despite being a great military failure for ANZAC and other Allied troops, the emphasis on bravery and sacrifice at Gallipoli has been so constant and powerful that many commentators have focused solely on the aspirational, heroic aspects of the campaign, turning it into an indisputable point of pride. Among the nation-building rhetoric and the nostalgic commemorations are the very real and painful stories of human loss. The conflict in Gallipoli cost thousands of lives and damaged many more, as survivors were left with emotional, psychological and…

This dichotomous tension between the macabre and the mundane is integral to the appeal of David Lynch and his films. Born in Montana in 1946, Lynch has been described variously as ‘bizarrely normal’,2 ‘Jimmy Stewart from Mars’3 and ‘the first populist Surrealist – a Frank Capra of Dream logic’,4 each suggesting the man’s trademark combination of folksy charm and confronting experimentation. It’s easy, if reductive, to classify Lynch’s filmography as ‘weird’. His body of work exists on a continuum of weirdness from the disorienting phantasmagoria of Inland Empire (2006) to the straightforward naturalism of The Straight Story (1999). From his phenomenally successful television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991), to the erotically charged thriller Blue Velvet (1986), to the sharp, surrealistic satire of Mulholland Drive (2001), Lynch’s oeuvre balances on – and…

Few films have prompted such widespread and sustained obsession as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). It is a film that audiences return to again and again. Indeed, this horror classic only becomes more mystifying and mysterious with each viewing, just as the director himself has confounded and delighted his devoted followers, for whom he represents the paragon of auteurism. With 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Kubrick had acquired an unprecedented air of portentousness for a Hollywood filmmaker. Each subsequent film was keenly awaited as an intellectual object to be scrutinised and discussed. After media condemnation over copycat violence stemming from A Clockwork Orange (1971) – an early precursor to the ‘video nasty’ moral panic – Kubrick’s subsequent work, Barry Lyndon (1975), was a sprawling, stately period adaptation of William Makepeace…

Based on Takako Shimura’s manga, the first to be included in the American Library Association’s Rainbow List (of books recommended for LGBT teens), Wandering Son introduces, to quote the series’ English-language publisher, Nitori, ‘a boy who wants to be a girl’, and Takatsuki, ‘a girl who wants to be a boy’. The series’ beginning is awash with the delicate pink hues that are so characteristic of spring in Japan; the cherry blossom is symbolic of change and transience in Japanese culture and here signals the arrival of the transformation that Nitori and Takatsuki are about to undertake. The main plot revolves around fairly typical school scenarios: a love triangle, between Nitori, Takatsuki and Chiba, a cisgender girl who has feelings for Nitori; their school’s annual cultural…

Adventure Time , the Cartoon Network series created by Pendleton Ward, is ubiquitous. Almost every primary school kid I know is obsessed with the adventures of Jake the dog and Finn the human. The characters, stories and relationships have escaped the confines of TV and now saturate the cultural landscapes of primary schoolchildren (and quite a few adults, too). The Ooovian characters can be found in video games, on lunchboxes and on clothing, and the series seems to be the birthday party theme of the year. So what is it about this talking dog and his adopted human brother that garners such devotion? Part of the appeal lies in the dreamy yet loopy hand-drawn animation style. Another compelling factor is the ever-expanding mythology of the Candy Kingdom, in the…

Susanna Nelson: Why is WWI still considered ‘the war that changed the world’? Nigel Steel: The scale and intensity of WWI was different from anything the world had ever seen before. The industrialisation of battle, with quick-firing weapons consuming vast quantities of munitions, was shocking. It resulted in a widespread stalemate and the trench warfare that has come to characterise and define WWI. Over 9 million soldiers were killed in battle or died of wounds. Millions more were wounded, many carrying the consequences for the rest of their lives. This changed the way almost everyone thought not only about war, but also life itself. Social relationships between nations, classes and the sexes were all re-examined. As a result of the fighting, kings and emperors were forced off their thrones, empires…

The canon of Gothic literature, comprised as it is by horror and romanticism intertwined, gave birth to several stories considered classics. Using fearful concepts and frightening imagery to conjure moody contemplations of man and mortality, the genre has captured imaginations both then and now. One of the movement’s most seminal and enduring works stemmed from the pen of Mary Shelley, offering her take on life beyond the traditional bounds of death. Her tale Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus gave voice to the inherent anxieties of the human condition, its creation and constancy, and the reality that the state of being is both fleeting and impermanent. From its first anonymous publication in 1818, Frankenstein elicited intrigue through its titular scientist’s quest to revive the deceased – and the renunciation of his…

Now in its third year, Odyssey Film Festival offers VCE students in Geelong the chance to have their films shown on the big screen, an opportunity that previously only came along for them in the form of Melbourne’s Top Screen. Trent Edwards, VCE Media teacher at Lara Secondary College, and Mardi Janetzki, Youth Development Officer at the City of Greater Geelong, paired up to make the festival a reality after realising there were few opportunities for Years 11 and 12 students to have their hard work appreciated, beyond receiving their ATAR score. ‘It’s that inclusivity that we’re incorporating or wanting to adopt and portray a little bit more,’ Edwards says. ‘There are over 500 films that go into Top Screen every year and that gets cut down to twelve. We…

International Film School Sydney (IFSS) was established in 2005, and has since been acquired by JMC Academy. Co-located with the Actors College of Theatre and Television in Surry Hills, IFSS enables students to cast for their numerous course productions from campus. Housed in purpose-designed facilities, the school provides students with access to flexible studio and classroom spaces, numerous theatres for screenings, Foley- and audio-recording rooms, and a range of state-of-the-art equipment, including RED digital cameras and industry-standard software. Admission is relatively open at IFSS, with no prior skills or training in screen production necessary for entry. With an emphasis on practice-based learning, IFSS aims to equip graduates with the necessary skills to begin a career in the film and TV industries. COURSES In 2015, IFSS offers two Advanced Diploma–level courses…

Eve Harrington’s (Anne Baxter) outrageous deception might form the dramatic core of Joseph L Mankiewicz’s 1950 satire All About Eve, but she is far from the only character to perpetrate – and suffer from – delusion. With a Shakespearean prowess for apportioning blame, Mankiewicz places Eve at the centre of a community in which few are to be trusted and the lines between appearances and reality are blurred. Her ruthless ambition is not only enacted through her own manipulations, but also enhanced by the dishonesty and jealousy of others – much like that of Othello’s Iago. Nearly everyone is culpable, from the characters who practise minor deceits in their relationships, to those who tell outright lies, to those who fool themselves, to fickle audiences obsessed with fame and glamour. From…