Exit Through the Gift Shop Part 2 (Movie & Questions)
"There's no one like Thierry, even though his art looks like everyone else's."
Exit Through the Gift Shop - Part 2 - Movie & Questions: Having the students watch half of this movie - at this point in the Unit serves two main purposes. One, it gives them a chance to read the Stephen Booth article on Shakespeare's Language - yes, there are movie questions but those are due after the final exam - they need these questions (and their answers to help them study).
The second reason for showing this film (Part 2) now, is to give them -as with Part 1 - some very real and practical uses for their new found literary analysis skills. Though they won't be answering the questions - they will be reading them and seeing how some of the ideas they've talked about - humanism, feminism, new historicism, Marxism, Text-Centered Criticisim - come into play.
As always, the movie questions are divided into two parts - questions to be answered now (direct, are-you-watching questions) and italicized questions to be answered later (much later in this case - which will also help them study for the Literary Criticism Final Exam).
Lesson Overview
Exit through the Gift Shop Part 2 - Movie & Questions
And today we finish the movie that we started on Day 4 of Literary Criticism - the movie questions, as per usual, contain two sets of questions. Those not in regular type face, they answer while they are watching the film (the questions are short and designed to keep them viewing and engaged). The other questions, in italics, are to be answered later. Now that the students have been exposed to all of the schools of Literary Criticism that we will be doing - they can answer questions that cross the gambit of all those approaches (some of the questions in Part 1 asked them to wait until they finished the movie to answer them).
Here are the instructions from the handout (from Part 1 - part 2 just fles right into the questions):
As you watch – note on a separate sheet of paper, any connections to any of the literary criticisms that you’ve studied. There are a LOT of italicized questions here – remember, only jot down the nonitalicized answers during the movie. I suggest you get Part 1 done by Thursday (while it is fresh in your memory, and after you have finished Topic 3, Author Intentionality) – except for those questions that require you to either finish the film or the unit on Literary Criticism. I will not collect it until we have seen the entire movie.
Some highlights from the questions (see the handout for more):
The Abu Gharib prision - and Banksy's efforts to highlight it - as applied to Marxist Literary Criticism
The "phoniness" of what is art
Thierry's film and Banksy's reaction to it.
How do critics and fans determine or actually "hurt" the idea of what is art?
Author intentionality as it applies to Thierry's show
Who is the joke on?
Connecting Mr. Brainwash's vapid and derivative art to No Fear Shakespeare and its ilk.
The Movie - Exit Through the Gift Shop
Here is the description taken from JustWatch (a site that tells you where a movie is streaming): "Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner." The trailer can be found here.
Handout: Movie Questions Part 2
Most Recent Handouts
The movie questions, as per usual, contain two sets of questions. Those not in regular type face, they answer while they are watching the film (the questions are short and designed to keep them viewing and engaged). The other questions, in italics, are to be answered later.
Audio Visual Content
Here is the link to JustWatch.com - where you can find where Exit Through the Gift Shop is streaming. And here is a link to Amazon where you can find physical media for the film.
Remote Enhancements
It is more than possible to watch films together with your class - usually that means having the video you are watching on your computer and sharing the screen with students. You can also keep the comment window open to share things with them (just don't get too distracting). You can also see if they are paying attention or not.
Students are instructed to put this rubric on the first page of their Literary Criticism Binders. There are two check-ins - two grades for this unit - both of them unannounced - so students should be up to date at all times. In addition to being a rubric - it breaks down in great detail - exactly what is expected of them - including how many questions (or readings) there are for each part of each day's entries: Readings for that Day (notes are graded), Questions for Today, Group Work Questions, and Solo Work.
Because you don't want to deprive students of their Journals during this unit - I usually do the first check-in (Grading) while they are watching the first part of Exit Through the Gift Shop - I will only collect as many as I can get graded during that time - and will grade the rest the next day - during the class period - asking them to take out the work and readings that they need for that class. The second check-in is not so rushed and I usually collect the binders after the Final Exam to grade them.
NOTE: I always gave students a chance to revise their binders (journals) if they did it BEFORE the final. I told them that I would change the grade they got for Check-In #1 (the only checkin that I offered this) to an average of their original grade with what they would have gotten with the revised journal. In other words, if they got a 50 on the first check-in - and then they revised it, gave it to me (before the final on Literary Criticism) - and the new assessment of their Journal lands them what would have been a 90 - I will change the recorded grade for that check-in to a 70.
So now comes the test of everything that has come before in this Unit. The quizzes were designed to see if the students did the reading - not if they understood it; the solo, group work, questions for today, the movie, the lecture, the readings - everything is designed to allow students to have an understanding - at least on a very fundamental level of Literary Criticism and this exam will determine whether that happened or not. Notice I said "allow them to have an understanding." You cannot force students to think - you cannot make them care about what they are learning. You can only give them every opportunity to do so. This exam includes questions on the entire Stephen Booth reading - though only 9 pages were assigned. By making the Total Possible Points of the Exam 400 points - while they can, if they get all of the multiple choice questions correct receive 450 points (by getting the nonrequired parts of the Stephen Booth reading correct). It's a quick and accurate way to give Extra Credit.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Literary Criticism Day 9 - Stephen Booth and Text-Centered Criticism
Thoughts on the Lesson
The students love this movie - and I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think they love it and appreciate it more because of these questions. They engage the students and give them a chance to use what they've just learned and apply it in a new and original way. Many years ago - a former student sent me an email and asked if I would make a few Movie Questions for the film, The Godfather. Her family had just watched it - and she missed the focusing and nourishing effect of the questions.