Ellington

I had a dream last night in which I was running through the halls of my high school with a wave of blood, like that from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” right on my heels. I made it to Annie Hall seeking refuge, upon whence I was promptly ushered to a table. I took my seat for a Dinner with Andre, noticing that he was not among the 12 Angry Men sitting across from me. David Lynch, however, was.

“You should try The Seventh Seal,” he said. “It’s Ingmar’s specialty.”

“Uh,” I said. “I think I’ll have the Killer Tomatoes.”

Lynch took a sip of Pabst Blue Ribbon from a wine glass.

“In all honesty, I’m really not that hungry,” I said. “I just had a snack at my hotel’s Rear Window.”

“You’re staying at the Marienbad?” he asked, and I nodded. Lynch slammed the wine glass down, spilling some Pabst on his Blue Velvet jacket. “Let me tell you about my Last Year at Marienbad —”

I woke up in ecstasy. I honestly can’t tell you what the dream means, except perhaps that I should consult a psychotherapist immediately, but I’ve had both film and high school on my mind quite a bit for the past week.

You see, earlier this month, an independent review panel in Britain published a report called “A Future for British Film.” Of the 56 recommendations the report makes, one in particular caught my eye: Begin including film studies in primary and secondary education. This will ensure that “audiences have an improved understanding and appreciation of the value of different kinds of film,” bettering “audience development” and bringing about “wider cultural, educational, and social benefits.”

For me, the prospect of including a film studies component to K-12 education is an exciting one, as film education for any country’s schoolchildren would fill a conspicuous void in today’s liberal-arts curriculum. The past century saw the rise, acceptance, and increasing pervasiveness of the cinema as a popular art form, and yet students must wait until the college level to begin any type of formal study.

Just like literature, visual art, and music, film is a complex medium with virtually limitless methods and modes of expression. Film history has already grown as labyrinthine and mature as that of the other arts in a fraction of the time. And just like the other arts, it takes years for a connoisseur to develop his or her individual tastes or level of appreciation. But unlike visual art, children are introduced to, and subsequently bombarded with, motion pictures at an early age, either in the form of children’s programming or standard television commercials or whatever new “family” film Disney decides to unleash upon the world.

A film curriculum could help school kids of all ages decipher the plethora of messages and ideas in this montage soup, just as English/language arts curriculums do with written media. Active reading and active viewing require the same processes, just applied to different forms. One of the best teachers I had in high school used film consistently to supplement our reading, to outstanding effect (Henry David Thoreau, meet Werner Herzog).

I think of how much better-informed the film-going public could be if they had some awareness of the colorful history of film as they do the history of literature, or at least its big names. If people had access to “classic” films at an early age, it could broaden their understanding of film as an art and introduce them to movies, directors, genres, or styles of great wonder and joy they would otherwise never have discovered.

But while the idea of high-schoolers discussing the mise-en-scène of Henri-Georges Clouzout’s “Le Corbeau” makes me giggle with glee, I am acutely aware that as small as the chance of our schools actually implementing a film curriculum is, it’s even less likely that it will be done so correctly. There’s always the risk of turning a student away from a film with over-analysis and draconian testing techniques; I’ve personally seen it happen too many times with the art of reading.

Is it possible that the benefits of a public more cognizant of film art outweigh this risk? I think so. I think if people were introduced to the art of film at an early age, it would lead them to more actively engage with cinema as they grew older. And that would do wonders for the film industry.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some more dreaming to do.

Reach Arts & Leisure Editor Robert Frankel at arts@dailyuw.com.