You'd be hard-pressed to find someone under the age of 30 who hasn't heard of A Knight's Tale, particularly in light of the relatively recent death of its leading man Heath Ledger. But here's a question: do you remember the film's less-than-catchy catch phrase, "he will rock you?" Yes, for real. Follow the link above to the film's wiki and witness for yourself the movie poster featuring a stoic Heath Ledger (I beg someone to find as much humor in that facial expression as I do). The phrase is an ode to the film's opening scene, in which a jousting match closely parallels a modern-day sporting event. The crowd even does the wave to hair-metal band Queen's "We Will Rock You"-- hence the catch phrase. Please, enjoy a music break.
Once you have read the Wikipedia for A Knight’s Tale and familiarized yourself with the general ins and outs of its production, it will be your responsibility to watch the movie, read this article ("A Knight's Tale and the 'Modernization' of Popular History" by Jerffrey Badders), and make a post contributing to the related movie discussion, which I will kick off. DO read the article, but don't expect to remember or absorb every piece of information from it. If you can, reference it in your discussion. It will improve your ability to see the film from an historical view, rather than that of a regular movie-goer. I'll ask a couple of questions to get you started with the discussion, but I will expect each of you to keep up the pace. If you drop the ball I will not hesitate to drop your grade. Keep in mind that this is an informal forum setting and you will not be graded on your grammar or spelling, so don't spend your time or energy stressing over those things. Instead, focus your discussion in these posts on astute observations* about the films and their historical contexts (or lack thereof, as you will see) that might inspire additional comments from your peers.
Remember to ask questions if you have them! Make any comments you'd like, even if they are silly, but make sure that some of them have some substance.
I will be checking daily to answer questions and also so that I might give you credit for any work you've done.
*A note on astute observations... A simple observation might sound like this: "I didn't like the soundtrack." When you want to make a comment like this, ask yourself, "Okay, but why?" That sounds simple enough, but trust me... It isn't! I have written and edited countless research papers for all kinds of classes (Literature, Linguistics, History, Africana Studies, Biology, Architecture, Urban Planning, etc.) and it is never easy! You must ask yourself this question every single time you make a written statement of any kind. ..."Okay, but why didn't I like the soundtrack?" Then you must answer your own question. "I didn't like the soundtrack because it was not as creative as the rest of the film's production. While the director took many liberties with the authenticity of the costumes, he did not veer from tradition at all with the score." Then you must ask it again. ..."Okay, but why wouldn't the director take those creative liberties with the score?" If you don't have those answers for yourself, then ask the question out loud to someone else, and eventually a discussion will build between you and your classmates. If, however, you never elaborate on your observations by asking yourself this then there won't be anything on which to build!
(An additional note, as you are all seniors: when you enter the college classroom, you will be expected to write like this, with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and a well-developed sense of style. Most of your communication with your professors in college will be written, and it is crucial that you are able to communicate confidently through your writing. Our goals for this class will be not only to learn about history in film but also to become aware of the potential technological and written communication challenges of an online college course.)
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone under the age of 30 who hasn't heard of A Knight's Tale, particularly in light of the relatively recent death of its leading man Heath Ledger. But here's a question: do you remember the film's less-than-catchy catch phrase, "he will rock you?" Yes, for real. Follow the link above to the film's wiki and witness for yourself the movie poster featuring a stoic Heath Ledger (I beg someone to find as much humor in that facial expression as I do). The phrase is an ode to the film's opening scene, in which a jousting match closely parallels a modern-day sporting event. The crowd even does the wave to hair-metal band Queen's "We Will Rock You"-- hence the catch phrase. Please, enjoy a music break.
Once you have read the Wikipedia for A Knight’s Tale and familiarized yourself with the general ins and outs of its production, it will be your responsibility to watch the movie, read this article ("A Knight's Tale and the 'Modernization' of Popular History" by Jerffrey Badders), and make a post contributing to the related movie discussion, which I will kick off. DO read the article, but don't expect to remember or absorb every piece of information from it. If you can, reference it in your discussion. It will improve your ability to see the film from an historical view, rather than that of a regular movie-goer. I'll ask a couple of questions to get you started with the discussion, but I will expect each of you to keep up the pace. If you drop the ball I will not hesitate to drop your grade. Keep in mind that this is an informal forum setting and you will not be graded on your grammar or spelling, so don't spend your time or energy stressing over those things. Instead, focus your discussion in these posts on astute observations* about the films and their historical contexts (or lack thereof, as you will see) that might inspire additional comments from your peers.
Remember to ask questions if you have them! Make any comments you'd like, even if they are silly, but make sure that some of them have some substance.
I will be checking daily to answer questions and also so that I might give you credit for any work you've done.
*A note on astute observations...
A simple observation might sound like this: "I didn't like the soundtrack."
When you want to make a comment like this, ask yourself, "Okay, but why?"
That sounds simple enough, but trust me... It isn't! I have written and edited countless research papers for all kinds of classes (Literature, Linguistics, History, Africana Studies, Biology, Architecture, Urban Planning, etc.) and it is never easy! You must ask yourself this question every single time you make a written statement of any kind.
..."Okay, but why didn't I like the soundtrack?"
Then you must answer your own question.
"I didn't like the soundtrack because it was not as creative as the rest of the film's production. While the director took many liberties with the authenticity of the costumes, he did not veer from tradition at all with the score."
Then you must ask it again.
..."Okay, but why wouldn't the director take those creative liberties with the score?"
If you don't have those answers for yourself, then ask the question out loud to someone else, and eventually a discussion will build between you and your classmates. If, however, you never elaborate on your observations by asking yourself this then there won't be anything on which to build!
(An additional note, as you are all seniors: when you enter the college classroom, you will be expected to write like this, with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and a well-developed sense of style. Most of your communication with your professors in college will be written, and it is crucial that you are able to communicate confidently through your writing. Our goals for this class will be not only to learn about history in film but also to become aware of the potential technological and written communication challenges of an online college course.)