Learning through cinema
By TABASSUM MODI Executive Director, EduMedia What have you learnt today?” If you have kids, ask them this simple question and you will get them thinking, expressing and most importantly understanding that there is learning involved at every stage in life. Learning isn’t restricted to classrooms. We have opportunities to learn all around us, but our kids have to be taught how to look for them. They don’t develop this skill naturally. It is up to you, to help them by simply asking this question to them every day, and especially outside the context of formal schooling. An easy way to start asking this question is at the movies. When it comes to children, screen-based media gets a bad rap. Blamed for everything from encouraging violence to wrong values, television and movies are not the first thing that usually come to parents’ minds when seeking for educational opportunities or learning for children. You can’t really blame parents given the state of our current television content for kids, but that doesn’t mean all audio visual content is bad. I believe it is time to remind parents of the ‘magic of cinema’. Ask someone, “What was the first movie you ever saw at the movie theater as a kid?” and a nostalgic smile is sure to light up one’s face at the memory of the awe-inspiring, life changing experience. Films are an entertaining learning platform for children. Films can be magical to a child — given its ability to transport young, imaginative minds to other worlds, engaging them in fantasy and giving them characters to root for and relate to. Yes, there are the mindless car chases, and shoot ‘em up violence in many of our modern day movies, but there are also many moving stories with profound life lessons. Your child could learn the value of never giving up and teamwork from Apollo 13, about prejudice, fear, compassion, and love from Remember the Titans, Phenomenon and Crash and the value of facing their fears, taking small steps to success, and finding and accepting help from The King’s Speech. Films can help educate and inspire kids, teaching them empathy and igniting their passions. Who doesn’t remember rooting for Shahrukh’s hockey girls in Chak De! India or feeling deeply moved by Stanley’s character in Stanley ka Dabba? Movies have the power to revolutionize a child’s thoughts. It is a disappointing scenario that schools in India do not consider films as a path of education. Children who do after-school activities have more confidence, see the world in different ways and have a stronger sense of identity. I think that stories, and the telling of stories, is the foundation of human communication and understanding. Then why are we not yet receptive about learning from movies? As a child, I was inspired by the children’s animated flick Bambi. I kept wondering how one movie can hold together so many human emotions and simultaneously strike a chord with its audience. Of course it’s possible. You can find inspiration from a movie and its characters. This is the reason why I’ve created numerous short movies for children with distinctive characters. When we made “The Finish Line”, we focused on a sports background because I believe that sports movies leave an indelible impression on people. The struggle accompanied with the fun of the games and the last minute gasps make sports’ movies a wonderful learning experience forchildren and adults. To see “The Finish Line” bag a National Award was the icing on the cake for me and the entire team who worked on it. Cinema for me is a parallel world where your dreams come true, the good guys always win and anything is possible. Feedback: tabassum@edumediaindia.com
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