Crash Course
Apocalypse Now
A heart attack, threats of suicide, drug-fueled parties, typhoons, over 250 hours of film footage, two years of editing, Academy, Palme d'Or, and Golden Globe awards. It's time to discuss Apocalypse Now! The narrator of this...
Crash Course
Lost in Translation
The narrator of a film criticism episode on Sofia Coppola's bittersweet Lost In Translation asks viewers to consider the many aspects of relationships that Coppola suggests are lost in translation.
Crash Course
Pan's Labyrinth
Guillermo del Toro's beautiful and bloody Pan's Labyrinth, a fantasy adventure/political drama, is the focus of the ninth episode of a film criticism playlist. The narrator looks at the film through two interpretative lenses: as a story...
Crash Course
Do the Right Thing
Did Mookie do the right thing? Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing, which discusses race violence and community, leaves viewers to decide. The cogent analysis of a film criticism video examines not only Lee's filmmaking techniques...
Crash Course
In the Mood for Love
English-speaking viewers don't need to read the subtitles to understand Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood For Love. The colors, the music, and the framing of the shots so beautifully express the emotions of the characters that dialogue, in any...
Crash Course
Where Are My Children
Lois Weber's ground breaking Where Are My Children is the focus of a film criticism video that explores not only Weber's treatment of the subject of abortion but also the techniques she developed to enhance the impact of her tale.
Crash Course
Selma
The 2014 film Selma is the focus of a film criticism video. The narrator examines how director Ava DuVernay brought to the screen the story of the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and how she uses...
Crash Course
Aliens
A playlist on film analysis and criticism continues with an analysis of James Cameron's 1986 sci-fi action classic Aliens, as well as why it is deserving of a place on a list of great films.
Crash Course
Citizen Kane
What's your favorite movie? Citizen Kane (1941) leads off a playlist on film criticism playlist that examines films that hold up due to their historical context and/or quality and deserve a spot on a best films list.
Macat
An Introduction to Charles Darwin’s On The Origin Of Species
Macat introduces viewers to one of the key ideas in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species with a short video that models how natural selection influences evolutionary change.
Macat
An Introduction to Sun Tzu's The Art of War
The heart of Sun Tzu's text, The Art of War, is about subduing the enemy without fighting. Introduce viewers to China's famous military strategist and philosopher with a short video that provides an overview of his ideas.
Macat
An Introduction to Confucius's Analects
Wisdom, self-knowledge, courage, and virtue. Introduce viewers to the ideas of Confucius with a short video analysis of his Analects, his guide for a moral society.
Macat
An Introduction to Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow
Is the War on Drugs responsible for the inordinate number of black Americans sent to prison for non-violent drug offensives? That's MIchelle Alexander's contention in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of...
TED-Ed
The Tragic Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice
Don't look back! Introduce viewers to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with a short video that recounts the tale of the young poet and his love.
TED-Ed
Why Should You Read Charles Dickens?
Prisons, orphanages, slums, workhouses. Such are the settings of Charles Dickens' novels. Why would anyone (except for literature teachers, perhaps) want to read these tales? Find out why with a short video that explores the allure of...
Crash Course
Designing the World of Film
Some jobs in film production are more obvious than others. The director directs, the cinematographer films, and the special effects people create those tricky effects. But who designs the mise-en-scene, who structures the set, and who...
Crash Course
To Film School or Not To Film School
Conservatory approach or liberal arts film approach? Or self-taught? That is the question prospective filmmakers must decide when considering a film school. A helpful video ponders whether it's better to study a single craft within the...
TED-Ed
Why Should You Read James Joyce's "Ulysses"?
What is Bloomsday? Why would thousands travel to Dublin on this day to visit sites depicted in a novel that is ridiculously hard to read? Why even bother with reading such a book? Find out by viewing a short video that suggests the...
Fuse School
Types of Chemical Industries
Four percent of the world's CO2 emissions come from the chemical industry. The video discusses the environmental impact of industry. From using non-renewable resources, requiring high levels of energy, to polluting the ground, water, and...
Macat
An Introduction to W.E.B Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk
Introduce your class to the ideas of W.E.B. Du Bois with a short video that presents the key ideas in the essays collected in The Souls of Black Folk. Published in 1903, it details the early civil rights leader's ideas about the...
Macat
An Introduction to Frantz Fanon's Black Skin White Masks
Imagine being forced to assimilate: giving up your language and culture, adopting the traditions of your oppressors. Frantz Fanon's study of colonial domination is the focus of a short video that introduces viewers to the key ideas in...
Macat
An Introduction to Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince
Can a person use any means, even immoral ones, to achieve a goal if the goal is nobel? Are ethics and effectiveness separate? Introduce viewers to Niccolò Machiavelli's ideas about virtu, necessita, and fortuna with a short,...
TED-Ed
How Did Dracula Become the World's Most Famous Vampire?
What has copyright law have to do with the Dracula, the most famous vampire in history? Check out the twisted tale of how a fight over the royalty rights to Bram Stoker's novel gave immortality to the blood sucker.
Macat
An Introduction to Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex
Simone de Beauvoir is considered one of the first feminist philosophers and her book, The Second Sex, is known as one of the most important treatises on feminism. Introduce young philosophers to Beauvoir's ideas with a short video...