Before the Hayes Code was enacted, movies were a lot more brazen than we sometimes tend to think. Director/Producer Lois Weber spent much of her career making movies that challenged audiences. Her film, "Where Are My Children" is no...

Beasts of No Nation is available to stream on Netflix (as it is a Netflix release). Some films are about war, some films are about kids, but some films are about kids during a time of war. Even more upsetting are films about kids who...

Well, here we are. It's the final episode of Crash Course Film Criticism and we're going to chat about one of the more polarizing films ever made: Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. On the surface, 2001 tells the story of human...

The Toronto International Film Festival, or simply TIFF, as it's commonly called, is a large film event held mid-September each year in Toronto, Ontario. With screenings held at various venues in Toronto, learn. how attendees must...

The1890s marked the early days of film exhibition, when some of the first popular films of prize fights were shown in large auditoriums. This era laumched the beginning of the moviegoing experience, evolving from small, individual...

Politics is boring until you see how it can directly affect your life!

This lesson explores the theme of Politics in Stephen Daldry’s film Billy Elliot. Discover the important ‘subplot’ of the UK miners’ strike of the 1980’s - a...

Art isn’t a frivolous past-time - it heals and transforms people’s lives!

This lesson explores the theme of The Power of Art in Stephen Daldry’s film Billy Elliot. Discover the way Billy’s passion for ballet changes his life and...

Watch this lesson to continue learning the art of building paragraphs. Your next essay on Stephen Daldry’s film Billy Elliot will rise to the top of the pack!

This time, we will show you how to structure your analysis of the themes...

It was tough times in Northern England in the 1980’s!

Watch this video to learn about the historical context of Stephen Daldry’s acclaimed film Billy Elliot (2000). We explain the history of the UK miners’ strike of 1984-1985 and...

Be inspired by a Northern English working-class lad who defies the odds!

This lesson explores the theme of Poverty and Social Class in Stephen Daldry’s film Billy Elliot. Discover how Billy pursues his love of ballet despite his...

Families can be a source of joy and major frustration! Sometimes our friendships provide safe sanctuary during stormy family conflict. This lesson explores the theme of Family and Friendship in Stephen Daldry’s film Billy Elliot. All...

Boxing is for boys and ballet is for girls, right? Wrong!

This lesson explores the theme of Gender in Stephen Daldry’s film Billy Elliot. Discover how Billy defies social stigma and out-dated stereotypes by pursuing his passion for...

Watch this lesson to learn the art of building top-notch paragraphs for an essay on Stephen Daldry’s film Billy Elliot!

We will show you how to structure your analysis of the themes of Family & Friendship and Politics. You will...

Welcome to working-class Northern England in 1984. Life is tough, especially for coal miners and their families as the UK miners’ strike drags on. Against this harsh backdrop, 11-year-old Billy Elliot has just discovered his love for...

Russia went and had a revolution in 1917 and cinema was a big part of its aftermath. Even though film stock was hard to come by, we saw the first film school started, and the study of film became hugely important. Russian filmmakers...

Well, they're not really "magic." Maybe "illusion" is a better way to say it. As we begin this journey of the history of cinema, we need to understand how movies trick our brains into even understanding that a movie is a movie. In this...

It's a new series in Crash Course Film as Michael Aranda takes the reins as host for the next 15 weeks to talk about Film Criticism.

Scott Higgins is a professor and chair of the College of Film and the Moving Image at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. He teaches courses about film history, genre, and aesthetics. He is the author of Harnessing the...

If you go and see your doctor or a therapist, you’ll become a ‘case’ to them. They’ll want to know a lot more about you. Similarly, sociological case studies involve putting a social group, an event or a place ‘under the microscope’....

This film, illustrated by the case of Susan ""Genie"" Wiley, offers a brief history of case study research and examines the strengths and limitations of the research method.

Roland Barthes' From Work to Text is a seminal essay which lays out why, in the humanities, we have come to refer to pieces of literature, films and many other things using the catch-all term "text". Because, we refer a lot to...

TEDmakes a documentary films that explore trauma

Now that Richard has been crowned King Richard III, he becomes obsessed with holding onto his power. How far will he go to secure his stolen crown? Pretty darn far! But there are a few things Richard didn’t count on – the curse of old...

Things are tense in the royal household. The Queen’s relatives and sons are in grave danger as Richard ramps up his plot for the English crown. Richard’s talent for deceit is his main weapon in his war against all those who stand in his...