February 18, 2005What You Talking About, Zimmer-Man?by David A. Zimmerman I've entered a new season of life with the publication of my book Comic Book Character: I'm now talking a lot. Not that I wasn't already talking a lot; now, however, people seem to invite it. At least that's how I justify myself at the end of each day of talking. Not long ago I talked for two and a half hours to a captive audience of middle schoolers who were only mildly interested in comic books and even less interested in punctuation but who nevertheless very graciously indulged my long-windedness. (Case in point: that last sentence was forty words long.) In preparation for the event the kids wrote down questions for me to answer, which I systematically ignored during my presentation. I hereby repent of my neglect and answer the questions that weren't addressed over the course of our vociferous day together. 1. Who Help You Do Your Work. 2. How Do You Make a Book? 3. How Did You Become So Popular? Do You Have Powers? What Kind of Powers Do You Have? 4. Are You Hairy? I think that's enough questions for now. I'd forgotten what an, um, adventure middle school can be. Posted by Dave Zimmerman
at February 18, 2005 9:01 AM
Dave, I'm getting trendy and getting my own blog up and running in my spare time. www.cinemaschool.blogspot.com A resource for teachers that want to use movies to help teach lessons in their classrooms. As it's new I'm trying to get some traffic through to acutally justify the time I spend on it. What kind of traffic do you get through Strangley Dim? I'd also appreciate any suggestions/comments as I have only a handful of films that I used in classroom lessons. Anything that's a favorite film that has some great themes that would justify showing it in school? Thanks. Comment by: Steve at February 28, 2005 8:13 AMHey Steve: Great to hear from you as always. All the film texts I'm coming up with are theological treatments or have an evangelical orientation that wouldn't probably fly in the public school classroom. I'll list them anyway: Hollywood Worldviews: Includes film-specific discussion questions at the end of each chapter. St. Paul Goes to the Movies: Haven't read it, but it's spoken highly of, as is Reel Spirituality: which I also haven't read. Reading Is Believing: This book, which I still haven't read (I DO read, believe it or not) looks at literature and film from a spiritual perspective. The films are more off the beaten path than those highlighted by the other books. The Myth of the American Superhero: I read this! The book critiques the American hero myth--a loner who comes out of the shadows, practices "redemptive violence," then rides off into the sunset. I didn't agree with every interpretation, but it takes some very popular characters to task--from Rambo to Dirty Harry to Neo and on and on. There's a downloadable discussion guide based on my book at ivpress.com/zimmer-man. It moves from specific superhero films into character studies from the Bible. The format might be helpful for classroom use. Great service you're offering, Steve. Comment by: dave at March 2, 2005 8:40 AMim a lurker coming out to say hello Comment by: trannies at March 27, 2005 1:57 AMHey, Trannies. Thanks for coming out of hiding. Hope you like Strangely Dim. Sorry for all the grody spam, but what can you do? Comment by: Dave at March 28, 2005 9:41 AMComments are closed for this entry. |
|
Comments