Hindsight

Classic Kids, or 100 films the kids in your life have to see by 13 or else!

Day 31:

It is a difficult day with the news from Boston, so I thought perhaps something to remind us that, although there is ugliness, there is also great beauty on the planet.  I see Charlie Chaplin films as part of this beauty.  When the Sandy hook event happened, and after John and I talked with our children about it, making sure they knew they were safe; the girls and I sat down and watched a marathon of Keaton and Chaplin films.  I know it helped them, particularly since Chaplin films are so touchingly sweet.  The silent films are also good, because new readers get a challenge.  I know Joelle's reading vastly improved because she liked silent films, from the time she was a little girl. I will eventually get to Keaton, but today here is my recommendation.

Day 31:  "City Lights" and "the Gold Rush" for the older kids and for the younger do a collection of shorts, look for titles such as "the Rink," The Pawnshop, "the kid" and "the Vagabond."

Make sure that you watch these films on 'good' quality DVDs, there are some VHS versions out there that are really sub-par.  If you can view these films on the big screen all the better, the Duck Soup series if wonderful.  The season is over, but here is the link:
http://overturecenter.com/community/duck-soup-cinema

Themes:  Beauty, Fairness,  Friendship, the Absurd, Persistence and Love

Media Literacy questions for kids:  How are Charlie Chaplin films similar, and yet also different than Buster Keaton films?  Where does Charlie Chaplin fit as a personality within the history of American Cinema?  Why are his movies funny?