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 the tools of cinema to create her dramatic interpretation of that history.

Concepts

film, film analysis, film making, civil rights, the civil rights movement, the voting rights act

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Additional Tags

visual and performing arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Assign the film for out-of-class viewing and then have class members read the historic accounts of the events
• After studying the marches, show the video, and then have class members re-watch and critique the 2014 film

Classroom Considerations

• The video begins with a warning that the episode features film clips that depiction graphic violence 
• The course is most appropriate for high school or college level film studies classes
• The third episode in the Crash Course Film Criticism playlist

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• The narrator analyzes how DuVernay frames and juxtaposes scenes to build the emotional impact of the film 

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.11-12.3 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.2 RH.11-12.10