Videographic Pedagogy: Some Sort of Freedom
This unpublished video essay is an example of the type of critical videographic exercise I use in the classroom. Note that this piece is not overly explanatory, and benefits from a knowledge of the three films used, such as would come from a classroom setting.
This video essay exercise began with an observation: these three films all contain themes of women, cars, and gendered violence. Observation turns to experimentation, as I work with the films, collecting scenes, bringing them together. And experimentation leads to critical questions: What links these characters? What is the overarching theme that emerges in these works? And are these themes pointing toward the critical? For this exercise, I found an answer in a monologue delivered by the main protagonist in It Follows:
It's Funny. We used to daydream about being old enough to go on dates.
Drive around with friends in their cars.
I had this image of myself,
holding hands with a really cute guy,
listening to the radio,
driving along some pretty road, up north maybe.
And the trees started to change colors.
It was never about going anywhere really.
Just having some sort of freedom, I guess.
In each film the female protagonist is in pursuit of “some sort of freedom,” and in each case, is met with resistance, failed promises, and violence by the individual men in the films, and by society at large. This is an example of the pedagogical use of videographic scholarship, and the types of exploratory and critical questions and conversations that can come out of it.