https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-coming-of-age-movies-edge-seventeen-moonlight-20161010-snap-story.html
Buffy : drive.google.com/file/d/1tVeLp0Enrb6GyCfZE8U_ZuMGwGa81ryn/view?usp=sharing
Buffy : drive.google.com/file/d/1tVeLp0Enrb6GyCfZE8U_ZuMGwGa81ryn/view?usp=sharing
The process of growing up , that is , the gradual move from innocence to experience has inspired many writers, film-makers and artists. It should be said that the ordeals, the hardships, the challenges faced by the heroes or heroines while discovering the world as well as their psychological development and moral education may arouse the readers or public's interest. But how can we account for the success of coming-of age ? Are they only personal growth or is their scope wider and more universal?
Brainstorming activity : defining childhood.
What is your conception of childhood ? and of adulthood ? Which events or moments can mark one's coming of age ? How would you define a coming-of age story ? What's its purpose ?
In pair, create a word cloud and be ready to explain your word choice to the rest of the class.
In pair, create a word cloud and be ready to explain your word choice to the rest of the class.
Now find out whether writers and artists have the same vision of childhood and of the process of growing up as you do . Study the different documents and try to explain why this period is idealised by some while others describe it as a curse.
A/ Study the lyrics of the song by Supertramp .Pick the adjectives and adverbs used to qualify childhood and the way the character is regarded later in life. What can you conclude about his upbringing and its consequences ?
drive.google.com/file/d/1WxJdz2tR8bF__gsJ1mtbMSobFR1Clvgw/view?usp=sharing
Is the message very different from J.M. Barrie's in Peter Pan ? (see questions underneath) or Bill Bryson's vision of childhood & adulthood ?( text below)
Compare the message conveyed by William Blake and Elizabeth Browning. Do they have the same vision of childhood?
A/ Study the lyrics of the song by Supertramp .Pick the adjectives and adverbs used to qualify childhood and the way the character is regarded later in life. What can you conclude about his upbringing and its consequences ?
drive.google.com/file/d/1WxJdz2tR8bF__gsJ1mtbMSobFR1Clvgw/view?usp=sharing
Is the message very different from J.M. Barrie's in Peter Pan ? (see questions underneath) or Bill Bryson's vision of childhood & adulthood ?( text below)
Compare the message conveyed by William Blake and Elizabeth Browning. Do they have the same vision of childhood?
the_logical_song_by_supertramp.pdf | |
File Size: | 122 kb |
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B / What do you know about The Peter Pan story ?
What is suggested by the poster ? And the incipit of the novel ? Support your answers with precise examples. Did you know that? Peter Pan has given his name to a concept called Peter-panism: the desire to live without growing old, or the refusal of the constraints and responsibilities of adult life. « All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, « Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever! » This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end. » J.M. BARRIE, Peter and Wendy, 1911 ___________________________
Task : (pair work ) : act out a conversation between an adult and a child - The child should explain why he wants to grow up while the adult alks about childhood bliss.
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Food for thought :
Consider the two poems below ( Introduction to the Songs of Innocence + The Cry of the Children ) and explain how the poets use and play with the traditional image of childhood. To which purpose ?
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"Breaker-boys" like these children worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, where they separated coal from slate by hand. They usually worked ten hours per day, six days a week.
Asthma and black lung were common among breaker-boys, and many lost limbs after being caught in machinery, or were crushed to death by mounds of coal or under the conveyor belts they worked near.
photograph by Lewis Hine
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From innocence to experience
- Read the document summarizing the specificities of coming-of-age novels.
- Then study the following excerpts from famous formation novels and explain how each extract illustrates these characteristics.
- What does it take to write a bildungsroman? How can you account for the presence of stock characters and recurrent themes ?What can you conclude about the scope of such novels ?
characteristics_of_coming-of_age_novels.pdf | |
File Size: | 118 kb |
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Extracts.
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# 2
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#3
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# 5
the_go-between.docx | |
File Size: | 14 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Screen adaptations
Task : Listen to Roman Polanski talking about adapting a novel to the screen and explain how a text differs from a film. drive.google.com/file/d/13u4RkNGNbrXVWQGkpVYjP5RHzoWgSt9r/view?usp=sharing
Then turn to his 2005 adaptation of Oliver Twist and write a 200-word essay explaining whether you think Polanski has managed to capture the satirical mood of the novel. You MUST focus and compare the devices the novelist and the director used to achieve their purposes. drive.google.com/file/d/1bQjbDQp8LnrCt9kDBwZAZ9cvUtr01T-i/view?usp=sharing |
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Severing the link
Even though Coming-of-Age fiction insits on the importance of the parents/ child or guardian/ ward relationships in the moral, psychologic or emotional development of the hero/ heroine, can adulthood be reached without separating from them ?
Turn to the documents below to first study how teenagers learn from role models, then to understand why the link has to be severed and how the process changes the parents/ child or guardian/ ward relationships.
Take notes that you will use to create a podcast entitled : "from childhood to adulthood" Don't forget to use a song as an opening jingle to your podcast !
Turn to the documents below to first study how teenagers learn from role models, then to understand why the link has to be severed and how the process changes the parents/ child or guardian/ ward relationships.
Take notes that you will use to create a podcast entitled : "from childhood to adulthood" Don't forget to use a song as an opening jingle to your podcast !
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harry_potter.pdf | |
File Size: | 125 kb |
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letter_lxvii.pdf | |
File Size: | 198 kb |
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Now listen to the song. Sum up the situation briefly . How does the music highlight the message conveyed ? Which other devices are used by the song-writer?
drive.google.com/file/d/1L6FTwGiquk-TaW2wmckXoeTLG6XTiqCx/view?usp=sharing Now it's your turn to write a letter |
The Pressure to conform
When talking about development and growth , education, whether implemented formally, informally or factually, is the first topic that crosses one's mind. Yet, does it mean the same thing to the youth and the adults ? When ,why and how do the perspectives change ? Should it be regarded as a life-changing experience ?
Activity : choose your side !
- Study the two sets of documents below. You should talk about:
-the tone
-the topic ( + identify the problem or bone of contention)
-the means to convey the message
Compare and contrast the different views held by authors and protagonists on education
Choose your side and write an entry in your diary, revealing your inner thoughts on education and/ or school.
Set #1
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Set #2
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Peers
Clubs , fraternities and sororities play an important part in teenagers' integration into society. How do the following fictions present them ? What are their assets ? and their drawbacks or limits ? How can you account for their overwhelming presence in fictional works ?
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Mentors
Mentors are always characters that the protagonists of coming-of-age fiction look up to . Let's find out which part they actually play and how they are presented
Dead Poets Society
drive.google.com/file/d/1YiEUD9TRUYb6a3JbSnaxBJWKt65RuCMn/view?usp=sharing
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Good Will Hunting (1997) directed by Gus Van Sant
drive.google.com/file/d/1ffAA5QDFbNTcVMd1goae0uhy9ZwwJixw/view?usp=sharing
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Fitting in or Falling out of Grace ?
Now contrast the trailer for Little Women to the trypic entitled Past and Present, the painting by William Hunt and the extract from The Custom of the Country to explain what is expected from women . What do the various artists or writers try to highlight ? Then watch the trailer for Thelma and Louise ( 1991- Ridley Scott) and say whether Women's lib has really changed the role devoted to women in society.
Little women / trailer
drive.google.com/file/d/1zRzkbMfY6jhUGWIfI-xnn8w4-kvqenRm/view?usp=sharing
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Final task
characteristics_of_coming-of_age_novels.pdf | |
File Size: | 118 kb |
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