Those days Film was seen as a diversion or, at best, a simple way of getting a message across. It was never intended to be studied in its own right. Film wasn’t that important.
Film education at second level has changed. Film is now an integral part of the English curriculum, from Junior Cycle all the way up to the Leaving Cert. This change started with the 2000-2001 cohort of 6th years, the revamped Leaving Cert English exam of that year included a film element. Film’s place at second level was reinforced with the 2016-2017 Junior Cycle 3rd years (although it wasn’t part of their purposefully unpredictable final exam that year, 2017).
Before this Film could only be found in the Art exam or the Ordinary Level Junior Cert English exam. Whereas things have changed for the English Ordinary Level student, Art still contains a question on film. In 2016 the Art question was quite thorough: ‘The exploits of characters from comics and graphic novels are brought to life by actors through the medium of film. Discuss this statement with reference to any named film based on a comic or graphic novel. In your answer refer to costume design, set design, colour, special effects and camera techniques. AND Briefly outline your visual concepts for a short film based on a historical character of your choice.’
This, though, is a small part of the Art course. The question is unpredictable and not based on any list of predictable possibilities. You have to be very lucky to be able to answer the film question.
Film’s place within the English Leaving Cert curriculum is as part of a comparative question. Students study three texts from a list of a possible thirty-eight. The list contains novels, graphic novels, memoirs, plays, fiction films, and, lately, documentaries. From this list the teacher, often in consultation with their students, picks three texts. Only one of these can be a film. Quite often the three texts consist of a novel, play and film.
These three texts are then compared under a number of headings, or ‘modes’. At Higher Level these are: Cultural Context, Literary Genre, Theme and Issue and General Vision and Viewpoint. At Ordinary Level the modes are: Social Setting, Relationships, Theme and Hero and Villain.
The first films to be appear on the list of text were indicative of the middle-class background and tastes of those who chose the texts. Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves, James Ivory’s A Room With A View, Carol Reed’s The Third Man, Jim Sheridan’s My Left Foot and
CinÉireann / December 2017 13