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A Summer of Movie-Discussion Nights[Part Two: "Titanic"]
By Steve Lansingh | As I mentioned in the previous installment, I asked our group members for some of their favorite movies and will be working from that list for the rest of the summer. "Titanic" popped up twice on the list, so we dove into that one during our second meeting.
First we watched 35 minutes of the film to refresh anyone's memory who hadn't seen it in a while; I have the movie on two tapes so we watched two selections. (If you're referencing these articles for a group of your own, I chose 13 minutes from the start of the dinner conversation to the end of the corset scene -- 1:02-1:15 on my tape -- and 22 minutes from the start of the violinists' perseverence to Jack's last line -- 0:42-1:04.) I brought popcorn to the movie-viewing this time, which was fun; the cheddar cheese went faster than the butter in our group for what that's worth.
The discussion afterward, again, went well, and I loved hearing about what in the film moved people. Movies are such windows into the soul. My only struggle this week was that I felt a bit like a bump on a log; I was talking, trying to guide the conversation by mirroring people's answers ("So what you're saying is that protecting is an element of real love," etc.), but I didn't interject much with my own thoughts and ideas. Should I "teach," or just let the questions teach for me?
Below are ten questions I brought with me; I think we only got to five, so don't worry about getting through them all. You may or may not want to give a handout with all the questions on them -- I liked being able to jump around to whatever question the conversation was next drifting toward. And that way you're not rushing to get through them all. But a handout is nice because then everyone can write something on it and have something to contribute; then the quiet people have a chance to join in. I might try that next time to see how it works.
Oh, and one last note: When I read the Bible verses aloud in the group, they seemed to be conversation-enders rather than -starters. Maybe I used them a bit too much like proof texts; we already discussed how sacrifice is an element of love in Titanic and then I read how sacrifice is an element of love in the Bible as well. Perhaps a different tactic would be to read the verse and then ask how that relates to the movie. Again, I might try that in the future.
And now, the questions:
(For more discussion fodder, sink your teeth into the three reviews of the film on our site: Human fraility in "Titanic", The Best Movies of '97, and "Titanic" sails.)
Don't forget that we want your feedback -- discuss any of the questions above, or share tips about discussion groups!
Dan Buck
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READER RESPONSES
Cheese popcorn is definately better!
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