Introduction
"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."1 This claim from Joan Didion's classic essay collection has always resonated with me—a concise, emphatic explanation of the act of storytelling. Certainly storytelling is something we all engage in, and we do so because we are creatures who crave explanation. Stories give our lives meaning, helping us adapt to our circumstances, overcome obstacles, and stimulate the imagination. They tell us who we are and who we aspire to be, giving us deep insight into humanity in all its complexity. Stories are nothing less than survival tools that all peoples use to explain their world, and global cinema can give us insight into how different cultures tell their stories.
Film itself offers a unique storytelling experience that students find tremendously engaging and that can offer them a challenging text to decode. Ironically, while film is a communication tool that stimulates student engagement, film generally receives little critical study in the secondary classroom. As a multi-sensory technology, films contain countless, carefully selected visual and auditory details to be "read" by viewers, making these powerful texts worthy of serious examination.
The focus of this unit will be on cinematic narratives that involve women struggling against cultural traditions within India, Africa, and Iran. Like non-Western literature, world cinema is unfamiliar to students. Many have never seen a film that requires them to read subtitles. Some teachers might assume that introducing foreign-language films into the curriculum would be problematic, but my limited experience suggests otherwise. Students seem more interested because the text gives them a focus they might not otherwise have. It seems to reinforce reading skills, while simultaneously developing their visual literacy. For better or worse, such "multi-tasking" has begun to define this generation, and this process is worth exploring openly with students themselves.
The three films for study—Water (Canada/India, 2005), Finzan (Mali, 1989), and The Circle (Iran, 2000)—all involve female protagonists who, in a variety of ways, challenge traditional cultural practices. Through critical analysis of each film, students will explore why particular cultural practices exist and how stories address larger social issues. The overarching goal of this unit is for students to discover the universal aspects of human nature that transcend cultural boundaries, as well as those specific cultural practices that shape a people. This process of engaged viewing and thoughtful investigation of the various "texts," will empower students to "read" how filmmakers, like writers, use rhetorical strategies and aesthetic techniques to affect audiences. At the conclusion of the unit, students—male and female alike—should be better able to articulate their place, their experiences, their stories in a larger, global context.
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