Cinema

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Bladerunner and the Esper machine

M. C. Escher, Still Life with Spherical Mirror, 1934

Communicative English class on perspective & optical illusions featuring the Esper Machine scene in Bladerunner & its inspirations in art

My previous post about Blow-Up, and especially the scene in which the hero enlarges the photographs in his dark room to reveal that he had unwittingly witnessed a murder, put me in mind of another great scene from cinema. Among the many evocative scenes from Ridley Scott’s sci-fi opus Bladerunner that could be used in language teaching (indeed, I hope to come back to the film in future posts) is this one in which the hero Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, runs a photo through his Esper machine, a rather dated-looking bit of kit with highly prescient technological capabilities. Continue reading →

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The Hudsucker Proxy

Communicative English class about supply & demand, the production process, marketing and fads

This scene from the Coen Brothers’ 1994 screwball comedy The Hudsucker Proxy is one of the great comic sequences in cinema history. With a little *chunking* and judicious control of sound it has enormous potential in English as a foreign or second language classes, both for general English and, as we will see, business English. As always, the lesson plan below is just a guide and a starting point for a conversation-based language class. The clip works very well in tandem with any discussions about childhood fads/crazes, as well as the way products are marketed and sold, and can be used as a platform for fun creative activities. Some suggestions for how to follow up on this class feature below. Continue reading →