Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Literacy, Learning and Popular Family Culture

Still from Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut (2012)

We were talking popular culture, family literacies and about our Easter viewing - the films and specials we'd seen as children and still watched with our families today.  The Ten Commandments (1956), of course.  Sometimes Ben-Hur (1959).  And to fill out the 'Heston Holiday' trilogy, The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).

Of course, these films are a half century old at this point and maybe no longer qualify as 'pop culture.'  Cheryl mentioned that Showcase (a Canadian English-language specialty channel that streams on BellTV, Shaw Direct and most cable networks) was running a 9-film Star Wars marathon.

WD: I've only ever seen the first three - or the middle three... however you want to say it.  The only Star Wars worth watching is the crowd-sourced Star Wars on YouTube.

CB: The one all the fans made pieces of then somebody put together? That they made out of short clips?

WD: Star Wars for the masses, from the masses!

CB: What a rich example of pop culture literacy making its way into family literacy...

WD: All those kids being made to help dad with his crazy Star Wars film...

CB: All that dramatic play and symbolic representation that's so important.

 

The 2012 Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut can be found here on YouTube.  And, for the true fan, The Empire Strikes Back Uncut: Full Movie can be viewed here.

Obviously, such low-brow fare isn't for everyone.  The discerning reader may wish to instead spend their time reading William Shakespeare's Star Wars, William Shakespeare's Empire Striketh Back, and William Shakespeare's  The Jedi Doth Return (Ian Doescher, Quirk Books).

www.quirkbooks.com

 

 Cheryl Brown (@CherylAnneBrown) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, QLNB's Community Literacy Coordinator, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.

Wendell Dryden (@wendelldryden) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, a Community and Adult Literacy worker, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.