Quoting Rebecca Thorndike <[log in to unmask]>:
> >Why did you choose NBK? Did you see it recently?
>
> It's late, so I'll just answer this one question as quickly as I can. As
> far as my goal as a teacher to evoke empathy in my students, I believe the
> following:
> If we can empathize with those we have previously believed to be "evil"
> then we can empathize with anyone. Certainly a fellow human whom we have
> previously felt separate from simply for reasons of different race, gender,
> sexuality, religion, national origin, etc. If we can empathize with the
> villainous other, then there is the potential to re-humanize and put a face
> to every Other. I think that by reading and viewing texts that have such
> characters at their focus--I'm talking about rich texts that really show us
> who these characters are and how they became embroiled in these situations
> that have led to their "bad" decisions--we (and ultimately our students) have
> a chance to realize that people really aren't that different.
>
> Natural Born Killers was the most extreme example of a "good" film with
> an"evil doer" at its center I could think of at the time. I haven't seen it
> in a few years.
>
> That's it for me for tonight.
>
> Rebecca
Rebecca, surely we are teaching students to have empathy with the 'self' We all
carry within us the capacity to become 'the other'. Not that I say this in any
religious context - (as somebody who took great comfort from Carl Jung), I feel
that in some cases, a text can make you aware of 'there but for the grace of
... go I..)
My first contribution to this forum so go easy !!
Bert
>
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