Today was my last day of class for the Winter Session at the Art Museum. I'm glad to see Winter go but I was very sorry to see this session come to an end. The class had been great!! Probably my best yet.
For a last day project I was able to secure both the conference room and the DVD player and show the students five different Dracula films. The idea was they would watch five different versions of the scene in which Dracula is reading the deeds to the Abby which he purchased in England while Harker (or Renfield in the 1931 version) is eating dinner. Three of which had Harker (or Renfield) cutting his finger somehow.
I chose the 1922 Nosferatu, the 1931 Tod Browning version, the 1970's Jess Franco version, the 1979 remake of Nosferatu and the Hammer film The Horror Of Dracula.
I decided to show the Hammer version last because the others followed Dracula a lot closer whereas the Hammer did it's own twist on the story. I told them it was very much the same way Tim Burton does his own spin on certain stories.
The best part of the lesson was when I showed the '31 version with Béla Lugosi. The moment Béla enters the scene my student Ariel suddenly blurts out "Oh! He's handsome!"
I couldn't help but laugh because I thought it was the most amusing thing I've heard one of my students say in a while. What made it so great is because it was just so genuine.
That and I just wanted to blurt out "HAH! IN YOUR FACE ROBERT PATTINSON!! Béla's STILL the king of the undead!!" Ha ha!!
It just made for a really great last day of Winter classes. I just wish the session went longer.
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