Dialogical Film Club: Rundown 2010
Next month will mark the one year anniversary of the Dialogical Film Club, which, considering that it all started because six of us wanted to deconstruct Twilight, that’s really pretty amazing. Here’s what we’ve been up to. And DFC members- feel free to amend my versions of things. I know I forget about 80% of what we talked about once it’s over.
December 2009: DFC Christmas Extravaganza
Stop-Animation Specials: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy
Bonus Feature: Little Women
Chosen Because: I was really curious what Rudolph would be like for people who didn’t grow up with it, and I wanted to parse out my theory of Rudolph being a pro-queer text. Also, since I’d bought a Stop-animation Christmas DVD collection, we decided to explore one none of us really knew. Little Women came out of conversation around movies we always watch at Christmas, and after sitting there quoting Christian Bale and Gabriel Byrne for twenty minutes, those of us still hanging out decided to go ahead and just watch it.
Our Dialogue: Rudolph & Drummer Boy- you really have 
no idea how violent and angry they are till watching it with those who have never seen them. And I lost track of my “dentist/misfit=okay-to-be-gay” subtext as we realized what an A-hole Santa is in Rudolph. Little Women–I have no idea what we talked about, but man that night made up for the two weeks of Christmas break I spent weeping at my desk alone in the middle of the night writing my thesis. We even had British style Christmas Crackers- the kind that explode with toys, not covered in cheese.
January 2010: The Nines
Chosen Because: Ian was visiting us from NYC and curated this DFC, bringing with it questions of determinism, fate, spirituality, and how the film might function well as a play.
Our Dialogue: Much prediction around the trajectory of the mysteriously bifurcated narrative, and what the filmmakers wanted us to question about our reality. Also- we got kind of scared a bit.
February (though we met first week of March): Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
Chosen Because: Harry Potter comes up a lot, and this is one of my top ten films of all time. Plus, Chasten had just finished reading the series.
Our Dialogue: Orphanhood, identity, protection–the various ways the story explores Harry’s need for care and protection from adults, but also how those relationships enable him to learn to protect himself.
March: Where The Wild Things Are
Chosen Because: The DFC is largely counseling psychology graduates and good lord, this film reads like a DSM article on the childhood subconscious.
Our Dialogue: This was the most heated (and lengthy) DFC meeting yet. We literally took an hour and a half to get through the first twenty minutes of the film. Factions formed between those who found the boy overdrawn, overwrought and heavy-handedly hipster, and those who found his portrayal heartbreakingly true. We discovered the split seemed to exist between oldest siblings (the former opinion) and youngest siblings (the latter). There was many a battle fought over this one- which doesn’t surprise me since when I saw the movie in the theater last October, it was the first time I ever walked out of a theater and said “Now that’s a movie for the DFC.” This viewing also marked another time where we were blessed with visits from Ian and from the Pietsches as well. The DFC misses them!
April: The Graduate
Bonus Feature: Garden State
Chosen Because: I don’t know who initially suggested The Graduate, but since most of our choices center around watching and wondering about what’s most popular culturally, The Graduate was a great opportunity to reflect on an iconically popular classic. I suggested Garden State as an intertext since it’s functioned in some similar ways for our generation as The Graduate did for our parents’, not the least of which being, the significant role of soundtracks for each film.
Our Dialogue: We were shocked by how clearly The Graduate (at least acts I & II) illustrated the cycle of abuse- with seduction, manipulation, guilt, abuse of power, etc. We were all 
equally flummoxed by WTF was going on during act III other than that Benjamin just basically goes insane. Then those who were able to stick around, shared embarrassing and cathartic stories of why Garden State felt so amazing six years ago, and now seems absolutely ridiculous. Go figure.
That’s it for now. Here’s to another great year of dialoguing our way through some breathtaking films and some crappy ones too!
1 | Scott
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:03 pm
I am the oldest sibling and I fit into the group who feel Max represents something of themselves.
I actually felt like someone carved a whole in both sides of my chest and projected the emotions I dealt with as a child up on the screen.
Was there are relationship between the two groups and what their family circumstances were as a kid?
Hooray for movies and good conversations!!
2 | Ian
April 24th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
I have been so blessed to be a part of DFC. I hope to satisfy some of my need for intimate, intellectual conversation around film this summer!