Professors Jim Shepard and John Kleiner teach Hollywood film for the last time

Times of discover News: English teacher Jim Shepard has always been interested in film. So much so that he and English professor John Kleiner came out of retirement to revive their joint "Hollywood Film" course this semester. "I grew up loving movies - I was the first person in my family to go to college, and there weren't a lot of books in my house, so I watched a lot of movies when I was a kid," Shepard said.

"Settings. . "I used to watch them on television, and that became a storehouse of information for me. So when I became a fiction writer, I realized that immersing myself in film was a great way to use a different part of my brain," he says. A good way." Shepard began teaching English at the college in 1983 and within a year, he had developed a course called "Introduction to Film," a forerunner of today's "Hollywood Film."

When Shepard first taught the class, it focused more on non-American films, but eventually he changed its content and the name of the course to reflect the change. "Over the years, we've had more American films, because the bias toward American films has more or less diminished, American films are better, and, of course, students like American films more," Shepard says.

When Kleiner joined Shepard to teach the course in 2006, they decided to change its name to "Hollywood Film" and focus more on the Hollywood definition of the course rather than world cinema. "Sure, we want to cover a genre, but we don't want to just cover genres," Shepard said. "We're also interested in how films shape other films forever." "For example, we might teach The Godfather — because anyone who teaches Hollywood film will want to teach one of the most comprehensive and thoughtful Hollywood films ever made," Shepard said. "But we also teach Goodfellas because it's a wonderful revival of The Godfather." The 60-person conference is unique in its dual-teacher approach: Kleiner and Shepard sometimes teach the course together — co-teaching — and other times they switch off. "Really, the big benefit is to see other people's minds at work," Shepard said.

"Not only do we hear all these thoughts on movies that they've done so well, but we also get to see them interact with each other and laugh with each other. It's amazing," said Sasha Tucker '25, a student in the course. "They're in inherent competition with each other, and they try to outdo each other — outdo each other and outdo each other. It's fun, and it's just entertainment," said Sasha Snyder '25, another student in the course.

Each week, students in the course are assigned a film that they can see for free on Sunday nights at Image Cinema. "I think it's important to see the film because it's not supposed to be seen on the small screen," she said.

Charlie Nichols '25, another student in the course "It's great to hear David Lynch talk about watching movies on an iPhone and cursing you because you try to do that and he tells himself that if you've seen the movie, you haven't seen it."

Becky Walker '27 said, "It's amazing to see classic films like The Godfather and Casablanca on the big screen exactly as they were when they came out." “It’s exciting to see that everyone is embracing filmgoing as a community activity, with new friends and visitors coming in every Sunday.”

Ruby Lawrence ’25, another student in the course, told Images about her weekly experience, “Watching movies in a large group makes audience reactions a data point — audience reactions are both part of the experience and worth analyzing.” While students agreed on the importance of watching movies together in a theater, they all disagreed on which films were the best: Casablanca, Goodfellas, and The Godfather were all eagerly offered as answers.

Despite their long history at the College, the future of “Hollywood Film” is uncertain, as both Kleiner and Shepard will return to retirement at the end of this semester. “It feels like a special gift that Ruby and I get to incorporate it into our English careers before we go and after we go,” Snyder said.