Film Clips in Scandinavian Language Instruction: Building Student Competencies

JSCA 6 (3) pp. 261–277 Intellect Limited 2016

feature article

Christian Gullette, Mark Kaiser and Karen Møller University of California, , Berkeley

Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction: Building student competencies

Abstract Keywords 1. This article argues that incorporating film clips into instruction of the Scandinavian film clips 2. languages, both at elementary and advanced levels, provides an authentic and language acquisition 3. contextual model not only for developing linguistic competencies, but communicative intercultural 4. and intercultural skill sets. Film clips can combine curricular goals with invaluable communicative 5. opportunities at all learner levels for critical intersectional analysis that accelerates competence 6. language acquisition as well as intercultural awareness. Such a use of film clips Ruben Östlund 7. may accelerate language acquisition as well as intercultural awareness. Foreign Lukas Moodysson 8. language teachers have long valued feature film for its rich cultural content, but Matador 9. its use in the language curriculum has presented a quandary to instructors given 10. its length and students’ difficulty in comprehending the rapid flow of speech. This 11. article will consider the great potential that film has for foreign language instruc- 12. tors and the means for its exploitation in the foreign language curriculum. We begin 13. by describing Berkeley Language Center (BLC)’s online database of films and clips, 14. the Library of Foreign Language Film Clips (LFLFC), one possible resource of clips 15. for the language instructor. We then describe how language instructors might use 16. film in the foreign language curriculum, drawing on examples first from elementary 17. Swedish and then from intermediate/advanced Danish.

261

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 261 28/01/17 6:22 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

1. There are other Our article is divided into four parts. We begin by examining the Berkeley 1. sources of clips, such as YouTube, and other Language Center’s Library of Foreign Language Film Clips (LFLFC), a grow- 2. types of video, such as ing database of tagged clips taken from (mostly) feature film, some TV serials 3. TV news casts, that can and some documentaries.1 We then consider the broader context of film in 4. be used productively in the foreign language the foreign language curriculum, and then look at specific examples of how 5. classroom, but the clips may be employed in an elementary Swedish class and an intermediate/ 6. LFLFC has certain advanced Danish class. 7. advantages: there are more options 8. with subtitles than 9. one typically finds The LFLFC on YouTube, and 10. the LFLFC clips In 2008, a French language instructor at UC Berkeley approached staff at the 11. come with heuristic Berkeley Language Center (BLC) asking whether it was technically and legally2 12. tools (vocabulary lists, slowed audio) possible to create some clips from films to show her students. A few days 13. to aid in language later, a Russian instructor made the same request. Anticipating an increas- 14. comprehension. ing demand for film clips for use in language instruction, the BLC decided 15. Moreover, they will not be taken down. to systematize the process and put the clips into an online database, which 16. had to be searchable, had to include heuristic tools to help students decipher 17. 2. Under the Digital Millenium Copyright the language they were hearing, and had to allow viewing of clips over the 18. Act (DMCA), it was Internet. More than a year went into development of the website, and when 19. illegal to make copies of DVDs until 2009, the Library of Congress allowed universities to circumvent the copy protection 20. when the Librarian of on DVDs, the ripping of DVDs and cutting them into clips began in earnest. 21. Congress issued an As of September 2016, the database contains 2344 films in 49 languages, 22. exemption, permitting universities to make with about fifteen films added weekly. Films include classics and pop culture, 23. copies if the copied with dramas and romantic comedies the most heavily represented genres. 24. work falls under the Films are chosen based on recommendations from faculty, film librarians 25. fair use provision of US Copyright law. and film reviews in mainstream media. No effort is made to single out for 26. inclusion or exclusion particular genres or types of film (popular, classical, art 27. house, anime and so on), although for language teaching purposes, dramas 28. and romantic comedies seem to work best. After purchase, the film is acces- 29. sioned with bibliographic data (original title, English title, director, year, 30. studio, distributor, genre, where purchased). When funding permits, native 31. speakers, usually language lecturers or graduate students, are hired to cut the 32. film into clips and tag each clip (i.e., the tagger gives the clip a title, descrip- 33. tion, year portrayed; breaks the language into dictionary forms (e.g., ‘The 34. guy who gave you the drugs is a snitch’ would be tagged: ‘guy’, ‘give’, ‘drug’, 35. ‘snitch’), and, using a controlled vocabulary, describes the cultural, linguistic 36. and discursive content of the clip, e.g., a scene between a doctor and a patient 37. from a rural region discussing the latter’s medical condition might be tagged 38. for ‘health’, ‘dialect’, ‘jargon’, ‘metaphor’, ‘greeting’, ‘register’, etc., depending 39. on what was said. At present the LFLFC has accumulated 17,500 clips (aver- 40. age length 2’30”) from 400+ films in 25 languages. 41. The database consists of three main components: an administrative 42. section for accessioning films, creating clips and maintaining user accounts; 43. an instructor interface, where instructors can search for clips, add annotations 44. and order clips for student viewing (see Image 1); and the student view, which 45. includes the film clip, a stretched version of the audio, a short description 46. of the contents, a list of the vocabulary spoken in the clip, any annotations 47. added by the instructor, and information about the film (see Image 2). When 48. ordering clips, instructors can choose which of these features will be available 49. to students. 50. To date, in part because of the funding sources and in part because of 51. the number of students potentially affected, there has been comparatively less 52.

262 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 262 28/01/17 6:22 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. 5. 5. 6. 6. 7. 7. 8. 8. 9. 9. 10. 10. 11. 11. 12. 12. 13. 13. 14. 14. 15. 15. 16. 16. 17. 17. 18. 18. 19. 19. 20. 20. 21. 21. 22. 22. 23. 23. 24. 24. 25. 25. 26. 26. 27. 27. 28. 28. 29. 29. Image 1: Instructor’s view. 30. 30. 31. 31. 32. 32. 33. 33. activity in the Scandinavian languages. As of 24 July 2016, the LFLFC contains 34. 34. the following distribution of films/clips in Scandinavian languages, with some 35. 35. other languages thrown in for comparison purposes (see Table 1). 36. 36. New films and clips are continually being added, and instructors may 37. 37. request the addition of any film. The addition of clips depends on fund- 38. 38. ing or the interest of language instructors to contribute clips on their own 39. 39. time. Clipping and tagging a film is a laborious process – roughly, an aver- 40. 40. age 100-minute film yields about 40 clips of average duration 2’30”, requiring 41. 41. approximately 45 minutes to cut and tag the average clip. 42. 42. Recently, Film Studies faculty at Berkeley have been using the LFLFC to 43. 43. cut clips to illustrate various filmic devices or to focus on particular scenes in a 44. 44. film. A new version of the LFLFC is under development, and it will include a 45. 45. list of filmic terms with examples of clips. Language instructors will be able to 46. 46. provide translations of the terms and include them and/or useful phrases such 47. 47. as ‘in the background of the scene’ when the clip is delivered to the language 48. 48. student. In this we see the potential for a closer relationship between foreign 49. 49. language study and film studies. 50. 50. The LFLFC (http://blcvideoclips.berkeley.edu) is available to any non- 51. 51. profit educational institution at no cost. Each institution indicates within the 52. 52. LFLFC which films on DVD that institution owns, and then the institution

www.intellectbooks.com 263

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 263 30/01/17 2:48 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

3. Distribution across languages has 1. been a function of 2. instructor interest and opportunity. Finnish 3. has more clips because 4. visiting Fulbright students worked on 5. the clips as part of their 6. work responsibilities, 7. and Danish has more than Swedish or 8. Norwegian because a 9. native speaker sought 10. employment at the BLC. These are accidents 11. of opportunity rather 12. than any deliberate design. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. Image 2: The student’s view 38. 39. 40. Language # Films in LFLFC # Films w/clips # of Clips 41. Danish 11 4 188 42. Finnish 41 12 520 43. 44. Norwegian 7 1 1 45. Swedish 17 3 5 46. German 124 24 712 47. Japanese 274 52 1941 48. Total for LFLFC: 49. 52 languages 2261 606 17,657 50. 51. Table 1: Films and clips in the LFLFC, selected languages.3 52.

264 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 264 30/01/17 2:48 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. acquires access to any existing clips from those films. Please contact the 4. This is not just an impression. Analysis 2. 2. Associate Director of the BLC, currently Mark Kaiser, at blc_associatedirec- of Hollywood filmic 3. 3. [email protected] if you are interested in pursuing access to the LFLFC by texts compared 4. 4. your institution. with speech corpora found only minor 5. 5. differences (Forchini 6. 6. Film and foreign language instruction 2012). However, certain 7. 7. genres of film or Outside natural conversation there is no other medium quite like film as a individual films may 8. 8. model of the colloquial spoken language for students studying the language. be quite distant from 9. 9. the norms of everyday Although the script is typically written, rehearsed, memorized and performed 10. 10. speech. multiple times until the take is just right, we, as viewers watching a film in 11. 11. 5. In the foreign language our native language, suspend disbelief and accept the dialogue as ‘natural’.4 12. 12. community, authentic Moreover, unlike talking heads in video interviews or the highly scripted materials are those 13. 13. that were created skits accompanying foreign language textbooks, the range of language and 14. 14. not for the foreign emotions to be found in feature film and television drama is extensive, from language learner, but 15. 15. interactions at the workplace to family meals to exchanges between parents for a native speaker 16. 16. audience. and teachers to commercial transactions. In style and register these scenes 17. 17. capture the language of a broad spectrum of social classes, regional dialects 18. 18. and levels of education; in content they comment on societal norms of behav- 19. 19. iour and contemporary social, political and economic issues from the perspec- 20. 20. tive of the culture under study. 21. 21. Moreover, a film is authentic.5 The foreign language textbook and 22. 22. accompanying audio-visual materials typically display a grammar and 23. 23. vocabulary in middle-class educated speech that has been carefully 24. 24. sequenced, with new material painstakingly explained. The represen- 25. 25. tation of culture is carefully controlled and sanitized. In contrast, film 26. 26. will often deal with sensitive topics (socio-economic issues or crises of 27. 27. identity that some students might find unsettling), and the language 28. 28. (jargon, slang, extensive vocabulary and grammar that the student has 29. 29. not learned) makes comprehension at the elementary and intermedi- 30. 30. ate levels very difficult. Therefore, tasks must be carefully designed with 31. 31. the language of the clip and the level of the student taken into account. 32. 32. On the other hand, the authenticity of film − its inherent foreignness − 33. 33. is highly motivating for language learners. 34. 34. 35. 35. 36. 36. Film and literature 37. 37. As noted in the 2007 MLA Report, ‘Literature, film, and other media are 38. 38. used to challenge students’ imaginations and to help them consider alterna- 39. 39. tive ways of seeing, feeling, and understanding things’. Although both film 40. 40. and literary texts (poetry, plays, short stories, novels) can be used to explore 41. 41. the target culture, there are key differences between film and literature. The 42. 42. literary text does not constrain the reader to an instantaneous understand- 43. 43. ing of the text. The student may stop, look up a word in a dictionary and 44. 44. reread, even in a classroom setting. Each student sets her own pace. But if 45. 45. a film is shown in class, the rapid flow of speech leaves many students lost. 46. 46. Entire phrases go by while the student tries to understand what had been said 47. 47. previously. Typically, instructors rely on subtitles (in English) or captions (in 48. 48. the target language), but with subtitles students are interpreting the culture 49. 49. through another language (and one wonders how much language acquisi- 50. 50. tion really takes place), and with captions a listening exercise becomes one of 51. 51. reading. Moreover, by focusing on the subtitles or captions, students might 52. 52. miss important keys to meaning (facial expressions and gestures, details of

www.intellectbooks.com 265

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 265 30/01/17 2:48 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

setting, lighting and so on). One cannot expect foreign language students 1. at beginning and intermediate levels to understand a film clip, much less an 2. entire film, through a one-time showing in class. However, clips assigned as 3. homework, with various aids and carefully designed tasks, can be watched 4. multiple times at home, affording students the time to prepare for classroom 5. discussions the following day. 6. Film and literature differ in another significant way. A literary text is 7. ambiguous and open to multiple readings. A line of dialogue on the printed 8. page can be read with different intonations, significantly changing the mean- 9. ing of the text. The student reading a description of a Norwegian hytte (cabin) 10. in winter will project onto the scene a mental image of something that is 11. familiar, but it may well differ from what a hytte actually looks like. Film is 12. also open to interpretation, but the range of interpretations is restricted by 13. what we see and hear: the building itself, or characters’ facial expressions, 14. their gestures, the reaction of other characters, the intonations used and so 15. forth. At the same time these factors make what is foreign and different more 16. obvious. 17. 18. Clips 19. 20. The amount of language in a 100-minute film will vary considerably, but most 21. students, with the exception of those in the most advanced classes, will be 22. overwhelmed by a feature-length film and lose interest if subtitles are not 23. provided. But clips of one−four minutes in duration have distinct advantages: 24. the amount of language is manageable and students can play the clips over 25. and over. Clips afford a close reading of the text. Students can focus on the 26. specific words used, the setting, and the way the scene was shot in order to 27. understand its meaning. This approach works especially well when the focus 28. is on language and interaction. An isolated clip will be too decontextualized 29. for exploring character development, references within a scene to other scenes 30. in the film, the interweaving of language from one character to another or 31. the overall meaning of a film, but to the extent that students are focused on 32. understanding language use, clips are a particularly useful tool. 33. In fact, many instructors using the film clip library have found that the 34. most effective way of working with a film is to assign an entire film over 35. the weekend, with subtitles so that students acquire a basic understanding 36. of the film as a whole, and then in the subsequent week work with clips of 37. key scenes without subtitles, focusing on the language, culture and filmic 38. devices. 39. 40. Clips and competencies 41. Clips can be used to develop various competencies in students, primarily 42. through homework assignments with specific tasks (Kaiser 2011): linguistic 43. competence, i.e., pronunciation, listening comprehension, vocabulary devel- 44. opment and recognition of grammatical structures; communicative competence, 45. i.e., the ability to express one’s ideas, describe and narrate; pragmatic compe- 46. tence, i.e., when to speak and what to say in particular contexts; interactional 47. competence, i.e., rephrasing, visual clues to understanding; intercultural commu- 48. nicative competence, i.e., a recognition of the cultural values and attitudes 49. expressed through the language and setting of the scene; visual literacy, i.e., 50. an understanding of the cinematic devices (camera, lighting, editing and so 51. on) employed and how they contribute to meaning; and symbolic competence, 52.

266 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 266 30/01/17 2:48 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. i.e., the use of the symbolic power of language to project or acknowledge 2. 2. power, reference historical events or reframe discourse (Kramsch 2006, 2009; 3. 3. Kramsch and Whiteside 2008). 4. 4. Tasks for developing linguistic competence might include cloze exer- 5. 5. cises (a text of the dialogue with words left out for students to fill in) with 6. 6. varying amounts of vocabulary provided, depending on the difficulty of the 7. 7. dialogue and the level of the students. For the most advanced students this 8. 8. might involve the creation of subtitles in the target language, which not 9. 9. only involves listening comprehension but also a recreation of the gram- 10. 10. mar, since morphological forms are often truncated or go missing entirely 11. 11. in rapid speech. Alternatively, creating subtitles in their native language 12. 12. assesses students’ comprehension of the original text. To develop commu- 13. 13. nicative competence one might have students describe the setting or the 14. 14. physical traits of the characters, speculate on their emotional state, or narrate 15. 15. the events of the scene (Sherman 2003). The other competencies noted 16. 16. above might require more direct pedagogical intervention on the part of the 17. 17. language instructor. Was the behaviour displayed in a scene a cultural norm 18. 18. or an aberration? Is that middle-class housing or something available to only 19. 19. the higher echelons of society? What is the power relationship between the 20. 20. characters in a scene and how is that represented through language, gesture 21. 21. or cinematic devices? 22. 22. After working through a scene in depth, students might be asked to specu- 23. 23. late on what happened before or will happen next, or to insert themselves into 24. 24. a scene and rewrite the script with themselves as active participants. Such an 25. 25. exercise would involve a reframing of the original scene and require them to 26. 26. imagine how the filmic characters might react to their presence as foreigners. 27. 27. 28. 28. 29. 29. Film clips in the elementary Swedish classroom 30. 30. The use of film clips can be just as vital to the beginning learner as the 31. 31. advanced learner, even in the initial weeks of elementary-level language 32. 32. instruction. In fact, it may prove critical to provide students with access to film 33. 33. clips, YouTube videos, Facebook Live and other forms of contemporary digital 34. 34. and social media in these first weeks to provide a level of authenticity for a 35. 35. generation of students used to experiencing primary linguistic communica- 36. 36. tion in these modalities. In addition, hearing a language such as Swedish for 37. 37. the first time in the paced clarity and decontextualized repeated patterns of a 38. 38. textbook audio recording can be very different than hearing the subtle tonali- 39. 39. ties and differing accents of Swedish spoken by native speakers in a film clip. 40. 40. Both methodologies are important, but the latter may encourage students to 41. 41. learn to relax into the unpredictability, patience and self-forgiveness neces- 42. 42. sary to acquire language. If students receive ample reassurance that listening 43. 43. for a select short list of words and/or phrases is an assignment’s sole task, for 44. 44. example, such targeted objectives will not only lead to comfort with advanced 45. 45. media, but also to the early exposure of a language’s contextual and situ- 46. 46. ational use. Of course, language in film never abandons its mediation, but 47. 47. it nevertheless introduces an alternative to print media and offers linguistic 48. 48. variance to the instructor’s particular speech pattern. Having already exam- 49. 49. ined the overall argument for incorporating film clips in the language learning 50. 50. classroom and with an understanding of what the BLC database can offer, this 51. 51. section of the article will take the form of a practicum that explores examples 52. 52. of film clip usage in the elementary level classroom.

www.intellectbooks.com 267

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 267 30/01/17 2:48 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

6. Of course, intercultural Examples of film clip usage 1. competency cannot 2. claim that the use of For several years, beginning Swedish language classes at UC Berkeley have film clips alters the used a language learning textbook, Rivstart A1 + A2 (Jumpstart A1 + A2) that 3. students’ position as 4. distanced spectators or introduces vocabulary based on the family in a dialogue entitled ‘Är du gift?’ members of a relatively (Are you married?) (Scherrer and Lindemalm 2007: 15). Ignoring for a moment 5. privileged group in a the cultural normativities reinforced by introducing the concept of kinship 6. way that allows them 7. to fully ‘understand’ a through conventions of marriage, the short dialogue provides a textbox filled character’s situation with common Swedish terms for both normative and non-normative pairings. 8. or experience. But clips If the textbook assumes that by the end of the first chapter students can read, 9. may challenge a range 10. of assumed stereotypes comprehend and even duplicate their own three to four sentence short texts, about Swedish culture then this marks an ideal place to support this concept with a film clip that 11. as well as the students’ 12. assumptions about reinforces this same vocabulary. This section will address the curricular appli- their own culture(s). cations of film clips then suggest ways of using the same and/or additional 13. clips to simultaneously develop intercultural communicative competencies.6 14. The opening scenes of the Swedish film Turist (Force Majeure) (2014) by 15. director Ruben Östlund provide several potential clips that can be used to 16. develop linguistic and intercultural competencies. For example, in one early 17. scene (0:03:50–0:04:50) the spectator sees a father (Tomas) and son (Harry) 18. entering the lobby of a ski lodge and joining the mother (Ebba) and daughter 19. (Vera) at the front desk. Ebba asks a woman standing next to her, ‘Så du har 20. barn?’ (So, you have kids?), to which the other woman replies, ‘Mmm, jag har 21. två tjejer’ (Yes, two girls) (0:03:58). This simple exchange mirrors that of the 22. ‘Are you married?’ textbook dialogue, but this film clip introduces students 23. to some unexpected challenges. First, Ebba’s question does not use the verb- 24. subject word order that students have learned is the rule for questions. With 25. guidance, they may be able to deduce the reason: it is more a statement than 26. an actual question. In addition, students may or may not notice that Ebba is 27. Norwegian, a useful point of departure for introducing the notion of differ- 28. ences among the Scandinavian languages and even Swedish dialects. Finally, 29. the other woman does not reply with the expected affirmative ‘ja’ (yes) or 30. negative ‘nej’ no), but with a sound, ‘mmm’, that implies ‘yes’. In fact, 31. Swedish contains several sounds or expressions that connote ‘yes’, ‘no’ or 32. ‘maybe’, such as an inhaled ‘ahhh’ (yes) and ‘njaa’ (not really, sort of), provid- 33. ing more material for a follow-up class. Ebba’s next question asking how old 34. the children are (0:04:01) employs Swedish question word order, but uses the 35. Norwegian pronoun for ‘them’. At this point, the textbook has not introduced 36. numbers, so students may not comprehend the answer ‘eleven and twelve’ 37. nor the two subsequent lines of dialogue before the clip ends. However, they 38. will recognize certain vocabulary for the family as well as the farewell phrase 39. Ebba’s acquaintance uses, ‘Ha en bra dag’ (Have a good day) (0:04:28), which 40. the textbook introduced on the course’s first day. Though students may strug- 41. gle with some of the dialogue, they will have listened to a more authentic 42. version of the exchange presented in the textbook. 43. This film clip contains several potential ‘teachable moments’ about 44. Swedish grammar and vocabulary appropriate to the textbook’s first chap- 45. ter. For example, students can be asked to review a list of various ways to 46. say ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘ maybe’. The next lesson begins with students practic- 47. ing the three skills sets covered: (1) posing yes/no questions to one another 48. using appropriate word order; (2) asking about kinship in a way that utilizes 49. recently acquired vocabulary; and (3) responding using one of several differ- 50. ent ways to indicate ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘maybe’. The lesson’s next activity might be 51. 52.

268 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 268 30/01/17 2:48 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. reviewing basic features of Swedish pronunciation that make it distinct from 2. 2. Norwegian, thus reinforcing the chapter’s final page covering the alphabet 3. 3. and how letters are pronounced. Another assignment might ask students to 4. 4. listen for the words used to describe the family, then compose a short text 5. 5. in Swedish modelled after the one in the textbook describing the family as 6. 6. pictured in the scene. Alternatively, students can be asked to compose a short 7. 7. text about their own families and bring this to class. The students then inter- 8. 8. view one another practicing appropriate questions and answers about kinship. 9. 9. Film clips from Force Majeure and other films also provide an opportunity 10. 10. to link linguistic competency to intercultural competency. In a classroom with 11. 11. a focus on Swedish language immersion, such discussions would be difficult, 12. 12. particularly for beginning learners. To avoid defaulting to English during valu- 13. 13. able class time, online discussion threads and written assignments completed 14. 14. outside the classroom may facilitate these analytical conversations without 15. 15. infringing on language acquisition objectives. Film clips thus achieve both 16. 16. objectives: they are useful tools for promoting language acquisition and also 17. 17. broaden cultural awareness, challenging students to question preconceived 18. 18. perceptions and viewpoints. 19. 19. In particular, clips from Force Majeure can be used to potentially compli- 20. 20. cate easy assumptions about Swedish kinship and domestic life, especially the 21. 21. stereotype of Sweden as an egalitarian society that has dispensed with tradi- 22. 22. tional gendered expectations. For example, the teacher may first ask students 23. 23. to view a clip from early in the film that depict heteronormative domestic 24. 24. tranquility (0:07:56–0:10:49) with images of the parents and children brushing 25. 25. their teeth as a unit and sleeping as a unit, even dressed alike. In these shots, 26. 26. the children are literally mirror images of their parents. Students then contrast 27. 27. these images with the film’s pivotal narrative moment, in which Tomas, 28. 28. during what appears to be an avalanche, grabs his cell phone and flees, leav- 29. 29. ing behind his wife and children. When the snow clears and it becomes appar- 30. 30. ent that it was a controlled avalanche, he returns to the family, but everything 31. 31. has changed (0:10:50–0:14:30). This leads to a scene in which the children, 32. 32. clearly traumatized by the day’s events, sit awkwardly at the edge of the 33. 33. hotel bed or on the floor, refusing to talk with their parents (0:18:57–0:21:00). 34. 34. An additional scene near the end of the film goes further towards break- 35. 35. ing down normative gender stereotypes (1:37:00–1:40:15) as the father, now 36. 36. in a state of emotional breakdown, weeps in front of his wife and children, 37. 37. who comfort him. Although students at the beginning level do not have the 38. 38. linguistic competence to discuss gender stereotyping in Swedish, they can be 39. 39. introduced to the basic vocabulary of emotions to describe various expressive 40. 40. states in these scenes. For a more complex analysis, they would need to use 41. 41. English in monitored online discussions or in a follow-up written response. 42. 42. More advanced students could prepare a Swedish-language response at home 43. 43. and then come to class with their commentary and list of new vocabulary 44. 44. words to share with the class. 45. 45. The topic of kinship also opens the door to using film clips to interrogate 46. 46. stereotypes of the egalitarian Swedish social welfare state. At home, students 47. 47. view a clip from Lukas Moodysson’s Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love) (1998) that 48. 48. shows two teenage sisters having breakfast (0:01:23–0:02:15), a familial scene 49. 49. strikingly different from the projected tranquility of the early clip from Force 50. 50. Majeur. The younger, Elin, discovers that her sister has taken the last of the 51. 51. O’Boy (powdered chocolate milk) and exclaims, ‘Vad fan håller du på med?!’ 52. 52. (What the hell are you doing?!) (0:01:27). When her sister pays no attention

www.intellectbooks.com 269

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 269 30/01/17 2:48 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

and continues eating, she loses her temper and throws the O’Boy container 1. at her, yelling ‘Jag hatar dig!’ (I hate you!), to which her sister replies that 2. she should calm down. This response provokes Elin to pour the milk over 3. her sister’s head, leading to a physical altercation accompanied by a series of 4. mutual insults laced with profanity. The fight breaks up when their mother 5. enters and in exasperation reminds them that she has worked all night, which 6. prompts Elin to apologize for waking her. 7. The film juxtaposes this scene of white, working-class family life – an 8. overburdened single mom and two seemingly out-of-control daughters fight- 9. ing over chocolate milk, in non-designer clothes and in an outdated kitchen – 10. with a subsequent breakfast scene that emphasizes tradition and white 11. middle-class domesticity (0:02:16–0:02:57). The scene begins with the refrain 12. of the Swedish ‘Happy Birthday’ song, sung by the parents of the film’s other 13. teenage protagonist, Agnes (0:02:15). Unlike Elin’s mother, who works the 14. night shift and sleep all day, Agnes’ family wakes her by serving her birthday 15. cake in bed, conveying that her parents work normative hours and have the 16. time and money for birthday celebrations. The camera emphasizes the pres- 17. ence of Agnes’ loving father holding a strawberry cake (0:02:35), another clas- 18. sic symbol of Swedish tradition. The atmosphere of harmony presented here 19. is in stark contrast to the chaos of Elin’s family. 20. These clips introduce beginning language learners to Swedish slang, 21. insults and profanity as well as the traditional Swedish birthday song and 22. birthday food. If the class has acquired vocabulary for emotions and express- 23. ing one’s feelings, one possibility is to re-watch a clip during class time and 24. have brief discussions about perceptions of how certain characters appear to 25. feel or react. Students might each be assigned certain emotions and perform a 26. scene in class with different reactions and outcomes. Further exercises might 27. include having students, either on their own or in small groups, write new 28. versions of the clips they viewed. An alternative or additional assignment 29. asks students to compose entirely original scenes that address, say, a birthday 30. party or a family dinner. At more advanced levels, students can view a clip, 31. generate and exchange their own discussion questions in advance, and come 32. to class prepared to run small group discussions. 33. Students at a more advanced level could also be encouraged to compare 34. and contrast the socio-economic situations of these characters. Contrasting the 35. scenes from Force Majeure with the scenes from Show Me Love would provide an 36. excellent opportunity for class discussion of the differences between these pres- 37. entations of normative and non-normative kinship arrangements, particularly 38. since the primary narrative in Show Me Love focuses on a non-heteronormative 39. relationship between Elin and Agnes. Such a discussion would also encourage 40. students to problematize pre-conceived stereotypes about Swedish society. 41. Even without understanding all the Swedish dialogue, students can observe 42. and respond to contrasting representations of socio-economic status, gender 43. and sexuality as revealed by starkly opposing images of domestic life. 44. More than fifteen years have passed since Moodysson’s Show Me Love 45. premiered. Incorporating film clips from another Östlund film, Play (2011), 46. would broaden the topic of kinship, family and socio-economic inequal- 47. ity by introducing their intersectionality with race and migration. The film’s 48. use of racial differentiation in the form of African boys competing with white 49. teenagers for material goods remains extremely problematic and sparked 50. controversy in the Swedish media for what can indeed be considered a racist 51. perspective (for further discussion of the Swedish reception of the film, see 52.

270 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 270 30/01/17 2:48 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. Stigsdotter 2013). While the film undoubtedly employs racial stereotypes, 2. 2. it also presents scenes that contain unflattering portraits of white corpora- 3. 3. tized middle class workers and anxieties regarding disconnected and absentee 4. 4. parents. A scene that occurs early in the film (0:10:30–0:12:45) portrays clone- 5. 5. like white corporate workers crowded into the lobby of an office space. Once 6. 6. the business people exit the frame, we see three teenage boys waiting there 7. 7. (0:10:56). One of them has come to his mother’s workplace to get money from 8. 8. her; she sarcastically refers to herself as ‘the cash machine’ (0:11:41). After the 9. 9. boys leave, female workers use cleaning spray to erase a smudged handprint 10. 10. on the lobby windows, emphasizing a symbolic disconnect between adults 11. 11. and children. This message is reinforced by a later scene in which passengers 12. 12. sit silently on a train and refuse to take responsibility for an abandoned cradle 13. 13. left blocking the doors (0:56:00–57:44). 14. 14. These scenes promote linguistic competencies regarding the acquisition 15. 15. of vocabulary related to occupations and the workplace as well as clothing 16. 16. and public transport (the scene on the train is particularly appropriate with 17. 17. its PA announcements). An intersectional contrast can be made by using 18. 18. a clip that juxtaposes the previous scenes of white conformity, neo-liberal 19. 19. corporatization and absentee parenting with a domestic scene set in the 20. 20. home of an African migrant family (1:34:59–1:36:27). The scene has many 21. 21. levels of complexity, revealing a socio-economic position noticeably more 22. 22. precarious than that of the white office workers as well as a markedly differ- 23. 23. ent style of personal interaction. In discussion, beginning students can apply 24. 24. simple descriptive vocabulary related to the family and emotional states, 25. 25. while more advanced conversations − in English outside the classroom 26. 26. for beginners or in Swedish if students have sufficient proficiency − could 27. 27. address issues of race, gender and socio-economic status as contrasted in 28. 28. these scenes. 29. 29. 30. 30. 31. 31. Misconceptions and recommendations 32. 32. To conclude this practicum on the use of film clips in the elementary level 33. 33. language classroom, it may be useful to clarify several common misconceptions: 34. 34. 35. 35. • That language instructors must also be film studies experts or have exten- 36. 36. sive knowledge of the vocabulary of film analysis. While such knowledge 37. 37. is obviously advantageous, it is by no means required to use a brief clip 38. 38. meant to provide competency in vocabulary for the foods served at a 39. 39. birthday celebration. Nor is it particularly complicated to design a follow- 40. 40. up question asking students to compare different foods from their own 41. 41. experiences or, at a more advanced level of linguistic competence, to have 42. 42. them speculate on how socio-economics might affect a family’s ability to 43. 43. purchase and/or provide certain items. 44. 44. • That instructors must devote hours to writing new lesson plans around a 45. 45. film clip. Regular updating of lesson plans is good pedagogical practice, 46. 46. but incorporating film clips need not require entirely re-writing the curric- 47. 47. ulum. All of the clips in the BLC database have been tagged for vocabulary 48. 48. spoken (in dictionary form), for discursive, cultural and linguistic content, 49. 49. and each is accompanied by an audio track slowed down by 50 per cent. 50. 50. Homework assignments that incorporate a clip do not radically alter 51. 51. a lesson plan. In addition, designing small group discussion around a 52. 52. film clip replaces the use of two or three brief but preparation-intensive

www.intellectbooks.com 271

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 271 30/01/17 2:48 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

activities during a class session and places the emphasis on student 1. engagement and constant use of the language. 2. • That instructors must be up to date on the most recent films in that 3. language. A clip from an Ingmar Bergman film may be just as useful 4. and relevant as one from a contemporary feature. Authenticity in terms 5. of contemporaneity for students is nevertheless important to consider, 6. particularly when teaching beginning students, although the specific 7. language task is often more relevant and engaging for students than the 8. age of the film. 9. 10. When incorporating film clips in language instruction, the following recom- 11. mendations are pertinent. First, the instructor must be familiar with the entire 12. film as well as the particular scene(s). This is simply common sense. The 13. instructor needs to be prepared to answer questions about the characters and 14. how they evolve over the course of the film, to comment on details in the 15. clip(s) that foreshadow future developments and so on. Second, if there are 16. elements in a clip that problematize sensitive or complex issues (race, gender, 17. sexuality, migrant status, socio-economic status), the instructor should 18. prepare a follow-up activity that addresses these issues in a meaningful way 19. without requiring individual students to speak from personal experience or 20. to educate the rest of the class. Third, it is important to consider whether 21. clips with offensive language are appropriate in this context, even if they raise 22. thought-provoking issues. 23. 24. 25. Film clips in the advanced Danish classroom 26. As we move to examine the use of film clips in the intermediate and advanced 27. language learner classroom, we expand to include other aspects of language 28. learning, specifically intercultural and symbolic competencies. Claire Kramsch 29. defines the latter as follows: 30. 31. The ability to manipulate symbolic systems, to interpret signs and their 32. multiple relations to other signs, to use semiotic practices to make and 33. convey meaning, and to position oneself to one’s benefit in the symbolic 34. power game. 35. (2006) 36. 37. Further, Kramsch and Whiteside (2008) elaborate on the notion of a distrib- 38. uted symbolic competence, operating in four different ways: subjectivity, 39. historicity, performativity and reframing. What they describe as the nature of 40. engagement in conversation, we extend to an understanding of the meaning 41. of film. One must be aware of the characters’ use of language and gesture to 42. position themselves vis-à-vis other characters in the film (subjectivity); the 43. references to specifics of history and geography (historicity); the perlocution- 44. ary effect of language, i.e., the use of language to project or acknowledge 45. power (performativity); and finally, the use of language to reframe the context. 46. We might use film clips, then, as examples of the symbolic power of 47. language, thereby developing our students’ awareness of this dimension 48. and their own symbolic competence. We take as our model scenes from the 49. Danish TV series Matador (1978−82), a precursor to the British series Downton 50. Abbey (2010–2015), shown in the United States on PBS. According to the 51. description on Radio Denmark’s website: 52.

272 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 272 30/01/17 2:48 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. Matador is a Danish TV series produced and shown between 1978 and 2. 2. 1982. It is set in the fictional Danish town of Korsbæk between 1929 3. 3. and 1947. It follows the lives of a range of characters from across the 4. 4. social spectrum. […] The series has become part of the modern self- 5. 5. understanding of Danes, partly because of its successful mix of melo- 6. 6. drama and […] also not least because of its accurate portrayal of a 7. 7. turbulent Denmark from around the start of the Great Depression and 8. 8. through Nazi Germany’s occupation of Denmark in World War II. 9. 9. (dr.dk) 10. 10. 11. 11. Spoken Danish has always had very exact linguistic markers correlating to 12. 12. geographical and socio-economic belonging. In contrast to other Scandinavian 13. 13. languages, the use of dialect rather than standard Danish (Rigsmål) has been 14. 14. highly stigmatized, with the various dialects themselves ranked in degrees of 15. 15. prestige and desirability. With this in mind, the wealth of linguistic material in 16. 16. Matador is invaluable. Throughout the 24 episodes there are many examples 17. 17. of sociolects ranging from working- and middle-class to upper-class, with 18. 18. examples of many regional dialects as well, and even a character attempt- 19. 19. ing to imitate a sociolect of a class higher than his own. There are numer- 20. 20. ous instances of language use between individuals of the same sex but with 21. 21. distinctly different social standings. Language in the series thus reflects the 22. 22. fixed socio-economic categories that characterized Danish society of the 23. 23. period as well as the geographic roots of the characters. Another characteristic 24. 24. feature is that each dialect speaker displays certain behavioural stereotypes 25. 25. typically associated with that particular region. One example is seen in the 26. 26. first clip described below with the speaker of the Funen dialect portrayed as 27. 27. easy-going, friendly and gregarious. 28. 28. One could argue that the Danish heard in the series aired between 1978−82 29. 29. sounds old fashioned in 2016. That is a valid argument, since spoken Danish 30. 30. has changed considerably since 1929 and that development has accelerated 31. 31. for various reasons since the early 1980s. Matador attempts to convey the vari- 32. 32. eties of Danish one could hear over the span of years the story takes place. 33. 33. However, the linguistic mechanisms for class identification and discrimination 34. 34. displayed in the series are still at play today, albeit with some modifications 35. 35. in pronunciation. Students may explore exactly how these mechanisms are 36. 36. presented in Matador by analysing how each character is imbued with mark- 37. 37. ers of belonging to a certain class. For example, the railway worker reads a 38. 38. particular political paper, is dressed according to his occupation, eats a certain 39. 39. diet, speaks in a specific sociolect and interacts with other characters in ways 40. 40. that signal his standing and class. As a next step students could schematize 41. 41. these data and see how other characters compare. 42. 42. Even if the linguistic markers of 2016 have changed to some degree, 43. 43. undercurrents of these systems still survive, and an advanced learner of 44. 44. Danish would gain much in recognizing this. An understanding of the socio- 45. 45. economic and historical markers evident in Matador would sensitize students 46. 46. to the context in which a Danish speech act takes place today. Let us examine 47. 47. the activities we might employ to develop this sensitivity, taking two clips 48. 48. from Matador found in the LFLFC as examples. 49. 49. ‘At the Railroad Restaurant’ (Matador, Episode 1, 0:3:10–0:4:06). We are 50. 50. introduced to four of the main characters: the bartender, Boldt; Larsen (who 51. 51. comes in); Lauritz Jensen, aka Røde (Red) and a friend, ‘Fede’ (Chubby). The 52. 52. camera pans from focusing on the newspaper, Korsbæk Social-Demokraten

www.intellectbooks.com 273

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 273 30/01/17 2:48 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

(with a working-class readership) to Røde, who is perusing it, to the restau- 1. rant interior. The conversational tone between Røde and Fede is friendly and 2. teasing, albeit a bit sarcastic. The use of these nicknames adds to the feeling of 3. camaraderie. We get the feeling that this scene takes place every day and that 4. everyone knows his role both within the group and in society. 5. The following elements of class distinction and socio-economic standings 6. are present in the clip and can be discussed in detail in class: Each character is 7. dressed in the ‘uniform’ of his occupation and societal standing: the bartender 8. in a white shirt and black vest, Fede in white painter’s gear, Larsen in a chauf- 9. feur’s uniform with a cap and Røde in blue working man’s attire. Fede and 10. Boldt speak neutral standard Danish, while Larsen has a Funen dialect (with 11. the connotations mentioned above) and Røde has a Copenhagen/low stand- 12. ard Danish sociolect. The speech type each character has been assigned in the 13. storyline also aligns with the character of the person. The version of neutral 14. standard Danish heard here uses the formal ‘De’ (you) as a normal marker 15. between people who are not well-acquainted or between speakers of different 16. social standings. 17. We know that it is 12:30p.m. Fede and Larsen can afford to buy their main 18. meal of the day and order a plate of hot food and a beer and/or a dram, i.e., 19. a shot of aquavit, but Røde eats open-faced sandwiches, brought from home 20. in brown paper, with a beer. Drinking alcohol mid-day seems to be the usual 21. practice – even for the chauffeur. At one point all the characters gaze out the 22. window and see the bank CEO and his wife driving a fancy car, dressed in 23. a business suit and fur coat respectively. Some comments suggest disdain 24. towards the CEO and his family. When Boldt, Røde and Fede talk about them 25. their voices have an ironic tone. Larsen does not speak here, instead remain- 26. ing non-committal and easy-going. 27. The instructor might begin by having the students do background reading 28. on Denmark in the 1920s and look at pictures of how people were dressed 29. according to their work at the time. Students could be asked to compare and 30. contrast what they learn about Denmark to their own country during the 31. same period. As Denmark’s socio-economic situation aligns nicely with the 32. United States in the late 1920s, students should be able to relate. In class a 33. discussion on historical food habits can take place, with mention of the alco- 34. hol habits that are displayed in the clip. Another task in class could be listing 35. who says what to whom and with what tone and discussing whether the way 36. they address each other has something to do with their individual standings. 37. Another focal point could be to discuss the change in tone when the affluent 38. couple appears. What changes in the conversation that signals a shift from 39. ‘just us’ to ‘us versus them’? A post-viewing exercise might ask students 40. to think of contemporary public figures in Denmark and the United States 41. and how their speech marks their socio-economic status and level of educa- 42. tion. Finally, moving beyond analysis, students might perform this scene, or 43. write their own scene with class markers, drawing on what they have learned 44. here. For more ideas on developing symbolic competence, see Kaiser and 45. Shibahara (2014). 46. ‘Going to the Bank’ (Matador, Episode 2, 0:8:25–0:10:25). In this clip, we 47. are introduced to Mads Andersen-Skjern (MAS), who is the Matador, the 48. newcomer (also a widower with a young son, whom he brings along to the 49. bank to give him a ‘life lesson’), who is perceived as an uppity entrepreneur in 50. this provincial town. He goes to the bank to get a loan to expand his business. 51. Everyone in the clip speaks upper-class standard Danish, although it would 52.

274 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 274 30/01/17 2:48 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. have been more realistic if MAS had spoken with a Northern Jutlandic dialect, 2. 2. since he has recently arrived from there. One stereotype connected especially 3. 3. with a northern Jutlandic background is that of the wheeler-dealer; the MAS 4. 4. character exhibits this trait, but his language does not mark the geographic 5. 5. and dialectical background. 6. 6. In the scene we see the power of the bank versus everyman. Much of the 7. 7. power is expressed not in what is said, but rather through gestures, intona- 8. 8. tions, silences and facial expressions. In this bank scene the class conflict is 9. 9. played out between the establishment, represented by several bank employ- 10. 10. ees, and MAS, whom the bank perceives as an outsider and therefore a 11. 11. threat to the status quo. MAS’s request is so unsettling to the bank that he 12. 12. keeps getting shuffled from clerk to clerk in the system until in the end he 13. 13. demands to speak with the bank’s CEO, who ‘happens to be unavailable’. 14. 14. Just when he is told so an upper-class woman rushes in, demanding to see 15. 15. the CEO, and is escorted directly to his office – all while MAS has to wait his 16. 16. turn. The clip presents a classic example of institutional power exerted over 17. 17. the individual. 18. 18. The instructor might ask students what values are being expressed in this 19. 19. clip and how they came to that conclusion, i.e., how did they read the gestures 20. 20. and the silences? Then one might have them speculate on how those ideas 21. 21. could be expressed in language by asking them to create a dialogue where 22. 22. they have to relate what has transpired, thereby verbalizing these unspoken 23. 23. meanings. This goes beyond interpretation and develops students’ symbolic 24. 24. competence through a reframing of the original context. 25. 25. 26. 26. Conclusion 27. 27. A language curriculum with a robust filmic component benefits not only 28. 28. students’ acquisition of the language; the experience of working with a 29. 29. film clip will pay dividends in literature classes and courses in film studies. 30. 30. Incorporating film into the curriculum supplements materials found in text- 31. 31. books or outside readings. It broadens students’ awareness of the differences 32. 32. and similarities of the target culture, both culture in a broad sense and the 33. 33. specific film culture of the target language, whether it is done through the 34. 34. LFLFC or through other tools such as YouTube. 35. 35. In this article we have attempted to show how film clips may be used 36. 36. in the foreign language classroom to develop not only students’ linguistic 37. 37. skills, but also to deepen their awareness of Scandinavian culture and how 38. 38. language is used as a symbolic system. We have shown that using film to 39. 39. teach language does require some modification to the curriculum, but with 40. 40. tools such as the LFLFC, this need not be an onerous task. 41. 41. 42. 42. 43. 43. References 44. 44. Buckley, Cara (2014), ‘Real men flee avalanches: Ruben Östlund’s “Force 45. 45. Majeure”, a look at fear and masculinity’, 16 October, http://www.nyti- 46. 46. mes.com/2014/10/19/movies/ruben-ostlands-force-majeure-a-look-at- 47. 47. fear-and-masculinity.html. Accessed 27 July 2016. 48. 48. Forchini, Pierfranca (2012), Movie Language Revisited: Evidence from Multi- 49. 49. Dimensional Analysis and Corpora, Bern: Peter Lang AG. 50. 50. Kaiser, Mark (2011), ‘New approaches to exploiting film in the foreign 51. 51. language classroom’, L2 Journal, 3: 2 (uccllt_l2_9078), http://escholarship. 52. 52. org/uc/item/6568p4f4. Accessed 16 June 2016.

www.intellectbooks.com 275

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 275 30/01/17 2:48 pm Christian Gullette | Mark Kaiser | Karen Møller

Kaiser, Mark and Shibahara, Chika (2014), ‘Film as source material in advan- 1. ced foreign language classes’, L2 Journal, 6: 1 (uccllt_l2_19239), http:// 2. escholarship.org/uc/item/3qv811wv. Accessed 15 June 2016. 3. Kramsch, Claire (2006), ‘From communicative competence to symbolic 4. competence’, The Modern Language Journal, 90: 2, pp. 249–52. 5. Kramsch, Claire (2009), The Multilingual Subject: What Foreign Language 6. Learners Say about their Experience and Why it Matters, Oxford: Oxford 7. University Press. 8. Kramsch, Claire and Whiteside, Anne (2008), ‘Language ecology in multi- 9. lingual settings: Towards a theory of symbolic competence’, Applied 10. Linguistics, 29: 4, pp. 645−71. 11. Lucca, Violet (2014), ‘Interview: Ruben Östlund’, 21 October, http://www. 12. filmcomment.com/blog/interview-ruben-oestlund/. Accessed 27 July 13. 2016. 14. Matador (1978−82, Denmark: Nordisk Film). 15. MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages (2007), ‘Foreign Languages 16. and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World’, Profession 17. 2007 234−45. Retrieved from https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/ 18. Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents. Accessed 11 May 2016. 19. Scherrer, Paula Levy and Lindemalm, Karl (2007), RIVSTART A1 + A2: Svenska 20. som främmande språk, Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. 21. Sherman, Jane (2003), Using Authentic Video in the Language Classroom, 22. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 23. Stigsdotter, Ingrid (2013), ‘“When to push stop or play”: The Swedish recep- 24. tion of Ruben Östlund’s Play (2011)’, Journal of Scandinavian Cinema, 3: 1, 25. pp. 41–48. 26. 27. Film and television references 28. 29. Balling, Erik, Matador (1978−82), Denmark. 30. Fellowes, Julian (2010−2015), Downton Abbey, UK. 31. Moodysson, Lukas (1998), Fucking Åmål, Sweden. 32. Östlund, Ruben (2011), Play, Sweden. 33. Östlund, Ruben (2014), Turist, Sweden. 34. 35. Suggested citation 36. Gullette, C., Kaiser, M. and Møller, K. (2016), ‘Film clips in Scandinavian 37. language instruction: Building student competencies’, Journal of 38. Scandinavian Cinema, 6: 3, pp. 261–77, doi: 10.1386/jsca.6.3.261_1 39. 40. Contributor details 41. 42. Christian Gullette is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, 43. Berkeley, in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures with a focus on contem- 44. porary Swedish literature and film. He is the winner of the Society for the 45. Advancement of Scandinavian Studies’ 2015 Aurora Borealis Prize for best 46. graduate student presentation in the Languages and Literature category. 47. Contact: 48. E-mail: [email protected] 49. 50. Mark Kaiser serves as the associate director of the Berkeley Language 51. Center. He is the project director of the Library of Foreign Language Film 52.

276 Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 276 30/01/17 2:48 pm Film clips in Scandinavian language instruction

1. 1. Clips. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Slavic 2. 2. Linguistics. 3. 3. Contact: 4. 4. E-mail: [email protected] 5. 5. 6. 6. Karen Møller serves as UC Berkeley’s Nordic languages’ coordinator in the 7. 7. Department of Scandinavian and as lecturer of Danish. She received her 8. 8. Cand.Phil. in nordic philology from the University of Copenhagen. 9. 9. 10. 10. Contact: 11. 11. E-mail: [email protected] 12. 12. 13. 13. Christian Gullette, Mark Kaiser and Karen Møller have asserted their right 14. 14. under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the 15. 15. authors of this work in the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd. 16. 16. 17. 17. 18. 18. 19. 19. 20. 20. 21. 21. 22. 22. 23. 23. 24. 24. 25. 25. 26. 26. 27. 27. 28. 28. 29. 29. 30. 30. 31. 31. 32. 32. 33. 33. 34. 34. 35. 35. 36. 36. 37. 37. 38. 38. 39. 39. 40. 40. 41. 41. 42. 42. 43. 43. 44. 44. 45. 45. 46. 46. 47. 47. 48. 48. 49. 49. 50. 50. 51. 51. 52. 52.

www.intellectbooks.com 277

5_JSCA_6.3_Kaiseret al_261-277.indd 277 30/01/17 2:48 pm