Presented By Kate Searson 2019 – SAETA State Conference Platoon Feminist and Marxist Reading Vietnam War Poetry Critical Reading Presented By Kate Searson 2019 – SAETA State Conference If the hyperlinks don’t work in this PPT most of the linked documents and PPTs are on the SAETA website.

Outline of the session Critical Lens Feminist/Marxist Platoon (Get parental consent to show this very disturbing film) Gendered reading Vietnam War Context War Poetry Booklet Coming Home What Were They Like I Was Only 19 Critical Reading Online Exam/ Draft

Introducing the concept of ‘Literary Theory http://www. ncte

Introducing Critical Literacy Theory FIGURE 2. Brainstorm lists of words related to two pairs of themes, and assign colours. Image of words on the board with coloured lens dictating what can be seen

Platoon Oliver Stone Original 1986 Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =pPi8EQzJ2Bg Fighting for country. At war with themselves. A contemporary trailer for Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning 1986 Vietnam War movie "Platoon". This is a fan-made trailer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzt P7SKe0uk

Platoon Oliver Stone – Wikipedia Summary Platoon is a 1986 American anti-war film written and directed by Oliver Stone, starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp. It is the first film of a trilogy of Vietnam War films directed by Stone, followed by Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth(1993). The film, based on Stone's experience from the war, follows a U.S. Army volunteer (Sheen) fighting in the war while his two sergeants (Berenger and Dafoe) argue over the leadership of the platoon. Stone wrote the screenplay based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam, to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets…Platoon was the first Hollywood film to be written and directed by a veteran of the Vietnam War.[3] The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards …and won four including Best Picture, Best Director for Stone, ... In 1998, the American Film Institute placed Platoon at #83 in their "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies" poll. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platoon_(film)

Platoon Oliver Stone – Wikipedia Summary In 1967, U.S. Army volunteer Chris Taylor arrives in South Vietnam and is assigned to an infantry platoon of the 25th Infantry Division near the Cambodian border. The platoon is officially led by the young and inexperienced Lieutenant Wolfe, but in reality the soldiers defer to two of his older and more experienced subordinates: the hardened and cynical Staff Sergeant Robert "Bob" Barnes, and the more idealistic Sergeant Elias. Sgt. Elias and Chris, Sgt. Elias and Sgt. Barnes, Sgt. Barnes and a Vietnamese girl.

Gender Analysis of Platoon Feminist theory is actually about men and women and the portrayal of gender. Looking at the portrayal of men and stereotypes connected to men was a good way to ‘hook’ my class as there were a lot of Specialist Sport footballers in the class. We watched the film and did a usual study of it looking at some key techniques etc Used the Gender Analysis PPT to look the portrayal of men in platoon. Also looked at feminist lens to prepare students for Year 12. Gender_Analysing Platoon.pptx

Marxist Analysis of Platoon Do not mainly focus on this, but provide interested students with materials to help them do their own analysis. A PowerPoint posted by Kerry Hayes on Slide Share. Gives information on looking at texts through a feminist and Marxist lens. https://www.slideshare.net/kerryhayes/marxist-and- feminist-lenses-2014 “A” Level Sociology A Resource-Based Learning Approach Theory and Methods Unit M6: Marxismwww.sociology.org.uk 2005 Marxism: Basic Principles... http://www.sociology.org.uk/notes/tmmarx.pdf

Platoon Essay Questions Consider a feminist lens and perspective when answering the following questions: To what extent does Platoon challenge or support gender stereotypes? To what extent does Platoon challenge or support female gender stereotypes? To what extent does Platoon challenge or support male gender stereotypes? Compare and contrast the characters Sergeants Barnes and Elias and Chris Taylor to explain what Oliver Stone believes a war hero should be? Consider a Marxist lens and perspective when answering these questions: Choose and analyse 3 different scenes to show how soldiers are dehumanized and mechanized by war? To what extent does Platoon expose a social group being exploited by ‘the state’? In what ways does Platoon serve as propaganda for the status quo; or does it try to undermine it?

Vietnam War Poetry Go through the context PPT and make links to examples in the film Viertnam_War_context.ppt Students answer specific questions in their workbook Platoon_Vietnam_War_Poetry_Booklet_SAETA 2019.doc Study 3 poems Home Coming Teach SPECS and SLIMS What Were They Like Answer questions in the booklet to annotate I Was Only 19 Answer questions to annotate Watch the YouTube clip: Redgum promo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urtiyp-G6jY Watch the YouTube clip: The Herd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns82tHhJOr0