The Search for Meaning: A Film-Based Approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT Professionals who study and document the lives of young adults assert that people between the ages of seventeen and thirty are often overwhelmed by difficulties that accompany their transition into adulthood, making it difficult for them to imagine a future in which they can fulfill their personal needs and also make meaningful contributions to society. This essay shares a film-based strategy for guiding students in their desire to balance independence with responsibility. Anchored in the author's broad understanding of the liberal arts, the method of film instruction described in this paper inspires undergraduates to interpret relationships between cinematic form (artistic properties of film) and meaning (thematic content). Furthermore, the proposed approach to film instruction encourages students to consider how thematic content implicit in cinematic form may be applicable and meaningful to them as they transition into full adulthood and seek ways to become engaged citizens. The author teaches French Cinema to upper-level undergraduate students of French and to students who take the course as a Humanities elective taught in English.