Looking for ideas for Aristotelian tragedy on film
January 24, 2018 10:32 AM   Subscribe

This year as we study Hamlet, my students are reading a passage from Aristotle "On Tragedy" in which he defines tragedy as a work featuring a " character between these two extremes — that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error of judgement or frailty." What are your favorite tragic films that would be appropriate to show to high school students?
posted by orangesky4 to Media & Arts (13 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Citizen Kane, if it's a reasonably bright class.
posted by praemunire at 10:50 AM on January 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Grizzly Man?
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:36 AM on January 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Almost every Coen Brothers film
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 11:48 AM on January 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Yeah I'd recommend No Country for Old Men in particular. It offers a nice contrast between the clearly depraved Chigurh, and Moss, whose errors of judgment (taking the money, thinking he can outwit Chigurh, etc.) lead to tragedy. The subplot with Chigurh's coin-flipping - and Carla Jean's refusal to play - is also relevant.
posted by googly at 12:01 PM on January 24, 2018


I wish One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest wasn't rated R, that might be a good one. It's a little long, and it's unrated so I don't remember how appropriate it is for teenagers, but The Hustler might work for this as well.

If you're okay with not keeping it overly literary, X-Men: First Class has a bit of this arc with Magneto, although that's a little more of a protagonist-to-antagonist slide than a classic tragic hero. And I hate to say it but Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith definitely has the "felled by his own good intentions" story line going for him.
posted by helloimjennsco at 12:07 PM on January 24, 2018


Oh, A Simple Plan!
posted by praemunire at 1:09 PM on January 24, 2018


Not a film, but the thing that lept to mind was Hamilton!
posted by libraryhead at 2:48 PM on January 24, 2018


Moby Dick.
posted by SemiSalt at 3:58 PM on January 24, 2018


David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly (I'm not joking).
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 4:58 PM on January 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Streetcar Named Desire? You could conceivably have them debate who is the tragic hero, Blanche or Stanley.

No Country for Old Men is rated R, so can't be shown in high school, at least in the US.
posted by basalganglia at 6:24 PM on January 24, 2018


You could show them The Lion King - it's based on Hamlet anyway, so you can make other intertextual links and discuss each text's use of a variety of representational strategies to explore Aristotle's thesis.
posted by honey-barbara at 6:45 PM on January 24, 2018


Dog Day Afternoon. It has some bad language if you can get away with that. And I think the western Shane might be a good one as well but it's been a long time since I've seen it.
posted by perhapses at 7:38 PM on January 24, 2018


The Outsiders or whatever the modern day equivalent is. I think Boys in the Hood is R so that's out but I'm sure there is the equivalent "teens making bad decisions" movie out there for this generation. although maybe it's bad decisions online as I don't think they're allowed out of the house unsupervised anymore.
posted by fshgrl at 8:04 PM on January 24, 2018


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