Comunicar 39-ingles - Revista Comunicar

88Comunicar, 39, XX, 2012researchers have stated over the years, in the exerciseof their scientific irreverence and theoretical restlessness,the scientist is hardly ever able to take a step backand view science, in space and time, in such a waythat he can see it move, «and yet, it moves». And, as itwas said before, the role of Cinema and FilmLanguages as vehicles of artistic and documentarynarratives, in a comprehensive and holistic perspective,acquires an absolutely unquestionable importanceas a factor of authentic media and film literacy, as itmay be seen in these 5 different approaches gatheredtogether, among others, in the thematic dossier of«Comunicar, 35» (Reia, 2010):1) Cary Balzagette –was the head of the BFI’sdepartment of Film Education for many years and herintellectual authority is recognized by many other au -thors when she refers to the vital, leading role of theBFI in this field– by presenting the main pedagogicalapproaches to film language, especially in what wecall film pedagogy, as developed within the broaderactivities of the BFI, which pioneered an educationalperspective for the media as a process that resulted inbroader interest in media literacy and film literacy inparticular. Her article «Analogue Sunset, The educationalrole of the British Film Institute, 1979-2007»(Bazalgette, 2010), traces the main lines of activity ofthe BFI in this field over the last 25 years, its continuouseducational approaches clearly demonstratingthat the study of cinema and films is absolutely essentialfor understanding the world and times we live in.2) Michel Clarembeaux –director of the Audio -visual Centre (CAV) of Liège, Belgium– develops areflection on the theme «Film Education: memory andheritage» (Clarembeaux, 2010), within which filmeducation is identified, especially in these times of transitionand migration in digital environments, as anurgent need to construct a profound literacy media,given that the importance of film language cannot beunderestimated in the development of the capacity toanalyze contemporary media, in which cinema standsout in its various forms and supports as the «supremeart form of memory», be it individual or collective. Theauthor also suggests we can and should bring about aconvergence between some kind of «pedagogy of filmeducation» and a desire on the part of the public topreserve the collective memory of a broader and morevaried cultural heritage, pointing with concrete examplesof specific films and authors to support this hypo -thesis, but also remembering the importance of filmclubs in this context.3) Andrew Burn –professor of Media Education atLondon University’s Institute of Education– contributeswith his article, «Thrills in the dark: young people’smoving image cultures and media education» (Burn,2010), in which he discusses the role of film languagein this era of transition among media, channels andcultural environments, taking horror movies as a studyobject. He takes cinema and videogames as an example,and emphasizes the hybridization of the genre andthe transmutation of forms of interaction among theyoung and the media, film channels, and real and virtualvideos; he shows how a particular love for horrorand disaster movie genres in North American cinema,but also in Europe, still persists among the young,whose influence extends to other audiovisual forms,genres and products to the desperation of manyanguished teachers who are inclined more towardsprohibition than towards the more complicated optionof studying and analyzing these terrifying-loving objectsthat are so attractive to the youngsters.4) Mirian Tavares –a Professor of Visual Arts atthe University of the Algarve– emphasizes in her article«Understanding cinema: the avant-gardes and theconstruction of film discourse» (Tavares, 2010) thehuge importance of the historic avant-gardes in theconstruction of film discourse and how they wereessential in gaining recognition for cinema as an artform, offering their perspectives within the cross-roadsof these key concepts towards a possible renewed filmliteracy.5) Enrique Martínez-Salanova –author of the«Creat ive Classroom of Cinema and Education» (Mar -tínez-Salanova, 2010)– writes about «Educa tionalSystems in the Heterodox History of the EuropeanCinema», proposing a network of analyses that linksspecific films to traditionally difficult educational topicslike violence, exclusion, marginalization and neglection.8. ConclusionsAlthough these case studies are benchmarked bythe cultural context of European cinema andEuropean film literacy appropriations, it seems quiteadequate to conclude, according to the general analysisof the evolution of the different media landscapes inthe beginning of this text, that these reflections maywell be taken into consideration for other similar literacyapproaches in other places and within other culturalcontexts, such as those that may be developedalong with the desirable different appropriations thatmay be possibly achieved within the UNESCO Mediaand Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers,since for Cinema as for Art, their various languages andtheir different technological supports have the ability tohelp us to simultaneously preserve factual records of© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293• Pages 81-89