LETTERS: Moving pictures have been around for a long time and used as learning resources within the education system.
In the United Kingdom, the art of moving pictures has been taught in schools to children between the ages of 3 and 11 as a result of the government's initiative, working in tandem with the formation of the national curriculum.
This effort, which aims to create a "film literate" population, has supported the UK teacher education and curriculum policy to promote a more rigorous "film culture" in the country.
In South Korea, films have been incorporated as part of media literacy education in school settings, as an extra-curricular activity and the formal in-school curricula.
Many students respond better to education via moving images or films, particularly in sustaining their interest and preventing them from becoming distracted.
Films can provide knowledge that extends beyond the curriculum or textbooks while offering topics that may not be part of the subject, but crucial nevertheless.
The black-and-white Malay films of the Golden Age, which were directed by Phani Majumdar, L. Krishnan, P. Ramlee, Hussain Haniff, M. Amin and Jamil Sulong, could be used to teach subjects such as Bahasa Malaysia, Malay Literature, as well as Malay Studies, Comparative Literature, Postcolonialism, Southeast Asian Studies, Anthropology, Sociology and History.
In Australia, Indonesian films such as Langitku Rumahku (Slamet Rahardjo, 1990), R.A. Kartini (Sjuman Djaya, 1982), Ibunda (Teguh Karya, 1986), and Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (Rudy Soedjarwo, 2002) have been used to teach Bahasa Indonesia (as a foreign language) in schools and universities.
Consequently, at our higher learning institutions, films should be used for teaching other art forms, including painting, photography, architecture, animation, creative writing, theatre, performance and music.
Courses within other fields of study, such as theology, philosophy, political science, law, criminology, medicine and culinary arts, should also consider using films as a medium of teaching and learning.
Some universities in the UK offer students the opportunity to do double majors that incorporate film, for example, Film Studies and Criminology (University of Liverpool), Film Studies and Psychology (University of St Andrews), and Film and Religious Studies (University of Kent).
As well as contributing to formal education, films can educate the public on specific subjects, such as motivation, religion, counselling, health education, ecology, tourism, geography and human rights. Film screenings should not be confined to cinemas, media and film clubs but should use other venues, including places of worship, galleries, museums, community centres, archives and libraries.
Films have stretched the limits of imagination and creativity by feeding our collective need for escape into worlds different from our own.
However, they also serve as a record of our rapidly changing world, at the same time educating, informing and teaching us about other cultures as well as our own.
In addition to becoming useful and powerful resources for education, our engagement with films may help promote films as a form of public culture, which is crucial in understanding and treating films beyond its entertainment function with which it is primarily associated.
NORMAN YUSOFF
Senior lecturer, Faculty of Film,
Theatre and Animation,
Universiti Teknologi Mara
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times