Philosophy and Film

Mr. Paul Reiff, English Department Supervisor, and Mr. Schmidt, English teacher, have been discussing implementing a film class at LHS for many years. Film Studies was a class that used to be offered at Libertyville about twenty years ago. Implementing the class again has been brought up periodically, but it didn’t occur to teachers until this year that the class would be better if it was a Film AND Philosophy class. This idea gained traction and the Philosophy and Film course was born. This class will show six movies that discuss or interpret a philosophy being studied by the class. For example, the class would discuss a life philosophy such as metaphysics and then watch a movie to further that understanding and better apply it. The films and philosophies will be dependent on one another and will help the students fully understand the content, according to Reiff and Schmidt. This class will be a semester class offered to juniors and seniors and will be designed so that the students question everything, according to Mr. Schmidt. Mr. Reiff stated he wants the students to ask themselves “‘how do we know this is real or how can we trust this?’” when watching the films.