If... Other ideas | Resources for teachers and students

Other ideas for using If... in the classroom

If... rests well within the tradition of using school as a metaphor for power relations. Students could look at other texts that explore this theme and compare their treatment of it. For example Barry Hines Kestrel for a Knave and Loach's 1968 film Kes from the book make an interesting contrast of school and its constraints.

An interesting set of representations to compare, contrast and debate would be school in fiction and films. The Harry Potter books and the film adaptation(s) provide an excellent contrast to the repressive public school represented in If.... The schoolteachers of Hogwarts represent, in the main, benevolent forces, while the family, as represented by the Dursleys, is quite the opposite. In other examples of children's fiction, the family is often the key barrier to adventure and excitement, as opposed to school, where rules may be bent and avoided. Students could also be referred to more recent youth genre films, which they may be familiar with and encouraged to explore how school versus family is represented. In If..., the family is largely absent but is implied to be collusive with the oppressive structures of the school. Freedom in If... is somewhere quite beyond institutions, as symbolised by the stolen motorcycle ride, or retreats into vodka and music.

There are many interesting questions about the film's style and its unusual composition, which English teachers may also wish to explore in the classroom. The notes below, which suggest a range of activities to support Film and Media AS/A2 may be of use.

In Curriculum 2000, the revision of the specification for Media AS and A2 removed close reference to British cinema of the 1960s. Instead the emphasis is on British Cinema of the 1990s (OCR) though there are the vaguer possibilities for the study of British Cinema from any period in other areas of study, including independent study, where texts are not prescribed. Enthusiasts of If may well want to look at this film as a vehicle for teaching textual analysis, or for exploring narrative and style, in beginner units for AS Media. However, ideally students should have a good handle on analysing films before approaching such an unusual text and perhaps this is the kind of independent level inquiry that might inspire students in the A2.

The WJEC specification for Film Studies very precisely places the study of British Cinema on the agenda for work in the first year. In FS2 the emphasis is particularly on producers and audiences, whilst in FS3 work on focus films, in particular topic areas encourage students to undertake close analysis skills and to analyse the significance (messages and values) of films produced at a given moment in time.

Swinging Sixties

The specification states that

'This topic looks at issues of representation during a period of rapid social change and may include both films from the beginning of the decade and from the end of the decade (such as, If, Performance and Kes). In particular, this topic looks at the mythical construction of the 'swinging sixties' on the one hand, set against an on-going tradition of social realism on the other.'

Specimen Question

Are the films you have studied challenging traditional social or moral attitudes in the sixties?

One clear justification for including If... in the Scheme of Work on the Swinging Sixties is that it represents a clear riposte to all the 'hype' about 'Swinging London' as it represents a world in conflict. There is not much 'swinging' about If.... It is arguably a film that explicitly seeks to challenge traditional views of the world and asserts new emerging moral attitudes, particularly around personal freedoms like sex.

On, the other hand the film also exists as part of a body of films that are exploring issues about contemporary youth, politics, music and life. It shares some thematic interest with other films made during the period and draws on experimentations in style that also characterised the swinging sixties film. Students could explore these.

Experimental film style

More broadly If... can be used to study British film style which forms the basis for work in other units across the Media specifications for AS.

If... shares similar intentions to other 'Swinging' films to experiment with style, a development that Robert Murphy (1997) describes as about the following

The inclusion of fantasy sequences
Slapstick
Outrageous Visual Jokes
Distancing devices such as narrator or inter-titles

A 16 year old student recently told me that in studying If... it was hard to gain a grip on what the film was doing. This is in no small part attributable to Anderson's experiment with film style. If... uses a range of visual devices:

colour/black and white sequences (because of funding problems but nevertheless coding the film in particular ways);
a lack of obvious direction for the narrative (not goal-oriented);
and the surrealistic sequences (Mick and Johnny handcuffed when they escape from school, or the tiger fight sequence, or the scene where the dead chaplain is produced from a drawer) all challenge traditional notions of realism.
After viewing, use Robert Murphy's list above and ask students to identify the extent to which Anderson uses these four devices.
Debate what Anderson is attempting to achieve with these sequences.
Are these experiments with style effective, or distracting from the central ideas of the film?

You might extend understanding of this by exploring the 'conventions' of Surrealist filmmaking or avant-garde practices, which Anderson clearly draws on. With some independent research, students might be able to measure If against the conventions of avant-garde practice, using this table (PDF, 8k).

Students will have studied A Hard Day's Night which clearly utilises some of these experimental devices, as does If.... Experimental cinema calls into question the assured nature of narrative and understanding and exploits the oppositional discourses of the nation that may not find voice in popular cinema. This gives the two films something in common, while in terms of messages and values in the films there are fundamental differences.

Messages and Values in If...

Sarah Street (1997) argues that If... represents a world 'of hierarchy, bullying, intense patriotism and an overwhelming sense of harshness'(1997:166). But the pleasure of the film is in the 'gradual discovery of the power of insurrection. The boys break free, first in a spiritual manner (through music, the motorcycle ride and through sex) and then more literally by violence.' (ibid)

Compared with another 'swinging London' classic, Lewis Gilbert's 1966 film Alfie, there is a shared sense of response by the characters to the constraints of modern life. Alfie (played by Michael Caine) lives his life by the 'myths' of the swinging lifestyle: a carefree life of dancing, 'birds', and 'free love'. But Alfie's problem is his lack of financial resources and therefore the liberty to enjoy what is essentially a middle-class dream (epitomised by Shelly Winter's 'swinging' female character in the film). At first this is an issue of work and housing (Alfie lives in sub-standard bed-sits in the film and works as a chauffeur, serving others), but later in the film it becomes an issue of his physical health. Alfie tries to transcend his class position through his abilities as a vital young man in romance, a lover - a role that backfires because some of his girlfriends have to have abortions, there are missed opportunities with his son, and women finally reject him. Alfie is not moved at the end of the film to change but laments 'What's it all about?' - a hollow cry of youth not dissimilar to that roared in If....

Of course there are key differences in emphasis and in social class representations. Alfie is a working-class man, struggling for entry to an 'exclusive' London life. Mick Travis exists as part of the ruling elite, who recognises its hypocrisies and constraints and wishes to abolish it. He talks romantically at the beginning of the film of 'birds' in the East End and fantasises about a life beyond the boundaries of the school. This is given clear vent in the film with the beautiful sequence of the stolen motorcycle ride through the countryside to the café. Here he finds liberty.

Unifying features of films made during the 'swinging' period of the 1960s are the following, all of which require close analysis from students to exploit further.

a) Music
b) Sex and opportunities for free love
c) A generation breaking out alone

An examination of style and of the messages and values in If will provide students with good examples to compare and contrast other films of the period with the focus film.

Feedback

If you have used If..., either in the classroom or in a screening for schools, please let us know what you think of these ideas or if you have any additional ones.

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