And Then School Became Fun Again

O

Oeolycus

First time out of the vault
Hey, first post and just wanted to say this forum is a great resource for all things Fallout and post-apocalyptic. I haven't had to make a thread to ask any questions because a simple search has yielded numerous answers.

I'm a high school teacher of English. Fallout, which I played numerous times when it first appeared, has inspired me to write an English elective course for seniors on apocalyptic literature. It was my hope to incorporate all types of new media into the course: movies, pop art, govt. manuals (found one here actually!), and as a capstone, Fallout.

I've yet to replay Fallout to test its "literature," and there's the even greater problem of procuring licensing to use in a school environment (software is viewed differently than everything else, which is absurd). But I'd like to solicit your advice on my course. Is playing Fallout or Wasteland a feasible idea? Will students "get" Fallout since their idea of what a post-apocalyptic world should look like is derived from Gears of War? This is new territory for "literature" so I imagine the course will have some growing pains. But can you imagine how many kids would sign up for a course called, "Apocalyptic Lit.: We'll play video games!"?

A preview of the rest of my course includes:
  • - brief look at eschatology in the Bible (Daniel / Revelation)
    - jump to War of the Worlds, HG Wells and Orson Welles too
    - definitely A Canticle for Leibowitz
    - various out-of-class movie assignments (I got a list of PA flicks from this forum too!), including Omega Man, 12 Monkeys, A Boy and His Dog (haven't seen), Escape from NY, Children of Men, Threads (haven't seen), and Dr. Strangelove--but NO Mad Max.
ADDED: The purpose of the course is to examine why succeeding generations have thought their sins to be so weighty, their enemies so violent, or their resources so limited that the end of the world predictably would happen before they hit the grave.
 
Why can't they see Mad Max? Isn't 12 Monkeys more "intense" or whatever? Or are there tits in Mad Max? I can't remember...

If they can't see Mad Max, I would assume Fallout is also too mature? Perhaps, if this is the case, you can fraps some of the more key moments, and give them the opportunity to play it extracurricularly?
 
I'd wager it's because Mad Max is more of an action flick (then again, so is Escape). A Boy and his Dog is probably the most sexual one of the bunch -- bare breasts ftw!

I'd say skip Fallout. Games are something different from films and books in that they require more effort on the side of the user (generally speaking).

Threads can be found on Google Video, I think (public domain? not sure about it). I watched it and got to say it's probably one of the better "docu-dramas" out there. Very educational.
 
Ashmo said:
...
I'd say skip Fallout. Games are something different from films and books in that they require more effort on the side of the user (generally speaking).
Click to expand...

I don't know about you, but a homework assignment along the lines of "Destroy the Master's Army by June 13th" would have inspired me more back in high school.

However, I agree that it'd probably be better to show footage of yourself playing the game and get the kid's involved by having them play it in their free time and holding discussions over what they've accomplished and learned.
 
Stag said:
Isn't 12 Monkeys more "intense" or whatever?
Click to expand...

12 Monkeys was shown during my Sci-Fi Lit. class in the 12th grade. I would consider it post apocalyptic/Sci-Fi and an accurate incorporation given the course statement/purpose.


On another recommendation, "The Postman"... I imagine, if there is a book, that would be an amazing read all be it, a long one.

Incorporating video games into the class room is not to far off. It's just a matter of society accepting them as they have popular cinema. Like Science Fiction, post apocalyptic stories give us insight into who we are, where we might go and how we get there. These insights are "crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all."
 
Games are something different from films and books in that they require more effort on the side of the user (generally speaking).
Click to expand...
I hoped this would be an attraction. I really need to replay FO to have a better idea of how it would work, but in my imagination it'd be a small group project, or a two week computer lab extravaganza.

My study guide might look like:
  • 1. Describe the competing forces in Junktown.
    2. What are the motivations of the two leaders?
    3. How are these motivations significant to our understanding of what it might be like to live in a PA world?
    4. Who do you side with, and why? What is the result?
An answer for 3 (since the others are sort of "plot" questions) might be, "Greed is still in competition with socialist idealism even when the resources and payouts are significantly reduced--our worlds might not be so different." Kind of a humanism argument. Those questions are a framework for exploring old literature and so might prove anachronistic for new-media. I might realize there are entirely different questions to ask.

I can hear the students, "Dammit, I didn't study for the FO test...did anyone print out the gamefaqs walkthrough?"

@Stag - I thought a lot of people here were of the mind that Mad Max sucked. I didn't really like it much either, plus the whole PA theme isn't really explained until the later series IIRC.

EDIT:

@Maphusio -
On another recommendation, "The Postman"... I imagine, if there is a book, that would be an amazing read all be it, a long one.
Click to expand...
The Postman would be a great book to read, and there are many others in the genre. It's hard to choose since there's so much good stuff. One reason I eliminated On The Beach is because it deals less with what we do as humans that might bring about the apocalypse than WoTW and Canticle for Leibowitz.
 
Hell no. Mad Max is a classic. I liked the second part best, though. And the third one just plain sucked.
 
Oelycus said:
But I'd like to solicit your advice on my course. Is playing Fallout or Wasteland a feasible idea? Will students "get" Fallout since their idea of what a post-apocalyptic world should look like is derived from Gears of War?
Click to expand...

The smart ones will.

It also depends on the students' understanding of cold war nuclear paranoia and that time's idea of what the Bright Future would be like (Jetsons-like flying cars, interstellar travel, atomic power solving every problem on the planet), juxtaposed with the grim reality of a post-nuclear world.

You might want to do an additional '1950's visions of the future' class to make Fallout an easier game to approach.

Have you considered Philip K. Dick's Dr.Bloodmoney? It's a pretty good post-apocalyptic novel.

Maph said:
The Postman
Click to expand...

I... hope you don't mean that absolutely vomitous piece of propaganda starring Kevin Costner.
 
Wooz said:
Maph said:
The Postman
Click to expand...

I... hope you don't mean that absolutely vomitous piece of propaganda starring Kevin Costner.
Click to expand...

If I take his meaning correctly, I think he was actually talking about the supposedly-pretty-decent piece of propaganda written by David Brin, which (to hear it told) excels over the movie they based on it by serving a more plausible set of core ideas, exploring a far wider and more intelligent plot, and being completely void of Kevin Costner sex scenes.

As for your course, Oeolycus, I'm sad to say that I would discount Fallout from the curricular offerings if I were you. The devil's in the details on this one-- either everyone in the class has to play Fallout, or everyone in the class has to watch someone play Fallout, and both options put a number of difficulties and uncertainties in the way of ensuring that each student takes what you need them to away from the day's "studies." I'm sure you could figure out ways to regiment the day's <s>gaming</s> lesson plan, but I can't think of any that would leave the fun and excitement intact, which was one of your original reasons for considering such novel classroom media in the first place.

Speaking of fun and excitement, even with the language filter on and the violence set to 0, you'd be courting disaster with the parents and faculty if any of them ever caught wind of what Fallout actually is. I can't remember, but I don't think there's a way to lock the naughtiness filters in place once they're set, either.

I WOULD like to make a few recommendations, though, if I could:

1. Virtually any study of the vast majority of post-apocalyptic media is going to require a look at Cold War paranoia, at least topically. If you decide to give it more than a few seconds in the limelight, I might suggest Dr. Strangelove be placed on your movie list. I don't know if you've seen it, but it illustrates brilliantly the fears and foibles that gave rise to post-apocalyptica in it's modern form. Not to mention, most High School kids could really do with more exposure to satire.

2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a fantastically bleak and disjointed piece of apocalyptic fiction which, I feel, succeeds in making the end of civilization more personal and more arbitrarily cruel than any other single work in the genre. This is the only thing ever featured on Oprah that shouldn't be chucked into a fire.

3. The Death of Grass (alternately: No Blade of Grass), by John Christopher, is pretty dark stuff compared to other PA sci-fi written around the same time, being one of the first PA works I can recall to really shine an unflinching light on the question of morality vs. mortality.

4. By the Waters of Babylon is a masterful short story by Stephen Vincent Benet (amazingly prescient in that it pre-dates the atomic bomb), which (among other things) raises some poignant questions about just how much (or how little) of our society and culture would endure after an apocalyptic disruption. It's length and depth are quite aptly suited for a high-school class-- I fondly remember my own 3-day unit on it back in Honors English during sophomore year.
 
Things I've Added
The Road is a great book. I've put it on my list to reread because I don't remember his style much--and if a high school senior would just chuck it at the sight of its length (or that it's an Oprah book!).

I'd forgotten about Dr. Strangelove as I was recalling my list of movies. That will definitely be on the list, maybe even an in class viewing. I've updated the OP list to reflect this.

Cold War Hysteria, and Conclusion
I agree completely that there needs to be a rather lengthy unit on Cold War hysteria, but I think one of the interesting parts of the course is that propensity for hysteria keeps reoccuring whatever the threat. I'm thinking of Orson Welles' radio broadcast in 1938. Certainly the hysteria is at its greatest and farthest reaching during the Cold War.

I will also add that Babylon short story to my reading list. Thanks for your suggestions. There's so much that could be read there's no way I'll fit every book in I want to. I'd like the last part of the course to look at some modern PA reflections. And not just remakes of I Am Legend, but things like Al Gore's book (I remember 25 years ago the world was on the brink of another ice age...) or even the Left Behind series.

Has anyone read that series of books? I haven't. I think people love or hate them. It's either gospel or rubbish. What do you think?
 
This sounds just like our reading theme from 7th and 8th grade. That was the very end of the Soviet era so it was still sorta relevant. We learned about official bomb shelters, nike missile bases, blast radius and prime targets in our area. Near the end of 7th grade they made us watch The Day After.

Canticle will put them to sleep. It's a very long and confusing story. You have to read it with a dictionary in one hand and several years of latin class under your belt. I loved it, though.

Seconded The Road. That should be at the top of the list. Alas, Babylon and Z for Zacharia are also perfect for a highschool reading.

I dunno how easily you can find a copy of Threads. I've seen The Day After in FYE and Barnes and Noble a few times.
 
Wooz said:
Have you considered Philip K. Dick's Dr.Bloodmoney? It's a pretty good post-apocalyptic novel.
Click to expand...

A great idea.

I would also suggest The Iron Giant to help adress another point Wooz brought up, the understanding of '50s Cold War paranoia and such.
 
As a companion to Dr. Strangelove (well, actually it was the base for the parody) I'd recommend Fail Safe. I've never seen the movie, but the book is terrifying. It was written during the height of the Cold War, so it must have been even scarier at the time. Even around 2000, when I first read it, it scared the crap out of me.
 
Hello Oeolycus,

As someone who is still going to school I would definitely have enjoyed getting the opportunity to study subjects like Post Apocalypse during a course.

Sadly on the school I followed prior to this one most of my class mates new little about such subjects, let alone the world outside their own little sphere of existence.
I think they would probably have found this subject boring.

I am not so sure about the whole Left Behind, it seems more like born again Christian propaganda, trying to scare people into following a religion than dealing with the subject of what the world would be like after the fall of our society.

I'd stick with the books, movies, and games that don't have such a message.
 
Skip a boy and his dog. The plot is, Where is food, where are the boobies, talking dog. Hey boobies! Hey I got tricked into coming down into an absurd underground inbred loony bin. Break out. Eat boobies. end of movie.

Not worth the time. Spend it watching Mad Max, road warrior might be a stretch though. Yeah it's got some nudity but it's not that much. But it is a far better movie.

Hell, I'd say watch six string samurai, at least that was entertaining.
 
I will definitely spend some time this Christmas break reviewing these movies for the class, and if people would like I will keep this thread up-to-date. You've all been a great help, by pointing to new media or by offering suggestions and critiques.

Including Fallout in the course will be quite a task. First, there are the licensing issues (do I contact Interplay or Bethesda now?), then there are the technical issues of having it work for every kid. After that, there are the issues with parents--and finally, the issue of making it work as a school project. What makes teaching fun for me, however, is resisting the status quo. I work at a place where this is encouraged. I introduce kids to Emerson and Thoreau in the hopes that will not become mindless bots.

I really hope I can get this work. Any good ideas on how I can fit Fallout in? I had another idea. I could prepare saves in critical parts and have the kids play through them in a computer lab setting. That might be the best way to give them a sample of Fallout.
 
Introduce it by sending them though the demo of fallout, possibly show a part or two of the real game on a projector and a computer. I don't believe you need a license to work with that. But I'm not a lawyer.

Wasteland is practically abandoned. You probably use it without anyone noticing or caring. I'm not advising you doing that, I'm just saying you probably could. Maybe write a letter to the owners asking very nicely.
 
I guess the $5 or $10 jewel cases of 1 and 2 aren't available anymore. Shame. I guess unless you could pay $10-15 a copy for 1 alone on Ebay. But, apart from the question of collecting enough copies...

Fallout seems to touch on a lot of deep themes, though I don't know that it consistently gives these deep enough in-game treatment for a serious Lit class to handle the game by itself. I wonder if, instead of focusing on actual gameplay, you could build a course around a Fallout-based "structure". Perhaps isolate a few themes in Fallout, and play out that part of the game live or on video capture to introduce or set up the theme. Then do a week exploring that theme with a book or film. That might let students get through the class without having to actually play the game, but still expose them to it.

I think the idea of a class that relates to Fallout is a great quirky idea, and could be the kind of thing students will really remember and be inspired by. I had a senior year high school AP English class where we saw and discussed a few films, and after a few weeks of "Catch-22" we got to make audio, video, and live play presentations instead of essays.

Plus, a few Lit students might end up in the game industry. We (We!) have a mutual (shared...) responsibility to get them (Unity!) brought into the fold (neurolinked...Neurolinked!) early.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top