Holiday Inn

After watching a movie with your children or students, we encourage parents and teachers to look for education opportunities to teach with movies. Here are a few discussion topics that can help with lesson plans or teaching in the home.

In this movie, Jim is excited about the prospect of only having to work 15 days a year, and many of the dance numbers are portrayed as impromptu or ad-libbed. What part of showbiz 0x201Cwork0x201D does the movie fail to acknowledge or portray? In reality how long do you think it would take to create sequences like Fred Astaire’s firecracker tap dance? (According to an article on Turner Classic Movies the scene took two days and 38 takes 0x2013 and that’s not including the many rehearsal hours or years of dancing lessons.)

This film was made in 1942. How did the political climate of that time influence the depiction of the Independence Day celebration and Irving Berlin’s song Freedom?

What is considered 0x201Cpolitically correct0x201D constantly changes. Given the attitudes of today’s society, would the main characters be portrayed as smokers? How do you feel about the Lincoln’s Day performance where the white characters wear black makeup, and the lyrics use the term darkie?