This week we’re featuring another Honorable Mention from The Baldwin School in Pennsylvania. With an in depth retelling of the story of Pandora’s Box and an insightful Q&A to reveal its modern connections, the viewer is treated to a new view of a classic mythological tale. The illuminating film was created by middle school students Rebecca, Menal, Alex, Katrina and Theresa with the help and inspiration of their teacher, Preston Bannard.
When these students decided to take on mythology and storytelling they knew they wanted a heroine instead of a hero. They noticed that many modern tales in movies and books are placing a female in the lead role instead of a male and they wanted to find an ancient example of this phenomenon. Pandora seemed like the perfect fit and her story fascinated the students. When they examined the story, they learned details and pieces of the tale that were previously unknown to them. As they explored the evils that escaped from the box, it allowed them to take a second look at the evils that exist in our world today. [1]
When choosing the modern stories to which they would compare Pandora’s Box, they wanted to find examples with “subtle, but clever and closely-related connections” to Pandora rather than jumping to the big box office draws like the Hunger Games and its heroine, Katniss. Their exploration led them to several book series which helped them find the connections between our modern heroines and the ancient Pandora.
They truly enjoyed the research aspect of the project and enjoyed learning many new facts about the ancient story as well as its ties to modern-day.
Rebecca likes to play video games, draw and play with her cats. Her favorite classes or activities in school are chorus and art.
Menal enjoys reading, writing, crafting and goofing around on iMovie. Her favorite subject in school is the BTV (Baldwin Television) Club.
Alex likes to swim, play softball, read Dystopian Fiction and watch Lifetime and TLC. Her favorite subjects in school are Latin and math.
Katrina enjoys walking from class to class. When she’s not caught up in academic activity, she likes to think about life.
Theresa likes to practice piano and violin, to which she is very devoted, and play on her computer. Her favorite subjects in school are English, art, orchestra and drama.
[1] Film Essay.
AntiquityNOW 