ROBOT & FRANK Is it Really About Technology?

Having just watched the excellent movie Frank and Robot, directed by Jake Shreier, and starring Frank Langella, I just had to write a post about how you could use it as a springboard for quality personalized answers to questions I have thrown together.  I don't want to critique the film per se, but suffice to say it is worth seeing and it certainly complements a relaxing holiday, if you are fortunate enough to be on one like me, & most of Teacher-Turkey.

The reason I think it is a movie that can get your students' cranial juices flowing is down to the sub-plot/theme that runs throughout the narrative.  Although we see the Robot come into Frank's life, and what he has to do to become friends, it is the sub plot of Frank's children and their unwillingness to sacrifice their own time for the sake of their ailing father.  His son is a busy guy in the city with his own life, and his daughter is half way around the world constantly travelling. His wife had left him 30 years previously.  However, Frank is starting to show signs of Alzheimer's, or some other elderly component, which makes for a thought-provoking experience for the viewer.

The film clip below is the first time that Frank meets his Robot "Butler".  You can see that he is living a life of a typical bachelor male (ageing or otherwise), and he is in a state of disrepair.  Set in his ways and lonely, Frank does not take kindly to his son dumping the robot to help him do chores, nor is he happy with his daughter who calls only now and again, and usually gets cut off from presumably Facetime or Skype (although there is no branding which I found refreshing).

Anyway the clip is designed to focus on the neglect of parents and grandparents by  selfish, uncaring off-spring.  This seems to be an ever growing problem all over the world, or is it?  This clip could be something your students find alien, or very common for others.  In Turkey, the care of the elderly is still primarily done by the family.  There are very few old people's homes, or retirement homes like there are in Britain and the USA.  So, wherever you are, the questions I have prepared below could act as a nice way to get your students discussion this rather sensitive and emotional subject.  

Strangely enough, I was reading a tweet tonight and the teacher was bemoaning the fact the Common Standards are moving away from these type of questions.  I was appalled.  This type of question is undoubtedly the best way to get students engaged.  They should not be droppped or ignored.  They are so important, and of course include more textual type questions, but these must stay.  It gives our students a voice and a sense of self for the classroom environment. (You see, there is always another reason for a post :-))