American Studies students wrapped up watching The Crucible on Monday, a film about the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692 and 1693, of which contained trials and executions of girls who were suspected of performing witchcraft.

Teacher Swapna Garner believed that watching this movie was the best decision for covering the content.

“Our other type that we had an option to do was The Scarlet Letter, I think The Crucible is a lot more engaging and a lot more easy to relate to because the people turn so quickly,” Garner said. “It probably would’ve taken like two weeks to read through everything and discuss everything, instead we took two days to watch the movie and discuss it and do about the same level of stuff.” 

Most of the students enjoyed the film, and for junior Isabelle Wang the movie offered up a new perspective.

“The acting was really good, the cast was really well chosen, and the overall premise was interesting,” Wang said. “I never thought of puritan culture as that strict, and at the end of the movie the major climax showed the severity of the system which I never thought of before. We all paid attention to it and we all had our own thoughts on it. And since it was relevant to the course it helped us define our understanding of it.” 

For junior Nirad Bojedla, the film provided a good basis for their work.

“It provided a dramatization of what we were learning in class so it helped me process it better,” Bojedla said. “I think it was kind of a break from writing and taking notes every day which was nice. It was like 2 days of watching a movie. And we took some notes on it.” 

The film also resonated with Wang, who believed the film served as a good break for the class.

 “It was a good break from the course and it did help us learn about Puritan culture,” Wang said. “We were learning about the Salem witch trials and the puritan culture, and The Crucible is a- it’s more accurate than most references.”