CLIP Starts at 1 hour, 21 minutes and 8 seconds and lasts until 1 hour, 27 minutes and and 25 seconds. Or for the extended clip, start at 1 hour, 19 minutes and 16 seconds and end at 1 hour 29 minutes and 35 seconds.
Anna Kendrick plays Beca, who arrives at Barden University under duress from her remarried, literature professor father. Beca is being forced to do horrible things such as ‘study’ when really she wants to be out in the world being a DJ and making ‘mixes’ of her favourite songs. Pitch Perfect goes to great lengths to establish that Beca is ‘alternative’ and completely against the pretty girls who are dull and boring.
Beca soon settles into her university routine and somehow joins the Barden Bellas, an ambitious all-girl A cappella singing group. The Barden Bellas are theoretically everything that Beca stands against, but after a disastrous performance at the previous year’s championship, the group are open to more interesting characters joining their ranks. Before long our band of unusual ladies are taking part in the A cappella singing championship and learning about those key themes of friendship, love and believing in yourself.
The clip we are looking at sees the Bellas hold a crisis meeting in a bid to try and get the group back together. They decide to share secrets, but this doesn’t go immediately to plan; the group initially implodes before finding the courage to move forward as a team. After watching the clip, discuss the following questions in smaller groups:
• Have you ever faced a situation where you have felt rejected by a group?
• Do you think it is good to share personal secrets with friends? Why?
• Do we need to have an argument sometimes in order to get our true feelings out in the open?
• What qualities are needed in a good friendship?
After the discussions, read through Luke 22:23-33 together. This passage looks at Jesus’ disciples, a group of friends, having a disagreement straight after communion. After reading the passage, return to your groups and discuss the following questions:
• What does Jesus’ response indicate about his beliefs on who the best disciple was?
• What qualities does Jesus outline as needed in a good person?
• How can we look to use Jesus’ words to impact our own lives?
• Is it ever wrong to think of yourself or other people as more important than others?
Pitch Perfect is a film that will immediately appeal to the ladies of your group, but I guarantee that if you watch the whole film, all of your young people will get caught up in the infectious fun.
