Practicing Paragraphs Using Troll 2

by Kristen Figgins

Introduction
After you’ve discussed how to write paragraphs, I find it helpful to write a short sample paragraph or two as a class. So, how are you to write such an essay in a short amount of time? I start with agreeing to write about why “Troll 2 is the worst film ever made.” It saves you the trouble of finding common ground (“What’s everyone’s favorite/least favorite X?”) or coming up with insincere arguments (“Let’s write about why golden retrievers make great pets”) and students have a lot of fun laughing at the horrible plot/character/costumes/writing of their new favorite terrible movie.
Materials
You will need audio-visual equipment and at least 20-30 minutes to write as a class. The activity can be lengthened or shortened as necessary.

You will need to show your students this “best of” compilation of Troll 2. I usually stop around minute 3:30 or 4:00.

Note: Do not show your students the entirety of Troll 2. This is enough, I promise. Please also warn your students that Troll 2 attempts to be a horror movie and that it is very dated. There is a moment where a kid uses homophobic language, and I always take the opportunity to mention this as a possible reason why this is a terrible movie.
What to do

• Show your students the clip.
• Pull up a Word document and ask students to help you come up with three reasons why Troll 2 is the worst. This will become your thesis statement.
• Using your discussion on good paragraphs (topic statements, explication, analysis, etc), have students throw out the paragraph sentence-by-sentence. If someone is dominating the discussion, ask for someone else’s contribution.
• After your first draft, be sure to read through the essay, editing as you go. Point out what you’re doing as you revise and why and ask for suggestions throughout.
• Finally, read through the whole thing. Praise them heartily on the things they did well and explain why they’re successful (“This makes such a good topic statement, because…”).
• If time allows, I like to ask students to write a practice paragraph for whatever they’re working on at the moment. It helps to solidify that what you worked on was not a silly activity, but something you can transfer to their own writing.

Reflection
If Troll 2 isn’t your thing (and I would hardly blame you), this activity works with almost any other famously bad movie. Others I’ve used include Avatar: The Last Airbender (2010), Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), Mac and Me (1988) or From Justin to Kelly (2003). Again, clip compilations abound on the internet and usually give you enough fodder for a paragraph or two.

Twilight works as either the best or worst vampire movie depending on the demographic make-up of your students.

Links: 

The famous VH1 interview where Vanilla Ice tried to defend his hook– he refused to contest the issue in court and settled.

Here Vanilla Ice explains sampling in a very coherent and reasonable way. He admits that his problem is that he should have given credit.

In 1989, Robert Van Winkle (Vanilla Ice– yes, students know who he is still!) released the song “Ice, Ice Baby” which samples the recognizable riff of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” For a time, Winkle argued that the hook was his and distinct, yet he later settled out of court over the issue, after arguably causing damage to his reputation.