Tom Zorabedian proves ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’
Since 1994, Tom Zorabedian has shared his passion and expertise of film with URI students and community members alike. PHOTO CREDIT: uri.edu
As former Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor at the University of Rhode Island for over 20 years, Thomas “Tom” Zorabedian has earned his plaque as a platinum member of the Kingston community.
Zorabedian started teaching at URI in 1994, focusing his courses on film and communication. He has also taught courses at Rhode Island College, Boston University and Salve Regina. In each of these places, Zorabedian taught a plethora of classes, and even created some of his own.
While working as a professor, Zorabedian also got the chance to work on some films as an extra and learn more about how things were done in the industry itself.
“For fun during that period, really since the late 80s to more recently, I was able to work as an extra in feature films, which was fun because I got to see how films are made just by being next to some working directors,” Zorabedian said. “Films like ‘Mystic Pizza’ and ‘Mr. North’ and a couple of Michael Clemente films. By being in all these films, it was fun to see how the professionals did it.”
Zorabedian said that his father was a big influence on him when he was a child, especially in the realm of film. According to Zorabedian, his father would take him to the movies when he was young and would explain how filmmakers made things happen on screen.
“My father was not an academic, but he was able to look at things and realize what was going on,” Zorabedian said. “So, something would happen in a film and he’d tap me and say ‘Did you see that, did you just see what they did? That’s going to be important later.’”
As he got older, Zorabedian started to appreciate the themes of films rather than only the plot. He credited his father for this after countless trips to the movie theater together.
Zorabedian also gives credit of his success to his old English professor at URI, Walter Barker.
“I had an English professor at URI for two Shakespeare courses by the name of Walter Barker,” Zorabedian said. “The first day we walked in he said, ‘This class is not about Shakespeare.’ When he told us I was a little bit stunned by it. He said ‘Who cares about Shakespeare, you know, he’s dead. What’s important is what he wrote about. And themes he wrote about, it had to deal with love, jealousy, and power and paranoia, and guilt and frustration,’” Zorabedian said.
He said that this course, along with professor Barker’s teaching style, greatly influenced him in terms of professionality and film appreciation.
Zorabedian believes that the meaning between the lines of a film is of utmost importance when teaching the next generation of filmmakers.
“The plot is the plot to help keep your attention, but it’s really the message, the meaning and, in the best case scenario, the truth of the film is trying to get to,” Zorabedian said. “So I often think about what I learned from his class, and how I adopted at least that pedagogical approach to teaching film.”
Lionel Jeffries ‘22, a former student of Zorabedian, had Zorabedian as a professor for URI’s Images of Masculinity in Films course, a class that Zorabedian curated himself.
Jeffries felt as though this course helped him explore gender and politics in film as well as to deeply analyze the films he watched and created.
Taking this course also helped Jeffries create his own feature film called “Water Wick.”
“You know, Dr. Z is really extraordinary with how much he cares about his students,” Jeffries said. “He’s very passionate about what he’s teaching. I know that with the masculinity course at least, he’s been teaching that one for like 20 years or something, and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, because it’s just such a well put together class,” Jeffries said.
According to Jeffries, he and Zorabedian grew close just by staying after class and talking with him for either 45 minutes or even an hour.
“If you approach Dr. Z, and there’s a topic of mutual interest, he’s very friendly and approachable and he’s just a really smart guy,” Jeffries said. “I mean, it kind of goes without saying, but you know, he’s really intelligent, and he really cares. So, you know, sometimes I would just like hanging out with him after class and talking.”
Jeffries said that having such an involved teacher was influential to his interest in film both inside and out of the classroom.
Zorabedian said that he loves when people, either students or adults, come up to him and make conversation or ask him questions about films or his work.
“I do love it when I get approached with questions or people wanting to discuss something,” Zorabedian said. “Probably my favorite thing to do is try and try and make the classroom like that. If I had a perfect evening, it would just be sitting around with friends or even people I just met and it’d be about meeting and talking about something of interest.”
With such a passion for film, Zorabedian said that he encourages people to ask him questions or start up a conversation.