 |
The Hollywood Curriculum: Teachers in the Movies
|
One hundred-sixteen films distributed widely in the United States over nearly seventy-five years are analyzed to construct a theory of curriculum in the movies grounded in cultural studies and critical pedagogy. The social curriculum of Hollywood implicit in popular motion pictures is based on individual rather than collective action and relies on codes established by stock characters and predictable plots to preclude meaningful struggle. These conventions ensure the ultimate outcome of the screen narratives and almost always leave the educational institutions, which represent the larger status quo, intact and in power. In addition to an expanded list of films informing the analysis, this revised edition features two new chapters: one on gay teachers in recent films and another on principals in the movies. Interrogating the “Hollywood curriculum” is to ask what it means as a culture to be responsive at both social and personal levels and to engage these films as both entertaining and potentially transforming.
For information about ordering this book see: |