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Thanks for the response, Del. This is a
significant issue all around, I think, involving not only faculty selection of
films and videos but also selection of texts and supplemental essays. The
"teacher/preacher" issue seems extremely thorny. I'm not sure how it can be
resolved. I do recall your 'Apocalypse Now' example from an earlier email.
Perhaps that stems from the movie 'Jarhead,' which did use the helicopter
invasion of the Vietnamese village with 'Ride of the Valkyries' screaming over
the loudspeaker for exactly that purpose. I wondered if that were accurately
from the writer's experience or if it was a filmic device. It was extremely
powerful, and the response of the men in the auditorium (in the film) was like a
Vince Lombardi pep talk. I can't imagine that they used the entire film, though,
for charging up college-age males for battle. Maybe, in fact, that's a good
argument for showing the full feature rather than excerpts.
Jack
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 6:14
PM
Subject: Re: TEACHSOC: Re: using
Brokeback Mountain to teach
Hi Jack,
I will address the punitive part first.
By and large the post on the list have a punitive response to most problems in
the classroom, tardiness, not working, etc. In the case of this
movie
apparently the following took place with regard to those who
would refuse/object to viewing this film.
""Plenty
of people e-mailed back privately that if they refuse the viewing/discussion
have them do a long, awful research paper"
Next there is
little data on what would be learned by showing the film. The quality is
not a question. For example, the film apocalypse now was widely
considered an anti war film.
However apocalypse now is used to charge
college age males up for battle. It has already been marketed as a love
story with infidelity .... so in some ways damage has been done.
Will
students learn that homosexuality involves cheating on "good" women. Who
knows. On the other hand the marketing and reaction to the film could be
examined without showing
the film. For example, males who
don't want to see it are quickly labeled homophobic .... should those who want
to see it be considered voyeurs?
On the other hand Goodbye and
Good Night which may not win Oscars because of the way it was made could be
more constructive in terms of learning. Unlike Brokeback it is not
fiction
and McCarthy's own words are used. Clips as have been
suggested might contain important information without risk of the doom and
gloom factor. Then I favor discovery more than
teacher/preacher
classrooms and would not be likely to show films in class. Perhaps extra
credit for those who want to go and write a
paper.
Del
Jack Estes wrote:
This is a topic close to my (teaching) heart. Couple things here
hit me: "a message that we want to promote" and "punitive treatments for
those...." Both lines seem a bit scary to me.
Is it the "message" we
want, or is it the opportunity to teach - to illustrate - some topic? Seems
to me that almost any commercial film can be used effectively in a clasroom
in sociology if we use it as a tool to look at the sociological issues
involved (and not necessarily to try to advance our own pet messages). Maybe
the issue will be exploitation by the producer (an external issue), or maybe
it will be an examination of the internal elements - in Brokeback's case the
relationships between the men, between the men and their wives, between the
men and the society, between the men and their boss. So much could be
studied here, I would think. In an intro class, we could look at elements of
culture (norms, values, sanctions, language, etc.), at social structure, at
socialiation, at deviance, at stratification, and certainly at gender
issues. At least. Seems to me the film - any film, actually - is LOADED for
such topics.
In fact, one of the benefits of using commercial films
is to challenge students to see their so-called casual interactions with
popular culture as, in fact, serious ways in which they are being socialized
- and exploited. It should help them to become aware of what they so often
take for granted.
I'm not sure what is meant by the punitive
treatments. Did you mean, Del, that these are punitive treatments by the
"females" you refer to? Or did you mean by the profs? Sounds like you refer
to profs since you talk about classroom experiences. I don't get this at
all. You mean you've heard that some profs are punishing students for not
wanting to watch this film? How would they do that? Seems confusing to me.
Why would they do that?
Anyway, just some Saturday morning thoughts.
Jack Estes
BMCC/CUNY
----- Original Message ----- From:
"Del Thomas Ph. D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2006 9:23 AM
Subject: TEACHSOC: Re:
using Brokeback Mountain to teach
Using commercial film in class
Does this
film send a message that we want to promote in a sociology class
room? How do we know what is learned?
What about the variation
of what is learned based on gender or faith?
This film has been
marketed for females and their "Yes dear I'll go with you" power. I
understand that some have recommended
punitive treatments for those
who do not want to have this as a classroom experience.
Your
thoughts.
Del
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