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The second revised edition of The Hollywood Curriculum analyzes over 165 films distributed throughout the United States over the last 80 years to construct a theory of curriculum in the movies that is grounded in cultural studies and critical pedagogy. The portrayal of teachers in popular movies focuses on individual effort rather than collective action, and relies on stock characters and predictable plots, precluding meaningful struggle. Conformation to these conventions ensures the ultimate outcome of the screen narratives and almost always leaves the educational institution-which represents the larger status quo-intact and dominant. To interrogate the "Hollywood curriculum" is to ask what it means as a culture to be responsive to films at both social and personal levels, and to engage these films as both entertaining and potentially transforming.
List of contents
Preface to the Third Edition - Acknowledgments - Introduction - The Hollywood Model: Who Is the Good Teacher? - The Aesthetic-Ethical-Political Value Frameworks of Good Teachers in the Movies - The Technical-Scientific Value Frameworks of Bad Teachers in the Movies - Divided Lives: The Public Work and Private Pathos of Women Teachers in the Movies - Here But Not Queer: The Mainstreaming of Gay Male Teachers in the Movies - Drama Is Conflict: The Roles of Administrators in Hollywood Movies - Schools, Schooling, and Student Voices - Filmography - Bibliography - Index.
About the author
Mary M. Dalton is Associate Professor of Communication and Co-Director of the Documentary Film Program at Wake Forest University. She is co-author, with Laura R. Linder, of Teacher TV: Sixty Years of Teachers on Television and co-editor with Linder of the anthology The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed. In addition to her scholarly work in the area of critical media studies, she is a documentary filmmaker.
Summary
The second revised edition of The Hollywood Curriculum analyzes over 165 films distributed throughout the United States over the last 80 years to construct a theory of curriculum in the movies that is grounded in cultural studies and critical pedagogy.
Report
"«The Hollywood Curriculum»" is a sophisticated and thoughtful look at the portrayal of teachers in film and television in an exceptionally accessible way. Dalton draws on some of the most relevant and exciting theory to evaluate teacher films and demonstrates a masterful insight into the worlds of education and film studies. This book is a must-read for those interested in exploring the intersection of teaching, curriculum, film/television, and society, and is an outstanding contribution to the literature. Alan S. Marcus, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Connecticut; Author of «Celluloid Blackboard: Teaching History with Film» and «Teaching History with Film: Strategies for Secondary Social Studies»
