To movie . . . or not to movie?

It is clear from the article, Tinsel Town as Teacher: Hollywood Film in the High School Classroom that teachers have been increasing their use of feature films in the classroom. The authors attribute this to a combination of factors, but one primary reason is the increased accessibility of the tools needed to show these films. The study performed provides only minimally useful data. It focuses on teachers who show large amounts of these films, so it can be used to show the motives of this particular breed of social studies teacher, but not much else. I would argue that these teachers also watch and become involved in these types of films in their personal lives. The truth is that films intended to appeal to mass audiences do not teach history, they use history. It must also be recognized that one of the most basic interactions, interpersonal communication, is rarely portrayed with historical or realistic accuracy. This is not to say that these films are of no value, but to use them once a week in the classroom is excessive and unhelpful. To say that the amount of “misuse” for feature films was underreported in the study would be a gross understatement. A 1% report for both substitute teachers and non-academic time does not correspond with reality.

There are several uses for feature films that both the aforementioned article and another by the same authors, The Burden of Historical Representation: Race, Freedom and “Educational” Hollywood Film, discuss. There is a sense in which the textbooks that are available to teach High School Social Studies present a culturally biased view of history. One way to portray the lives of minorities in their historical context is to show one of the many movies that has that theme. These movies must be explained because there are many ways in which they attempt to over-generalize the concepts they depict. They also sometimes exaggerate the polarization of the different sides of an issue in order to make understanding the movie easier. This process can be a useful exercise for students because it allows the teacher to explain how to critically analyze the historical information that they are presented with.