Claire Fontaine
Walking into the light: Ideology and the Hollywood classroom
by Nellis, Robert Christopher, M.Ed., University of Alberta (Canada), 2001, 246 pages; AAT MQ69460
Abstract (Summary)
Walking into the Light: Ideology and The Hollywood Classroom (1) analyzes 25 Hollywood films depicting educational phenomena and (2) identifies the ideological character of the individual films, their sub-genre categories, and the entire sample.
Methodologically, the study is situated within (1) Critical Social Science (CSS) and (2) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA); as well, (3) it applies the depth hermeneutics of John B. Thompson's Tripartite Approach.
The thesis divides the films into six categories: (1) the classroom Western (depicting schools saved from lawlessness); (2) pictures of privilege (featuring British public or American private schools); (3) the teen comedy; (4) the teen drama; (5) the adult comedy; and (6) love letters to me (sentimental epistles of the teaching profession). The study finds that the overall ideological character of the pictures is liberal and that this is best explained by Antonio Gramsci's conception of hegemony. The project concludes by presenting possibilities for action.
critical discourse hermeneutics film hollywood ideology dissertation media
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