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From Martyrs to Murderers

Images of Teachers and Teaching in Hollywood Films

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Robert L. Dahlgren

    1. State University of New York at Fredonia, USA

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  • From Martyrs to Murderers offers a critical appraisal of the history of educational policy as informed by popular culture and opinion.
  • The analysis in this book uniquely connects the representations of Hollywood films and television programs with the neo-liberal trajectory of education policy in the United States.
  • There are numerous texts regarding the images of teenagers and their school experiences in Hollywood films, yet few investigate the impact of these anti-authoritarian texts on the images of teachers the public education; From Martyrs to Murderers provides a valuable and unique perspective.

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Introduction

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 1-12

  3. Education and Popular Culture Narratives

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 13-30

  4. The Shift

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 31-46

  5. The “Crisis” in America’s Public Schools

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 47-63

  6. Classroom Management in Hollywood Schools

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 65-76

  7. Instructional Practices in Hollywood’s Imagination

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 77-90

  8. Teacher/Student Interactions on the Silver Screen

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 91-107

  9. The Mavericks

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 109-127

  10. Myth, Reality and America’s Public Schools

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 129-144

  11. Conclusions

    • Robert L. Dahlgren
    Pages 145-157

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 159-160
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Keywords

About this book

In From Martyrs to Murderers, the author explores the connections between the dark, unflattering representations of public schools, teachers and teaching in popular Hollywood films and the conservative attacks on public education that have culminated in a generation of neo-liberal standards reform measures. The author’s analysis is based on a survey of 60 movies that feature significant interactions between public school teachers and their students. This study employed a textual analysis method involving viewing the films alongside original script material, which reveals that the narratives involving public schools during the late 20th century and early 21st century are distinct from those involving other types of schools or eras. Rather than the romantic figures of earlier portraits, such as Eve Arden’s beloved Our Miss Brooks in the 1940s and 1950s radio and television serial, these teachers are consistently portrayed as negative archetypes, thus providing a rationale for the school reform agenda of the 1980s. The sheer repetition of these damaging images in Hollywood products of the period made the American public more susceptible to the deceptive arguments outlined in A Nation at Risk, the seminal 1983 report that provided the blueprint for the standards reform movement that has dominated education policy for the past generation. This work thus develops upon the critical perspectives of educational historians and social studies educators who have probed this turning point in the history of American schooling. It also offers an alternative means of viewing the reality of life in the nation’s public institutions.

Authors and Affiliations

  • State University of New York at Fredonia, USA

    Robert L. Dahlgren

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: From Martyrs to Murderers

  • Book Subtitle: Images of Teachers and Teaching in Hollywood Films

  • Authors: Robert L. Dahlgren

  • Series Title: Constructing Knowledge: Curriculum Studies in Action

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-965-2

  • Publisher: SensePublishers Rotterdam

  • eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)

  • Copyright Information: SensePublishers-Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2017

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-6300-965-2Published: 13 April 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2213-722X

  • Series E-ISSN: 2213-7238

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: CLXII, 10

  • Topics: Education, general

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