124183 VK BEd 08b.3: VK Cultural Studies and Language Education (2022W)

In this course we will consider how the teacher is constructed especially in pop-cultural cinematic representations of the late 20th & 21st cents. However, we will start with the intriguing representation of Miss Jean Brody (1961) in order to trace the transformative impact which Spark’s novel (and later film-adaptation) had on the various portrayals of teachers in film a few decades later. Spark’s postwar-vision of the idiosyncratic teacher Miss Brody changing from inspiring idol to dictatorial manipulative destructive force, paved the way for later pop-cultural representations of the teacher as superhuman, saviour, schoolmarm, scapegoat though now against a changing historical (late-postmodern) background. Teachers in late 20th and 21st cents constructions are used for spreading and interrogating political-ideological concepts since the teacher is placed in a situation where the construction and negotiation of CS core-criteria for discussing identity – such as sex/gender, ethnicity/race, class, religion, disability, diversity etc - gain center stage.
The aim of this course is twofold:

1. On the one hand, we investigate how the teacher is constructed in the above context & in relation to students – if certain stereotypes are affirmed or subverted; which meanings reside behind dichotomizing constructs of the “good” and the “bad” teacher; or why teacher representations complexly combine conflicting aspects (savior/scapegoat) or appear as “larger-than-life” figures.
We will see that the teacher is painted against the backdrop of institutional and societal woe and often presented as markedly individualized and seditious in action against contemporary panopticist disciplinary systems. Here the teacher deconstructs the hierarchical modes traditionally ascribed to him/her –and mostly the intention behind seems to provide enlightenment for the people /the audience. We will ask if these “teachings” are romanticized rescue or redemption narratives or have in-depth impact or function as subversive caricature of sexist, racist, classicist etc. bias.

2. On the other hand will consider that such representations have great influence on (Western) society’s understandings/views and assumptions of “real-life” classroom educators.
We will interrogate the teacher as a social construct and the ways how pop-culture film resists or reifies societal beliefs about that construct. Films contribute to a “cumulative cultural text of teacher” (Weber & Mitchell, 1995) whereby each new film adds to how we understand who teachers are and what teachers do. In this context, we will consider perspectives of influential studies by teachers (e.g .Despres, LeClair, Salerno, & Zisk, 2013) who reviewed Hollywood films about teachers and reflect on the importance of offering pre-service teachers the chance to consider how such teacher representations can affect their emerging teacher identities and how they shape(d) the authors’ teacher identities. On this basis we can also likewise engage in a self-reflexive discussion in the context of our course (and as aspiring language & culture teachers).