Adapting Literature

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 07.01.10

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. This Unit and My School
  3. Rationale
  4. Film and Politics
  5. Film Analysis: Making it Work for Your Students
  6. Are films in fact influential?
  7. Do all films work as political rhetoric?
  8. How do we compare realistic films within the given categories?
  9. How do we compare animated films within the given categories?
  10. Lessons and Strategies
  11. Bibliography
  12. Appendix A- Film Analysis
  13. Appendix B- Political Socialization

Political Socialization: Finding Ourselves in Film

Jeffrey C. Joyce

Published September 2007

Tools for this Unit:

Film and Politics

This summer my wife and I saw the movie Spider Man 3. It was a typical computer-generated theatrical thriller with a common plot: good vs. evil. Or so it would seem. The storyline took a bit of a turn, however, as Spiderman became tempted to seek revenge against his apparent enemy and in one scene even contemplated killing him. The audience discovers with Spiderman that allowing temptation to overcome one's self is a dangerous proposition with many unpredictable outcomes. He eventually realizes the error of his thinking when the antagonist reveals himself to be a decent and heartfelt human being worthy of forgiveness, which is quickly granted. But for our purposes this film does far more than allow about an hour and a half of reality escape through fantasy.

What could the storyteller be saying? Let's answer this by looking at the film through a political lens. Pay careful attention to this next bit as I try to model for you the kind of thing you might want to describe to your students in class. It is perfectly plausible for us to link this story with the current conflict in Iraq. After the 9/11 attacks our government was anxious to find the culprits and bring them to justice. In a calamity of this kind politicians are never apt to be patient as they feel the pressure to respond to the wishes of constituents who are eager to find someone to blame. And it has been a frequent predicament in United States History from the so called "Bloody Massacre" in Boston, to the Alamo to Pearl Harbor.

So, we knew Islamic fundamentalist jihadists in the Middle East calculated the attacks, we had a "bad guy" we could toss into the fray, and an American public ready to "smoke them out of their rat holes," as President Bush put it. It was this rush to judgment and need to exact vengeance that has led us to the befuddling situation we find ourselves in today. Therefore, we could say with great validity that Spider Man 3 wants us to consider whether tolerance, patience, and forgiveness are values we ignored and by giving in to the dark temptations for revenge, we have left ourselves in a rather pitiful condition. Maybe Spiderman preaches that real heroes behave with fortitude, depth of thought, and in a calculatedly respectful way. They are not, as the theme of this film is suggesting, apoplectic, myopic and headstrong.

We could also think about this in another politically oriented manner. The debate over capital punishment has been a hot topic in recent years especially since DNA testing has revealed a number of miscues on the part of our legal system. In the film Spiderman is a celebrated character and held iconic by the community. He is the ultimate authority for good. Indeed, the one force that keeps criminals at bay. But because he blames the Sand Monster guy, who is never given a name during the film, for murdering his Uncle he contemplates killing his foe. It is a perfect setup for commenting on the death penalty. Spidey forgives and forgets and the Sand Guy, or whatever he is called, lives and learns a valuable lesson. There is even an offering in the end that Sand Guy is going to change his ways, which he has been rehabilitated and will ostensibly be a productive member of society. By the way, it is an interesting consequence to this metaphor that the enemy is a walking desert!

Now, I think it is worth asking what difference it makes if in fact our assessment of this film, or any other, is logical and meaningful. Well, in the AP course we are asked to teach about a process called political socialization, political ideologies, as well as to teach about the political effects of major media. And as was mentioned in the introduction, this is not an easy prospect given modern political complexities. This type of specific political analysis can help us do both, but first some clarification with regard to terminology.

Political socialization is the process by which people become their political selves. It is the accounting for and perhaps the accumulation of all the possible influences in people's lives that have led them to take some political path. Political scientists have theorized about this process for many years. It is through this socialization that people adopt some ideology that acts as a guide to their political opinions and activities. Among the most important of influences is a person's family which includes racial and cultural considerations, religion, the region where a family lives, the mother's and or father's occupation and educational background with of course a great deal of attention being paid to the families traditional political leanings.

For this unit, however, I want to also give credence to the role media, specifically film, might play in this development. As times have changed and children expose themselves to and are often manipulated by multiple forms of Media, it is worth asking whether or not their political opinions are potentially a byproduct of the materials they consume. It seems quite likely. So we have the makings of a unit that will supply teachers with the ability to teach students about the role film based media play in developing political ideologies for American people in a process referred to as political socialization. Now let's put them all together.

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