LEARNING FROM THE PATRIOTISM, RACISM AND SLANG PRESENTED IN HOLLYWOOD AMERICANA |
Steven Specter |
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Abstract |
This paper provides the teacher of English conversation or American Studies with a foundation from which to teach various topics regarding Americana through the use of motion pictures. Three topics were chosen for this paper. The first two involve controversial and dramatic issues, patriotism and racism, while the last one involves the colorful use of slang in America. The paper discusses how the student can more readily grasp each of these topics more easily through vicarious involvement in well-chosen movies. The first topic involves the more recent unique and interesting development of patriotism in America since the Vietnam War of the 1960s. Several movies are chosen to help provide the student with an understanding of the mood of the nation that would otherwise not be readily understood by a dry lecture. The second topic discusses the unique nature of racism in America's heterogeneous society by focusing on the more divisive brand of black versus white, i.e., bigotry against the Afro-American by white America. The non-American student can better feel the sting and bitterness of this form of hatred more through films. Lastly, the paper discusses how the student can better grasp the use of slang. Since a fundamental teaching method is to explain by example, movies can help the student better understand this colorful form of expression by Americans by witnessing its usage in context, i.e., by seeing slang used in specific situations. Basically, this paper provides some ideas from which the teacher can start to develop a curriculum utilizing that special magic that makes movies so entertaining, viz. the re-creation of the drama called life in America in order to help the student better understand that far and unusual country. |
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