NCCRESt

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Films

• A Mean Wink at Authenticity: Chinese Images in Disney's "Mulan."
  Offers a critique from two Chinese educators with regard to the historical, cultural, linguistic, and artistic authenticity of Disney's animated film "Mulan." Argues that the filmmakers robbed the original story of its soul and "ran over Chinese culture with the Disney bulldozer," imposing mainstream cultural beliefs and values. (SR).
• Facets Non-Violent, Non-Sexist Children's Video Guide
  Helping parents, teachers, and librarians choose the best non-violent, non-sexist videos for children, this book presents brief descriptions of more than 800 videos (for children up to 12 years old) that were selected (out of more than 2500 screened) for their life-affirming content, cultural diversity, and lack of violence and sexism.
• Learning and Living Difference That Makes a Difference: Postmodern Theory and Multicultural Education
  Multiculturalism that both transforms and informs is important. Recommends applying postmodern theory to transformative understanding of multiculturalism.
• Pedagogy, Politics, and Schools: Films about Social Justice in Education
  Reviews six films about issues related to multicultural and social justice education in the United States: "It's Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School"; "Starting Small: Teaching Children Tolerance"; "In Whole Honor?"; "Children Talk about AIDS"; "Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary"; and "'Good Morning Miss Toliver.'" (SM).
• Reflexive Reading: Toward a Pedagogy of Alterity
  Examines evolving approaches to otherness in modern culture, analyzing the intertextual relation between Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" and Bukaee's film, "Avanti Popolo." Considers a possible pedagogy of alterity, examining the texts in their otherness according to Benhabib's 1992 conception of generalized and concertized otherness. Discusses how to promote personal growth and social agency through attentive, reflexive, and reflective reading.
• Sexism Exposed: Films about Gender Identity, Discrimination, and Change
  Reviews documentary and ethnographic films that examine gender-related issues, summarizing each film and analyzing its relevance to multicultural and social justice education. The films are: "The Fairer Sex?"; "Macho, 2000"; "The Pill"; "Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement"; "I am a Man"; "The Body Beautiful"; and "Nobody Knows My Name." (SM).
• That Old Gang of Mine. Movies about Friendship, Loyalty, and the Culture of Violence
  Reviews three contemporary movies, "Sleepers," "Girls Town," and "Slingblade" in which the common thread is abuse of helpless children by patriarchal authorities, adult white men who assert power over young people. In all three movies, the anger of the young people and their friends suggests respect for the righteousness of violence that raises many social questions.
• The Blackboard Jungle: Critically Interrogating Hollywood's Vision of the Urban Classroom
  Investigated graduate preservice teachers' perceptions of urban students and schools, exploring how they arrived at these perceptions through personal experiences/contacts and other means. Students completed surveys about their image of urban schools and students and examined commercial Hollywood films, discussing their role in shaping perceptions.
• The Invisible Made Visible: Documentaries about Living with Psychological Disabilities
  Reviews a decade of films and videos about depression, schizophrenia, and other emotional and psychological conditions as they affect women and men of different cultures. The article begins with a revelation by a recognized leader in multicultural education about his own struggle with depression and about how psychological disabilities are often omitted from the larger discussion of social justice and equity.
• Using Popular Films To Challenge Preservice Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching in Urban Schools
  Discusses myths about urban education and education in general that are illustrated in three popular films about inner city schools, focusing on myths about learning, specifically about questions and answers, authenticity, and motivation; teaching, specifically about the center of the learning process; relationships with students, parents, and the institution; and culture. Proceeds from a constructivist approach to learning.
• White Natives. "Braveheart" and "Rob Roy" as Colonial Victims
  Two contemporary films, "Braveheart" and "Rob Roy," depict Scottish ethnicity from a rather narrow perspective. The positions that are sentimentally admired when attributed to white natives of Scotland are horrifying when expressed by contemporary peoples of color.