Film and Representation

Introduction

Denzin (1992) defined film as “an assembled simulation of the real,” using the term “construction” and spoke of film in textual terms (p. 140). This notion of the assemblage of the real that speaks to possibility for representation(s) of the world, and the capturing and rendering of experience. The presentation and representation of self/selves is endemic to a person-centered and human-centered pedagogy to implements film either as a singular text or in an array of texts. Such work is interpretive, critical, and requires close attention, dialogue, and consideration of subjectivities. Moving from literary considerations of film as object for analysis, visual media like film can also be a powerful medium for representation of content or self, including concepts of character education and messages about the ways that society is or should be. This representation of the self/selves has implications for thinking about the ways identities are presented, affirmed, or neglected/diminished as part of classroom instruction.

Such questioning of individual and corporate identity is endemic to young adult literature – as well as films that can be used thoughtfully with this age group. As Russell et al. (2014) pointed out, “character education is mandated in over 30 states as part of the secondary curriculum” (p. 236). It is this move to character, the elements of character, and the characteristics that are conveyed and affirmed within film that can be communicated, alongside content-oriented presentations of material. Film can be used as a tool in developing larger questions of societal concerns, including “personal values, and moral dilemmas” (Russell et al., 2014, p. 237). The author, who later in this chapter adopts first person vernacular to convey a closer relationship to the content, notes the presence of moral dilemma as a standard in English language arts standards, while noting that the concept extends beyond the prescriptive curriculum found in schools to embrace real-life tensions and applications.

Students, like teachers, can find images of themselves or images of what they want to be like in visual media. It is perhaps the visual presentation found in film or like media that contains emotive force in ways that word-level communication might not evoke in all cases – arguably, the presence of certain words are endemically emotive. Zambo (2009) pointed out the inclination of adolescents to base concepts of beauty on those exemplified by “movie stars, models, and athletes” (p. 60), aligning with this notion of idealized self and speaking to the notion of celebrity that is embedded in many filmic texts.

To experience a representation of a story through such a lens is to balance the knowledge that one is watching a performer that is known, which entails questions of why certain characters are more appealing or less appealing than others, based on the identity, visage, and public image of the person who is embodied on the screen. Additional questions exist when the teacher or student takes on the role of performer. Given the questions of self and actualizing adulthood that characterizes adolescence, the use of film as a site for this type of ideological work is an instructional step that lines up with popularized adolescent themes in literature, and contains more theoretical possibilities that extend beyond confined work in particular contexts.

Background

To continue this line of inquiry set forth in the introduction, Golden (2001) proposed a questioning framework for adolescents encountering images, including the questions, “Do you identify with the individuals pictured here?” and “How does this individual’s life compare to yours?” (p. 65), which were aimed at encouraging interaction between self and the object rendered in film, eliciting a consideration of identity through the lens of film. This transaction among viewer and product is not unlike Rosenblatt’s (2013) transaction theory of reading, in which the reading experience is composed of authorial intentions along with the background knowledge and perspectives of the reader to create a unique situation. Both Zambo and Golden speak to the need to guide further understanding of visual media representations through thought-provoking inquiry, and the word perception is key here as the individual’s experience, along with biases and potential for prejudice, form part of the approach to the written work.