Just entertainment? Student and faculty responses to the pedagogy of media representations of higher education

ABSTRACT

Hollywood film has been positioned as a form of public pedagogy – a site of efficacious informal learning. Acknowledging this educative potential, this article examines the ways in which faculty and students perceive and respond to representations of higher education offered by popular film. Drawing on focus groups and interviews with 22 participants, we discuss the key themes about teaching and learning that faculty and students observed in filmic representations – including an emphasis on genius, the presence or absence of effort, and a prevalence of extreme faculty-student relationships – and consider the extent to which these lessons shape viewers’ understanding and experiences of teaching, learning, and universities. While many participants suggested these representations are 'just entertainment’ and thus have limited impact, their comments nonetheless indicate ways in which films shape their own and others’ experiences and perceptions of the university, underscoring the need for further research in this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Public pedagogy
• popular film
• viewer response
• media representations of higher education
• genius
• effort
• faculty-student relationships
• entertainment education
• media pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. One participant declined to indicate their program, while two indicated affiliations to two Faculties/programs.

2. Identifiers beginning with F denote faculty participants, whereas those beginning with S denote students.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the McMaster University Student Partners Program.