Addressing Pedagogical Challenges in Teaching Social Justice Issues: Are We Scared Yet?

ABSTRACT

While films are popular as teaching tools in social work education, to critique social inequalities, horror films have not been the conventional genre. This teaching note describes the creation and deployment of a course that uses horror films to address social justice issues as part of different critical reflection, which is linked to practice wisdom. The author describes the structure of course, readings, activities, and reflections for expanding the use of this genre and well as limitations. The use of horror films can be a useful and salient tool to engage students to draw upon social constructions of what it means to be fearful or scared, and teach about infractions to human nature from a social work perspective. Broad implications are discussed, including other genres and the availability of resources to replicate this course in other settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Horror films
• social justice issues
• media
• social work education

Using media, such as film, in social work education can be useful as a tool to communicate, deliver messages, and facilitate discussions (Juneau et al., 2022; Liles, 2007). For example, the use of streaming channels on mobile devices such as phones, iPads, and laptops have made decades of films easier to access at comparatively low cost as opposed to purchasing DVDs or waiting for a film to show on local television station channels. The pandemic presented challenges for instructors, as it necessitated significant changes to teaching modalities and delivery of content (Denardo, 2022). One of the biggest challenges of teaching through a pandemic was content-specific strategies. It can be argued that there was a renewed importance for teaching social justice themes within courses, as social inequalities and inequities were exacerbated and on public display. As social work education moves forward, it is likely that educators will continue to incorporate themes from the pandemic into the classroom.

This teaching note is designed to provide an instructional guide on examining social justice issues using a film genre that is unconventional: the horror genre. First, we will provide a brief review of the current uses of horror films as an educational tool. We then will describe a course that was developed that used a myriad of horror films in conjunction with a text and related reading as content strategies for addressing social justice issues. Lastly, we will describe the activities and assignments designed to help students examine social justice issues within a horror film-context. Overall, the use of horror films, along with the exploration and discussion of their history, can be a useful and salient tool to engage students to draw upon social constructions of what it means to be fearful or scared, and teach about infractions to human nature from a social work perspective.

Horror films in pedagogy

Films offer a public image that has a way of shaping its viewers’ thoughts and attitudes about its content. In other words, it can be stated that “[m]ovies are more than just the stories they tell. They are symbolic constructs, systems of symbols that help people think, feel, and act” (Krasniewicz, 2006, p. 10). While an abundance of films may come to mind among social work educators, of note to the authors is the types of films that are used. In full disclosure, the primary author, a longstanding fan of horror films of all kinds, has made connections with themes of humankind in this genre long before entering academia. In fact, it happened early on in the first author’s career that the subtle yet consistent integration of their personality in their instruction served as an aide to communication and rapport building. For example, during the month of October, highlighting film favorites such as Jason Voorhees, Ellen Ripley, or Michael Myers in class PowerPoints was something that was both a focal point during class and a trademark. Choosing the road less traveled was also a distinctive factor for the author, as with teaching complex social issues warranted the ability to illustrate them in ways that could reach all students. This action shaped conversations, illustrated social deviances and taboos, and provided a way to talk about challenging social justice issues, meanwhile teaching powerful lessons about social inequality as they were depicted.

While using film to teach has been well documented since 1970, it illustrated a vital point that resonated with the author when considering teaching tools that can create an experience for the students, particularly adult learners. Films have been used before and after discussions, for comparison, and for experiential learning. As a communication medium, film has the unique privilege to present situations that facilitate unusual experiences for students. For educators, film can serve many functions based on one’s teaching style, teaching goals, and course content. As aforementioned, the availability of media, or films, makes this medium beneficial, in addition to the benefits of visual media to support facets of universal learning design recommendations, with closed-captions and visual presentation. As film has long been celebrated in sociology, for its ability to capture human nuances, the utility of the horror genre has not often been discussed (Denardo, 2022; Freeland, 2004; Hartless, 2021; Weston et al., 2015).

Historically, horror has received a negative connotation based on reviews from critics and the social construction of the horror genre. However, it has been noted that the perception of horror films has shifted, largely because of their ability to say things about fear in society (Denardo, 2022; Fleming et al., 1990). With the rise of zombie-esque films, virus outbreaks, and artificial intelligence-domination over humankind, scholars have noted that horror can show us things about human nature and teach us powerful lessons about social inequality (Denardo, 2022; Frick et al., 2017; Juneau et al., 2022). Of interest to the authors was the connection to racism in the United States, along with other isms that social work practitioners and other human service providers deal with in practice. Additionally, what are meaningful exercises that help students connect social issues with their own social construction of how to fear? The remainder of this article will describe the development of an elective that focuses on these things and suggest practical strategies for utilizing horror films in other classroom settings.

Horror films as a social situation

Joseph Champoux (1999) offers an organizing framework on the function of film as a part of one’s teaching program. He posits that film can be used as a case, experiential exercise, metaphor, satire, symbolism, meaning, experience, and time (p. 209). He goes on to describe the ways of using film, such as showing scenes after discussing concepts. One way is to repeat scenes to develop student understanding, especially if content is difficult or complex. Another way is for comparison, such as remakes of old films or different scenes within the same film. Others have debated on the use of active versus passive engagement when using horror films to facilitate thinking. Some suggest showing films synchronously, paired with instructor-led interactions in the classroom (Fleming et al., 1990; Hartless, 2021; Marcus & Stoddard, 2009), while others suggest pairing films with assignments to be completed outside of class. Given some of the aforementioned challenges on pandemic-learning, this creates new territory related to online learning, and the use of synchronous or asynchronous learning techniques.

In addition to some of the thoughts related to delivery, the type of horror film has also been discussed. Zombie and monster films have been popular images of madness and fear in horror films, as well as an assortment of human service professionals, accurately or inaccurately. It can be agreed upon that film allows for an experience that is different from printed or spoken word, and when it comes to the difficult concepts that come with teaching social justice (e.g., dealing with one’s own personal biases and prejudices), film has a way of allowing the viewer to confront beliefs that are somewhat more low stakes than a real-time confrontation. Film provides a safe distance from fear, and horror films specifically address social issues such as racism, stigmatization, sexism, and many other -isms that social workers work with.

The stated qualities of the horror genre, and their increasing popularity, make them a highly supportive tool for adult learners to explore a range of social justice themes. For the remainder of this article, we will share how horror films can be effectively implemented as a teaching tool for courses or coursework that has social justice themes. We will also address potential concerns about using horror films and provide suggestions for navigating these concerns.

Background of the course

For three semesters, the first author taught a horror film and social justice course at a large public university. Enrollment has ranged from 8 to 37 students. The course was cross listed, to be accessible to both undergraduate and graduate students. It was also available to nonsocial work majors. The course was developed to be delivered 100% online with synchronous options spread over the course of the semester. In a regular 16-week semester, there were up to four synchronous offerings, and for the short winter break sessions, there were three synchronous offerings. The synchronous sessions were held over Zoom in conjunction with individual activities.

The primary focus of the course was on the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality in horror films. The overarching question posed to students was what the horror film genre is doing, or not doing, to make sense of the connotations it creates? Parallel to society, the typification of what is deemed scary, fear invoking, and avoidable has been exploited on the big screen. How does horror register in relation to social justice issues? As depictions of poverty, violence, and savagery are profound acts in the horror film genre, they occur within the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. Enjoyed by millions and encompassing all art forms, as it repels, it draws many people back. The organizing framework of this course relied heavily on critical pedagogy, as it shares in the collaborative process of reflexive thinking by innovating teaching practices to be more representative of adult learners. Less visible and yet equally harmful are ideologies that marginalize or minimize underrepresented groups and encourage learners who are non-White to conform to a mainstream ideology of learning. In the same turn, for learners who belong to dominant cultures, by way of race, gender, and sexuality, it is key to present material that urges the learner to self-examine, share responsibility, and have hard conversations. As a first step in a process that is life-long, professional learning is changing knowledge, skills, and beliefs. Using intersectionality to confront ideologies through the use of films that elicit both emotional and physiological responses can be a way of understanding how to illustrate social justice themes as a way of teaching and training.

Activities and assignments preparation

To advertise the course, an infographic and a short explainer video that highlighted pictures that represented fear (e.g., images, movie scene references), the themes of the course, and the possibility of exploring social justice issues through horror film critique was created. These materials were circulated to faculty and program administrators to share with currently enrolled students withing the social work department. This course was created initially for a 4-week short session, and later expanded to 16-weeks for a fall semester. Several publicly available syllabi that used film as a major teaching tool and those that focused on horror films were reviewed. The consensus was that with the rise of interest in horror films, whether through the zombie apocalypse movement that occurred, the height of the pandemic exposing social inequalities, striking movements nationwide and deepening U.S. citizens’ understanding of the global crisis, educators were leaning heavily into the influence of media, by way of film, to discuss inequalities and inequities.

Upon this review, a pattern among the courses that there was a single focus, such as teaching about sexualities (Hartless, 2021), ethical dilemmas (Weston et al., 2015), cultural competence (Frick et al., 2017), and numerous versions of the film Get Out (Peele, 2017) to depict racism, violence, metaphors about “the sunken place” and other overt contextual messages about racism in cinema was observed. Therein lied the inspiration to be intentional about incorporating history, because one cannot discuss an issue such as racism without acknowledging historical occurrences with a timeline. It was in this discovery mode that textbooks were reviewed, with the hope of finding a text written to complement the structure of the course. Initially, Hutchings (2013) book entitled, “The Horror Film” and Lundy’s and Lundy (2011) social justice texts were used as primary texts. Included was also recommended texts, Stephen King (1981) “Dance Macabre” and Wells-Barnett’s and Royster (2016) “Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892–1900”, second edition. Electronically accessible readings assigned throughout the course were included. Ultimately, in the most recent course offering, the Hutchings’s text has been the only required text and the online readings have been increased. The rationale for the readings was that not all students would be social work students, therefore, there was material that needed to be available to nest conversations of social justice in. The activities and assignments were created to facilitate an understanding of the horror film genre and its controversial nature, to bridge social justice discussions. It was determined that there would be not only selected readings, but also mini lectures, online discussions, and multimedia projects.

Readings

The themes of the course included the following titles: What is scary?; Sounds of Horror; Cinematography; Race and Racism; What is a Monster?; Culture Awareness through Horror; Queer and Fem Horror’ Power Struggles. Readings were selected based on theme. Perusall, which is a platform that allows for interactive discussion of any type of reading material was used. For example, students could rent the text through the platform and have conversations and annotate with other students. The course readings were uploaded to the platform, in addition to website articles. Weekly, students had to collaboratively highlight, annotate, and discuss the readings with other learners.

Over the duration of the course, students had to screen films and complete screening journals. A short list of films was created along with streaming platforms and price estimates for rentals (see Table 1). Additional film options in the syllabus were also included (see Table 2 for the film bibliography). During the first week of the course, an introductory video that also demonstrated how to access some of the films at no cost via YouTube, as well as how to search for films was sent out. In addition to the list, students had the opportunity to screen films of their choice and could do so by submitting the title of the film. During the first weeks, there were required viewings. For the remainder of the semester, students could select from the list provided or suggest a film. The rationale for assigning specific movies was to establish a baseline of the history of horror films, and how elements of race and racism, along with other -isms, developed over time.

Table 1. Films, streaming platforms, and prices.

Movie	Prime Video	YouTube	Hulu	Netflix	Other
Birth of a Nation		https://youtu.be/ebtiJH3EOHo
Night of the Living Dead	X	3.99	X		Apple TV (3.99) Vudu Tubi HBO Max
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	X	2.99	X		Tubi Hulu Vudu
Halloween	X				Apple TV (3.99) Vudu (3.99)
The Shining	3.99	3.99			HBO Max Vudu (3.99) Apple TV (3.99)
Def By Temptation	X	2.99			Apple TV (3.99)
The People Under the Stairs		3.99			Apple TV (3.99)
Candyman	3.99				Apple TV (3.99)
Tales from the Hood	X	3.99	X		Vudu (3.99) Apple TV (3.99)
Demon Knight	X	X	X		Vudu (3.99) Apple TV (3.99)
28 Days Later		3.99	X		Vudu (3.99) Apple TV (3.99) HBOMax
Us	3.99	3.99			Apple TV (3.99)
Watchmen		2.99	X		HBOMax

Table 2. Film bibliography.

Film title	Producer/Year/Production company	Viewing time
Birth of a Nation	Griffith (1915), Epoch Producing Corporation	3 hr 15 min
Night of the Living Dead	George A. Romero (1968), Image Ten	1 hr 36 min
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	Tobe Hooper (1974), Vortex	1 hr 23 min
Halloween	John Carpenter, 1978, Miramax	1 hr 31 min
The Shining	Stanley Kubrick (1980), The Producer Circle Company	2 hrs 26 min
Def By Temptation	James Bond III, 1990, Bonded Filmworks	1 hr 35 min
The People Under the Stairs	Wes Craven, 1991, Alive Films	1 hr 42 min
Candyman	Bernard Rose, 1992, TriStar Pictures	1 hr 39 min
Tales from the Hood	Rusty Cundieff, Darin Scott, 1995, Savoy Pictures	1 hr 38 min
Demon Knight	Ernest R. Dickerson, 1995, Universal Pictures	1 hr 32 min
28 Days Later	Danny Boyle, 2002, DNA Films	1 hr 53 min
Midsommar	Ari Aster, 2019, A24	2h 28 mins
Us	Jordan Peele, 2019, Monkeypaw Productions	1 hr 56 min
Watchmen	Karen Wacker, John Blair, 2019	series

The screenings were completed individually. There was a pre-screening form, for students to reflect on if they had viewed the film before and thoughts they had as they prepared to watch it again. The screening journal included questions that were specific to describing the characters and theme of the film, and questions that asked the students to connect to the weekly theme and present the social justice issue portrayed in the film, along with their agreement, or disagreement, of its portrayal. The screening also asked about the ideology present in the film, what made the film horrifying, examples of depictions of stereotypes, such as reductionism of mental health issues, a harmful ideology of the film, and a thought as to how to destabilize that way of thinking. Students earned credit for completing both forms.

The synchronous sessions were hour-long Zoom calls to discuss and reflect on real-time events and to connect the readings and screening journals with current events. There was no credit assigned to this activity. Students were provided a few slides with guiding discussion questions to facilitate the session and made them available prior to the synchronous session. During this time, students and the instructor would discuss the discoveries they made, whether watching a film for the first time, or watching again with a new focus. Students were able to expand on their reading discussion of making connections with how the films made them feel, as well as reflect on the history of the film and its relation to the social justice issue they identified. Students also discussed how the readings where insightful, as they discussed an example of using horror film in psychotherapy and how the special effects influence the emotional state of the viewer, and how possibly, this happens to people every day (Turley & Derdeyn, 1990).

Another popular discussion was the psychological response patterns based on horror film clips as stimuli as described by Bos et al. (2013), in their study, the authors presented how emotional responses are a naturally occurring process of the human body, and how environmental stimuli influences one’s affective state. Stated another way, emotional responses contribute to how we understand arousal as a motivational system, and the interest in this study was the activation of the defense system specifically. The use of film clips (i.e., negative, positive, neutral) was integral in investigating physiological indicators (e.g., heart rate, startle reflex, skin conductance [sweating in the palms and soles of the feet]) and if they showed a response pattern in reaction to negative, positive, or neutral stimuli (i.e., film clips). Film clips provide both visual and auditory stimuli simultaneously, an advantage over showing photographs. For the negative stimuli, films such as Silence of the Lambs and Cujo, among others were used. The authors stated that they used clips from these films to “represent fear-provoking themes of anticipated or immediate threat and bodily injury” (Bos et al., 2013, p. 2). A major finding of the study was that there were individual differences in emotional expressions, and that influences maladaptive responding (Bos et al., 2013). In short, students were able to use this article as an example of science explaining the psychophysiological effect of viewing horror films in relation to traits of anxiety and people’s responses. Other supplemental readings included anti-Asian racism, psychoanalytic feminist approaches to horror, and how individuals explain social problems with media. At the core of the assigned readings, the goal was to have developing conversations about human behavior and the role of media, in this instance horror films, in how people explain or experience social events. One of the limitations of news media is that it focuses on particular people, using this human angle concept to hit emotions and senses. By “personalizing” news, it downplays the social context of the events (e.g., historical, institutional, and political condition) (Sotirovic, 2003).

The final activity of the course was the counternarrative. Each learner could choose a film or a scene from the film and re-imagine the scene as a diorama or staged photograph. In the counternarrative assignment, students had to present the current narrative of the scene, the counternarrative, and reflect on the process of constructing the counternarrative and the potential influence it could have on the social construction of the social issue. To do this, they could create a manual diorama or use a software program. Made available to students was a free digital program that would allow them to create a storyboard that created easy graphics (https://www.storyboardthat.com/). Students had to record a presentation of their counternarrative in under 10 minutes.

Film choices

Scholars are increasingly in support of horror films to teach powerful lessons about social inequality (Hartless, 2021, p. 236). The class began with the screening of Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915) and Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968). Both are poignant films that illustrate conscious and unconscious biases, prejudices, and offer a historical context for the course. To follow, students were also assigned The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974), and The Shining (Kubrick, 1980). After those films, students could choose from the list. By offering these specific films first, it was the intention to engage students in dialogue about how these films reflect current beliefs or challenge them. By drawing a parallel to history, as well as current social injustices such as gun violence by police in the Black community, other violent crime committed against community members, and ongoing institutional and systemic occurrences of racism. These films also offer students the opportunity to pay attention to different characters, exposing them to multiple narratives and perspectives that align with social justice issues and other social problems.

Advantages and disadvantages of using horror films

Advantages of horror films are that they are uniquely a close-but yet-far medium that include one’s own experiences as well as their senses. The combination of visual and audio effects produces real-world visits in the lives of the characters. They offer powerful experiences that are unlikely to happen in the classroom, they are accessible in various forms (i.e., closed captioning, different languages), and they offer both affective and cognitive experiences that would otherwise be difficult to generate. Because of the longevity and evolution of horror, this genre provides a historical perspective of social issues that parallel real-time issues, increasing the appeal and attraction to viewers from all walks of life.

Now that streaming platforms have expanded their selections, access, and maintain an amount of free or low-cost prices to access, there are barriers removed from access being an issue, especially for older films or foreign films. With the popularity of remakes, it can allow for different comparisons to be made. For example, viewing the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and then the more recent iterations (Garcia, 2022; Luessenhop, 2013), can provide opportunities to discuss topics as seen at the time of the film relative to the time of the screening. Additionally, the ability to repeat scenes provide a visual anchor for students, and supports the development of critical thinking around topics that could be glazed over.

Disadvantages of using horror films are more complicated. There are practical disadvantages, limitations, and emotional disadvantages. While streaming services are readily available, cost can present as an issue or barrier for full participation. While this was not addressed as a barrier from any students that participated in my course thus far, it will be important for instructors to be mindful of the affordability of the films and streaming platforms. One of the strategies used to mitigate the access issue was that I encouraged watch parties, where students could screen a film together, as well as selecting their own video to screen were encouraged. Options such as RedBox or DVDs have not escaped us altogether, and between those options or going to the cinema, students have alternatives.

Statements and disclaimers about the nature of the films to increase awareness were included in the syllabus and the course landing page on the university learning management system. Students will vary in their reaction to actors and actresses, the depiction of reality, and strikingly the outcome. While the challenges of having complex and complicated discussions and discoveries about social issues exist, the purpose of the course is to bring to light those concepts and how they influence our cognition. It is assumed that some students will be offended or have strong reactions to the scenes.

Conclusion

Application of film media in social work education can open the doors to not only ways to address social justice issues that are not conventional, it can also present an allurement to students and bridge communication gaps between instructors and students. For example, using satires such as clips from Saturday Night Live, or comedies can be a way to mobilize student thinking, and inject hope into a situation that appears seemingly hopeless or helpless. Mediated comedy has emerged in the digital era, and the use of reflections of social justice issues could show to be a powerful influencer (Chattoo & Feldman, 2020). Comedians are now recognized as guides through cultural debates, and in tandem with access via social media platforms, mediated comedy can be used as a public engagement mechanism for students, especially adult learners.

Globally, teaching with documentaries has been used to raise sociopolitical and global awareness (Blum & Smythe, 2021). Similar to comedies, foreign/international films can also be used to address global social justice issues and human rights issues. One example was a course entitled Cineculture, in which the author created a curriculum using streaming documentaries from different countries and showcasing different issues. New knowledge requires a new perspective, and one of the striking findings from this study was that students expressed the desire to become more informed and globally aware after taking the course. Among other findings discussed, one that also stood out was that the comparative perspective increased students’ knowledge.

Based on this narrative discourse and review of the curriculum of the course, we will reflect on some practical suggestions for integrating horror films into social work education. We highly recommend reviewing the horror genre and deciding if the approach for a course will be broad or focus on a specific social issue. This course was broad, and discussions and the counter narrative assignment grading revealed, there are many sub-areas to concentrate on. For example, Hutchings (2013) not only discusses the many definitions of horror and its history, but it also dissects monsters, the behavior of audiences, sounds of horror, performing horror, and opens readers up to fem horror, challenging the convention that movie monsters are male and when they are female, that are strong inferences toward sexism, non-heterosexual typifications, and cross-gender identification. The regret with the course is that more time to fully develop in the sub-areas was needed. However, as a goal to entice learning about social justice through this lens, it is a small sacrifice that is being made. We also believe that having a range of films, while helpful, can also be a way to focus on social issues. For example, if the films were to be used for case analysis, it is likely beneficial to narrow the list quite dramatically and reduce the themes, as the individual films and scenes may be reviewed several times to present material dramatically and with emphasis. It is important to note that by having options, it provides students with agency to maneuver films, and opt-out of some that may disturb them. In this case, instructors could elicit student submissions for both films and articles for consideration. Alternatively, instructors could construct a list as done, and allow students the opportunity to rank them on preference, compiling a final list from that activity.

This course was delivered online, and whether for an entire course or course module, in-person teaching would warrant several changes. Decisions to view select scenes in class or outside of class would need to be determined. As discussed by Champoux (1999), showing film before or after a discussion can provide students with recall images (watching scenes before a discussion) or assist them with applying analytical skills (watching scenes after a discussion). This course did not involve organized group work, yet that is a possible option for screenings and/or the counternarrative project. The uniqueness of having individual activities is that this option provides valuable opportunities to students with varying degrees of exposure and tolerance to horror films, their content, and their effect. By using the horror genre to illustrate historical racism, oppression, and injustices, students are presented with a unique experience to understand how members of different communities’ deal with current-day prejudices and -isms, while addressing their own beliefs and making the connection to social inequalities and the challenges that persist.

As the landscape of social work education undergoes evaluation and changes, we have discovered there is a small body of conceptual and empirical literature that support the use of film media and teaching social justice issues. There are many possibilities that reside in the minds of instructors, and in addition to developing those ideas, it is strongly encouraged that instructors take a leap of faith and identify media sources that allow them to translate content for course instruction. This course description can be used as a steppingstone to further creativity in social work education. In closing, the experience of delivering this course has inspired us to empirically assess the influence of the course on students’ perceptions and behaviors related to social justice issues. To understand how courses such as this one affect future career plans, it is important to gather students’ perspectives.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).