“The Transformative Power of Film” — online panel — 2pm est. TODAY — I’ll be discussing horror in the classroom:meridianuniversity.edu/index.php/comp…
— Michael Arnzen, Ph.D (@arnzen) September 13, 2012
I’ll try to update this entry with the archives afterward, if you can’t attend.
The panel, hosted by Christine Jarvis, and featuring Drs. Paul Armstrong, Michele Paule, Libby Tisdell and myself, was a very engaging and lively discussion of popular culture in the classroom and in the lived experience of its audience today. Paule raised issues related to the changing ideology of “girlhood” in popular film; Armstrong raised questions related to how television shows like The Simpsons play into political engagement; Tisdell raised notions related to the realistic ability of film to actually transform a learner’s thinking; I discussed my teaching of The Exorcist in different contexts, and how horror texts can provide that “activating event” for rethinking assumptions (drawing from my essay, The Unlearning). A lively discussion transpired.
You can now access the archived recording of the discussion, if interested.