Fostering Culture Through Film

Book excerpt: The perceived lack of understanding of cultural diversity in the American learning community has led instructors to challenge assumptions and stereotypes while addressing misconceptions. Teachers of foreign languages and cultural studies, in particular, feel the need to redesign curricula and lesson plans to better serve the learning community of the twenty-first century. The common starting point resides in the paradox that exists in today’s connected world; while global access to information makes learners aware of the infinite variety of cultural diversity, it does not, however, make them critical thinkers. For this reason, there is opportunity to reshape critical thinking within a more global perspective, while enhancing the tools to identify, interpret, and compare the different cultural models that learners encounter. The book demonstrates the theories and practical applications by which instructors use contemporary film to provide insightful readings on diverse local communities, communities that form the basis of global culture. This collection of essays will serve as a pedagogical tool and resource, offering methods and examples of a communicative approach to analyze and integrate cultural diversities, similarities, and problems in the second language curricula, methods that expose students to different cultural models while scaffolding their critical approach to multiple layers of common and specific values. This work will encourage a dialogue and long-lasting conversation on methodologies and teaching strategies rethought, reapplied, and remolded to the new learning environments.