Hollywood Goes to High School
Second Edition ©2015
What do films such as The Breakfast Club, Dead Poet’s Society, and Freedom Writers have to teach us about American culture? Robert Bulman’s Hollywood Goes to High School takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the high school film genre. Skillfu...
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What do films such as The Breakfast Club, Dead Poet’s Society, and Freedom Writers have to teach us about American culture? Robert Bulman’s Hollywood Goes to High School takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the high school film genre. Skillfully blending sociological theory and film analysis, Bulman’s always accessible writing delightfully challenges the reader to think critically about American individualism and class inequality. Bulman’s insightful sociological analysis of 177 new and classic high school films explores the complex ways in which Americans make sense of social class, education, gender and adolescence. Suitable for the beginning and advanced student, Hollywood Goes to High School is an essential piece of reading for a variety of courses in sociology, education, communication, anthropology, American studies, and film studies.
For more from Robert Bulman read his analysis of McFarland USA starring Kevin Costner on Sociological Cinema here:
Table of Contents
1. Using the Movies to Make Sense of Society: A Sociological IntroductionFilms and CultureGoing to the Movies as a Research MethodA Brief Review of Other High School Film AnalysesHollywood’s View of High School: The Three SubgenresOutline and Argument of the Book2. Middle-Class Individualism and the AdolescentFrontier: What High School Films Reveal About American CultureThe American Development of Utilitarian and ExpressiveIndividualism: The Protestant Ethic, the Capitalist Ethic, andTheir DiscontentsIndividualism and DemocracyIndividualism and the American FrontierThe Middle Class and American CultureTeenagers and American CultureGender and Individualism in American CultureA Final Note3. Fighting the Culture of Poverty: The Teacher as the Urban School CowboyA Cinematic Culture of PovertyWelcome to the Jungle: The Urban School in Hollywood FilmsThe School Staff: Inept Bureaucrats and Incompetent TeachersThe Outsider as the Teacher-HeroThe Teacher as a Cowboy VigilanteHollywood’s Lesson Plan: Just Choose SuccessWhat Hollywood Could Learn from Social ScienceTeacher Heroes as Compassionate ConservativesA Cultural ContradictionLearning from the AnomaliesNot All Teacher-Heroes Are Created Equal: The Persistence of Gender InequityConclusion: The Urban School Frontier4. We Don’t Need No Education: The Rejection of UtilitarianIndividualism in Suburban School FilmsBeing a White Upper-Middle-Class Suburban Teenager SucksMiddle-Class Teachers as AntagonistsThe Evil High School Football CoachAdults as FoolsThe Irrelevance of Academics in the Suburban School FilmsThe Threat of Academic AchievementThe High School Do-Over: Getting a Second Chance to Find YourselfMiddle-Class Conformity in American Culture5. Students as Heroes: Expressing Oneself in a Culture of ConformityStudents as Heroes: The Possibilities of Youth1. Breaking Down the Walls of Race and Class2. Overcoming the Culture of Popularity3. The Triumph of Youth: "When You Grow Up, Your Heart DiesGender Variations Social Class, Symbolic Deviance, and Adolescent IdentityThe Paths to Adulthood: Social Class and Adolescent Strategies to IndependenceConclusion: The Cultural Contradiction of Individualism and Conformity6. Challenging the Culture of Privilege: Class Conflict in the Private School Film"Just Because You Are Accepted, Doesn’t Mean You Belong"Academic MattersThe Burden of Academic AchievementThe Moral Bankruptcy of the RichRevenge of the Middle Class: The Triumph of Well-Roundedness, Integrity, and MeritThe Anomaly of the Catholic School FilmInequality, Education, and American Culture7. The Cultural Distinctiveness of the American High School FilmUsing Our Sociological Imagination to Understand Hollywood FilmsWhat About Foreign School Films? An Exploratory ExaminationWho Has Cultural Power?Appendix A: A Guide to Conducting Social Science Research with FilmWhat Is Your Research Question?Conduct a Literature ReviewWhat Is Your Hypothesis?Identify the VariablesWhat Is the Population?How Will You Select a Sample?Take Detailed NotesAnalyze the DataUse the Data to Build an ArgumentUse Theory to Explain Your FindingsAppendix B: High School Film SampleThe Suburban School Films in the SampleThe Urban School Films in the SampleThe Private School Films in the SampleBibliographyIndex
Authors
Robert C. Bulman
Robert C. Bulman is a professor of sociology at Saint Mary’s College of California. He received his B.A. in sociology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1989 and his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1999. He teaches the sociology of education, the sociology of culture, social stratification, and research methods. In addition to his research on films and American culture, he has published work on educational decision making, the political dynamics of school choice, and masculinity in ballroom dancing.
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