I'm teaching conversation analysis at the university (not in specific purpose, just as a easy entry into language sciences). I would like to focus on Goffman's, Levinson's, etc. presentation of self and politeness. I think the use of movies as corpus is a good teaching tool (much easier to understand and analyze than actual conversations). Does anyone know which movies I could use ? It they are "too artistic", they do not represent actual conversations. If they are "too blockbusters", they are absolutely void. I've begun working with Star Wars (new ones), Polanski (The Ghost Writer) and Scorcese (Shutter Island).
Any suggestion about theoretical problems on movies as corpus for studying social interaction would be welcome.
Hi Matthias,
Many Thanks for emailing me this quiestion. I personally think that films which are thought-provoking and which focus on dysfunctional ( as well as functional) presentations of the "self " include "The Great Gatsby" where the detached politeness of Jay Gatsby & lack of self-awareness in the key characters after the "hit & run" accident contrast sharply with the sentiments of the narrator. "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest " again is an example of how Nurse Ratchett is polite, but emotionally detached in a way that many people find sinister.
Similarly, a really interesting book (& film) which asks the question "Can people really be born without empathy" is based on the book by Lionel Shriver "We Need to Talk about Kevin." A film version of the book came out this year, and has formed the foundations for some interesting debate amounst our second-year undergraduates in relation to the whole nature/nurture debate and the real importance of affectional ties as proposed by Bolwby & Ainsworth. In the film one sees Kevin grow from being an unco-operative, sullen child into a cold and calculating juvenile mass-murderer, despite being brought up in an ostensibly loving family. Tilda Swinton plays the incredibly forbearing mother.
I hope this helps to add to your existing pool of ideas. Please do let me know how you plan to use the films mantioned above as your idea sounds interesting. Best Wishes, Dilva Porter, Lecturer, Applied Social Siences, UCS, Suffolk UK
Hi Matthias,
Many Thanks for emailing me this quiestion. I personally think that films which are thought-provoking and which focus on dysfunctional ( as well as functional) presentations of the "self " include "The Great Gatsby" where the detached politeness of Jay Gatsby & lack of self-awareness in the key characters after the "hit & run" accident contrast sharply with the sentiments of the narrator. "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest " again is an example of how Nurse Ratchett is polite, but emotionally detached in a way that many people find sinister.
Similarly, a really interesting book (& film) which asks the question "Can people really be born without empathy" is based on the book by Lionel Shriver "We Need to Talk about Kevin." A film version of the book came out this year, and has formed the foundations for some interesting debate amounst our second-year undergraduates in relation to the whole nature/nurture debate and the real importance of affectional ties as proposed by Bolwby & Ainsworth. In the film one sees Kevin grow from being an unco-operative, sullen child into a cold and calculating juvenile mass-murderer, despite being brought up in an ostensibly loving family. Tilda Swinton plays the incredibly forbearing mother.
I hope this helps to add to your existing pool of ideas. Please do let me know how you plan to use the films mantioned above as your idea sounds interesting. Best Wishes, Dilva Porter, Lecturer, Applied Social Siences, UCS, Suffolk UK
I agree with Graham's statement but I do believe that teaching politeness along with cultural competency is important. There are many different contexts in which one can be polite and I think it is important to learn all of them.
Dear Matthias
I am using film corpus in my descriptive and experimental analyses of Persian politeness and more particularly face in Iranian films. Despite the fact that it could not present authentic data as much as real conversation can do, it has been frequently used as a good source of data in the most recent years. Due to the shared knowledge of politeness among the characters, auditors, over hearers and eavesdropper, similar to real life, film characters react to the same response to politeness. I am not in teaching field, however, I believe politeness theories and their concepts can be taught first and for the sake of better understanding, they can be shown in variant examples shown in movie extracts.
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