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The nexus between cinema and pedagogy: Using movies in sociology and social policy classes as ‘educational’ instruments


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Hasan Yüksel
Cankiri Karatekin University, Cankiri, Turkey
e-mail: hasanyuksel37@gmail.com


AGATHOS, Volume 15, Issue 2 (29): 367-392, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.13950204
© www.agathos-international-review.com CC BY NC 2024


Abstract: Due to the fact that they suggest ‘visual’ and ‘audial’ aids within the learning environment, this article discusses several movies that can be benefited in sociology and social policy classes as educational instruments. That’s why, based upon his own experiences, the author describes a cinematographic approach to teach this discipline, which creates a ‘productive’ as well as ‘inclusive’ pedagogical environment for college level students. In this study, the scenes and related themes of sociology and social policy within those scenes were unveiled for a number of movies. In line with sociology and social policy discipline, topics uncovered in this paper include gender roles, discrimination, addiction, industrial labor, disadvantaged groups, racism, unionism, aging, prisoners, class conflict, unemployment, inequality of opportunity, family, the future of labor as disadvantaged group, and immigration. As research method, content and document analysis were used. Actually, the paper consists of three main parts. In the first section of the study, related literature about the usage of cinema particularly in sociology as well as social policy education was shared. In the second part of the paper, the scenes in the movies listed and their associations with sociology and social policy content was mentioned. Concluding remarks and discussions constitute the last episode of the paper.


Keywords: social policy, education, sociology, social policy and movies


Introduction

In spite of debates, hesitations, negativities, and the questions about their ‘adaptability’ to the whole educational environments as instructional aids for years (Crandall 1926, 109; Di Palma 2009, 47; Kemp et al. 2014, 1, 20; Arumsari and Isti’adah 2019, 1-6; Dhanya et. al. 2021, 1280; Florescu 2014, 351, 352; Champoux 2005, 49, 50; Champoux 2001, 78-99) it is to be assured that movies or motion pictures are unrivalled ways to teach something to the students and they are commonly benefited by educators from social (e.g. economics, history, sociology, social policy, geography) to applied sciences (e.g. medicine, engineering, psychology), as significant pedagogical instruments. The reason behind the usages of movies as instructional mediums is the fact that they are fairly motivating the students (Van Gelderen and Verduyn 2003, 539) even those who are disinterested (Luccasen and Thomas 2010, 136), they enable them to learn better via exposure to social and economic issues (Icen and Tuncel 2019, 230), and they stimulate active learning procedurals with the presence of imageries, scenes, and conversations (Darbyshire and Baker 2012, 28). Within the learning process, imageries are actually the core of “memory aids” (Myers 2004). More than that, movies in classroom environments are much more contemporary than chalking and talking strategy, which does not work anymore (Sexton 2006, 406). According to Laukötter (2016), movies activate the emotions of the students, which is absolutely a positive thing for learning activity. Again, to the viewpoints of Laukötter (2016), films are to be regarded as “a negotiation of the modern human subject and its emotions” (Laukötter 2016, 181, 199, 200). According to the reports of Demerath (1981, 71), movies are the facilitators of teaching in a pedagogical way, and “films serve as a bridge between the world of lectures, research, and textbooks, and the world that really matters. [..] More than just illustration, a good film can provide emotional immediacy and probing insight. [..] Even the non-literate student can relate to movies as hot medium”. Wagner (1956, 7) stated that students’ hearts can only be touched through motion pictures, which is the pre-requisite for effective learning. Glass (1997, 9, 10) signalled that movies differentiate and diversify the teaching in a positive sense with their visual and audial strengths. Milner (2014, 196) stressed that movies trigger students’ awareness towards learning. Leet and Houser (2003, 326, 327) referenced that the context that movies provide is useful for instructors while teaching.

 The pedagogical influences of cinematography upon sociology and social policy discipline are almost identical with other disciplines. Referencing the fact that movies can be “traps” within teaching and learning environment at times, Demerath (1981, 69); on the other hand, demonstrated that movies can be utilized in sociology classes as instructional aids due to their contribution to sociological analysis, understandings of cultural formation, and construction of reality. Tolich (1992, 344, 345), who searched for sociological themes in Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936), Roger and Me (Michael More, 1989), and Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977), mentioned that these movies can be a perfect fit for teaching ‘social problems’, ‘class conflict’, ‘alienation’, ‘early effects of industrialization’, ‘unemployment’, ‘poverty’, ‘labor market mobility’, and etc., all of which are in line with the contents of sociology and social policy courses. In parallel to the viewpoints of his predecessors, Dowd (1999, 324) referenced that beyond their functionality as leisure time activities, movies are the portrayals as well as representations of society; that’s why, their utilizations in the teaching settings are quite critical; in particular, for teaching ‘popular culture’, ‘social changes’, ‘social psychology’, ‘mobilities’, ‘war themes’, and ‘revolutions’. In their research implemented on Turkish students, who took sociology and social psychology courses, Kennedy, Şenses and Ayan (2011, 1) also proved that movies are indispensable parts of sociology instruction, and they are critical supplements for teaching “the death penalty”, “gender equality”, and “prejudice”. Andrist et al. (2014, 196-202), who laid a great emphasis upon the fact that cinema is the inevitable parts of sociology education, pointed that videos and movies that can be benefited to teach sociology can be categorized under the name of “conjuncture”, “testimony”, “infographic”, “pop fiction”, “propaganda”, and “détournement” ones. In a way, they tried to build a particular ‘typology’ to meet the learning goals of sociology. Here, “conjuncture” movies refer to documentaries, which represent social realities. When it comes to “testimonial” films, they are subjective and grounded upon humans’ experiences. “Infographic” illustrates the movies that overlap the data or statistics with strong visual framework. “Pop fiction” is related to popular culture and tradition centered cinematographic contents. As for “propaganda” oriented movies, they involve policy integrated messages to persuade masses, which is vice versa of “détournement” movies that is far from ‘elitist’ infrastructure (Andrist et al. 2014, 196-202). Burton (1988, 263) also ensured that films are fairly effective tools that engage students into sociology and in a way social policy classes and they offer real life experiences, which enable students to assess social and economic issues from different perspectives. That’s why; Burton (1988, 263) made a long list about sociologically driven movies and their thematic categorizations. For Sooryamoorthy (2007, 547), due to their visual representations of socially realistic matters, movies are strong denominations of communication that appeal to sociologists at the same time. To the viewpoints of Sooryamoortyh (2007, 547), movies can be utilized as research instruments in sociology as an academic discipline. Balabantaray (2022) also proved that movies, which are the portrayals of diversified social segments as well as cultural peculiarities, can be aided for sociological analysis. The reason behind this reality is the fact that they represent the norms, cultures, and pluralistic features of the society as a whole like fashion, marriage patterns, family structure, artistic forms (music and dance), habits of consumption, heroistic desires, modernization, urbanization, industrialization, and so on and so forth. Collett, Kelly, and Sobolewski (2010, 258) demonstrated the fact that usages of movies in sociology classes suggest the students unprecedented opportunities which is unattainable for them to experience in their daily lives. “Experiential learning” sustained through imageries and “fostering deeper understanding” are the key arguments that back up these allegations. Valdez and Halley (1999, 286) had identical idea that movies are complementary pedagogical tools for sociology classes. To illustrate, they mentioned that films are frequently promoted to comprehend the Mexican American culture. Alongside all academic publications that analyze sociology and social policy disciplines with cinema, Elembilassery and Ray (2017, 347) underlined that cinematography entirely fits for teaching labor sociology, predicaments of working class, and labor relations concept. Therefore, whole literature available paves the way that cinema can be a fantastic instrument to teach sociology and social policy curriculum.


Reflections of movies assisted sociology and social policy teaching experience

As an academic staff and on average, I teach social policy courses to 50-100 students per year. While teaching social policy discipline, teaching method that I have been practicing for years is that I break up the monotonous atmosphere of the class through giving up ‘chalking’ and ‘talking’ and I strive hard to capture the attention of the students via cinema and / or movies. Of course, it is unfeasible to make the students watch the whole film during lecture time; that’s why, only short clips are required to watch. When I employ this procedure, I technically involve discussion sessions following movies or short clips illustrated within the course. The second approach preferred is that following the lecture and having thought the theoretical concepts concerning social policy, I give particular movies to the students as assignments and students are required to write a research paper in detail about the social policy content or perspective of those selected movies. The paper given as assignment is expected to include detailed reflections of the pupils about the explicit or implicit messages of the movie, plots, character definitions, symbols, dialogues, photography, sound, lifestyle or life story of the directors, the economic, philosophical, historical, sociological, and political framework, and so on and so forth. The third prioritized strategy is that the movies are entailed to watch before coming to the classroom and the students are required to take notes about the subject matter, characters, plots, and the features of the movie and they are required to partake in the debates organized during the lecture. Afterwards, the students are given homeworks about the assessment of the argued movie. As a result of these manners of teaching, the students come into the resolution that there is social policy content in each movie and their socio-political perspective is adapted to everyday happenings. Therefore, theory overlaps with practice within the academic discipline of sociology and social policy. Depending upon the feedback obtained from students, it can be referenced that most of the students tell me that this is closely in correlation with the ‘visual’ and ‘audial’ facet of the movies. In the aftermath of learning movie-oriented approach to social and economic problems, the students suggest me new (novel) films about particular social policy issues or social problems, which is gorgeous feedback for the sustainability of this manner of teaching.

 It is functional to give elaborate information about the designation of my usual social policy courses. The course designed here is just for undergraduate students with no sociology and social policy prerequisites. However, it can be implemented to the graduate level students as well. It is normally offered to the undergraduate students of Labor Economics and Industrial Relations in the School of Economics and Administrative Sciences. Sometimes, the students from other departments like International Relations, Banking and Finance, Cinema, Economics, Political Science, and Public Management can also take this course as electives. The class meets weekly, and it lasts about three hours on average. In the first lecture and at the very beginning of the term; a detailed syllabus, outline of the course schedule, and a conceptual framework are given to the students, which is something like a ‘roadmap’ for them. Normally, the lecture is divided into two main units. In the first part, theoretical framework about social policy issues and movie analysis is shared with the students. Then some pre-selected illustrations, pictures, dialogues, and symbols belonging to the focused movie are displayed, which triggers discussion or group work and sustains student involvement during the lecture. Following the course, they are required to write evaluation papers. It is also mandatory for the students to make presentations that enable them to synthetize their understanding of social policy (problematic) with movie analysis. The understandings of the students are also measured with a midterm and final exams. At times, quizzes are added. Furthermore, students’ participations into the classroom activities and their performances are regarded as assessment criteria.

 Instructors can utilize and apply this method of sociology and social policy teaching in their courses as ‘fundamental’ or ‘supplemental’ teaching materials because of several reasons. First and foremost, movies assisted classes enhance the awareness of the students to the theoretical knowledge and they differentiate the learning environments for instructors. Second, this manner of teaching facilitates learning, and it is an absolute assistance to memory, which collects and retains info or data for a long period of time. Third, this methodology integrates ‘theory’ with ‘practice’ and last but not the least, discussion and learning capabilities of the students improve, which is achieved through student involvement characteristics of movie assisted classrooms.

 In the aftermath of indicating the objective and the methods of the study, I provide a sample of movies here that I use within the classroom environment, the topics and the scenes to be associated with their sociology and social policy contents and or backgrounds. Of course, it is unlikely to cite all the scenes, and all the dialogues of a particular movie as it is beyond the scope of the research, so I specify the flashiest and the most impressive ones. At the same time, the movies given as part of pedagogical examples can be enlarged.


The purpose of the study

The ultimate objective of the paper is to document the impact of the movies that can be benefited for sociology and social policy instruction. In a way, it aims at capturing the attention of the educators to the cinema owing to the fact that it suggests novel perspectives for the students, and it revitalizes contemporary tutoring manoeuvre for scholars on a college level because of its visual and audial assistance. Additionally, the footprints of all ‘social’ and ‘economic’ problems (e.g. class conflict, unemployment, discrimination, disability, disadvantaged groups, social exclusion, aging, urbanization, social stratification, human trafficking, racism, industrialization, labor unionism) can be ascertained in cinematographic content, movies, or clips. It suggests wide range of educational materials embedded with scenes, imageries, instructive, and informative conversations. That’s why; educational environments cannot be isolated from this technology; which is the case for sociology and social policy discipline. More than anything else, the present study attempts to demonstrate the personal experience of the researcher, who has been implementing this manner of teaching in his classes. The researcher comes to the resolution that well-chosen movies contribute to positive learning capability of the students, and they stimulate learning and differentiate teaching environment. This pedagogical philosophy is the direct association of theory with practice.


Research method

In view of the fact that the paper is actually qualitative in nature, two methods were implemented within the framework of the research. The first method is content analysis, which is a key approach and well-formed data analysis procedure that originated from the investigation of textual data (Kolbe and Burnett 1991, 243). However, it is not peculiar to solely text-oriented analysis but also encompasses the examination of visual materials, conversations, and audial data (Stemler 2015, 1). It is “indigenous to communication research and is potentially one of the most important research techniques in the social sciences.” As a method of research, content analysis, which gives the opportunity to researchers to make certain deductions from the data in association with their contexts, tries to analyze sets of data based upon a particular context regarding their meanings to groups, social structures, or cultural forms (Krippendorf 1989, 403). As for the second research method called document analysis, it is practiced for the analysis of “the function of documents as data source in a qualitative research” (Bowen 2009, 27).


The concepts (topics) and the movies correlated

Several movies were selected that are personally benefited while teaching social policy courses in association with their ‘social’ and ‘economic’ perspectives discussed within the course. It can be assured that the cinematographic approach to sociology and social policy teaching enhances the motivation of the students towards the field and learning process becomes a fun. The films are determined based upon social and economic problems unveiled within the field like gender roles, discrimination, addiction, industrial labor, disadvantaged groups, racism, unionism, aging, prisoners, class conflict, unemployment, inequality of opportunity, family, the future of labor (work) as disadvantaged group, and immigration. Of course, many more topics and their connections with series of movies can be included within the framework of the research, yet this will be beyond the scope of the study.


Concept: gender roles; movie: Dangal (Nitesh Tiwari, 2016)

I always benefit from Dangal (2016), a real-life story, while I am teaching ‘gender roles’ as part of sociology and social policy courses. In this movie, Amir Khan (Mahavir Singh Phogat) plays a leading role as a father and as a wrestler, who is ‘sexist’ and who is concerned about the gender roles within the rural norms of his vicinity. As stated in the movie script like “Uncle was hoping for a boy but a girl was born” (Scripts.com [accessed: 15.03.2023]), he always desires to have a son so as to make him a popular wrestler, but the life opens a novel page for him with his two cute daughters. In his life journey, the unique objective of Mahavir is to grow his daughters as a wrestler. However, the problem at that time is that wrestling is the sport that is carried out only by males in India. The women possess cliché and pre-defined roles like getting married, having babies, preparing meals, being a homemaker, and so on and so forth. Therefore, strict cultural barriers are available for females who would like to be wrestlers in a man dominated culture. That’s why; they have a long path to eliminate all these obstacles. Mahavir, along with his daughters named ‘Geeta’ and ‘Babita’, strives a lot to overcome these traditional handicaps and both of them becomes a national wrestler as well as champion and the prejudices about the fact that wrestling is a man sport is totally ruined. In particular, Geeta’s championships in 2010 Commonwealth Games converts into an entire hope for the whole girls in Indian society, who have ambitions to prove themselves in a masculinized community.


Concept: discrimination; movie: Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (Ali Khan Ak and Sharan Sharma, 2020)

So that the topic of discrimination (fundamentally gender discrimination) can be taught to the students in an effective manner, one of the Bollywood movies called as Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020) may be utilized. As in the former case, this is a real-life story, which elucidates the tragic as well as heroic narrative of Gunjan, who would like to be a soldier like her father and her brother both of whom also serves for Indian army. The movie initiates in an airplane and Gunjan would like to look out of the window, yet still her brother does not allow her to do so. As a matter of fact, she is repressed by her brother Anshuman, and meanwhile, a hostess realizes the situation and takes Gunjan to the cockpit of the plane, which pushes her to be a pilot in the upcoming future. This is the turning point in Gunjan’s life. From that time on, she strives very hard to reach her target to eliminate the social and cultural barriers starting from her own family. She is, on the other hand, so lucky that she is backed up by her father in every stage of her career. She proves her capability in a series of tests and exams, and she becomes a successful female pilot in Indian Air Force. But the matter is that there is not anybody in the army as a female pilot other than Gunjan, therefore; she is exposed to many processes of discrimination as well as social exclusion by males. She, as the member of the Indian Air Force, cannot partake in social organizations and even her training fails due to her gender. The men pilot regards her as weak, and they do not have any positive attitude towards her progress. Within the minds of the male pilots, employment of a female in the Indian Air Force is something like an attack to their male dominated careers. In the end, she quits the army and tries to accept the social norms ascertained in Indian society, and so returns to her family. However, the outbreak of Kargil War in 1999 makes a radical change in the army, the pilots are called out including Gunjan and she executes perfect missions as a talented pilot. More than that, she saves her commander and some other soldiers from the battlefield with her helicopter. Via her diligence as well as hard work, Gunjan annihilates all gender-based impediments. Due to the fact that the movie is based upon a true discrimination story, using it as part of the sociology and social policy pedagogical procedure works a lot.


Concept: addiction; movie: Flight (Robert Zemeckis, 2012)

Addiction is another topic covered in sociology and social policy courses. It also has some psychological facets too. The drama that I can suggest on this topic is the Flight (2012) in which the leading role belongs to Denzel Washington (as Whip). Denzel is a gifted pilot in US, but he has an absolute problem; that is drug addiction. As a man who lives alone because of the fact that he divorced from his wife, he has psychological problems too. One day, on which he takes a drug, Whip attempts to run the airplane with his co-pilot Evans that is unaware of the situation. When they are on the air, the airplane breaks down and they all have a plane accident. Some of the passengers and the cabin crew lose their lives; but the majority of them stay alive including Whip, Evans, and Margaret (a hostess). That’s why; a legal investigation begins to fix the reasons behind the crash. In spite of all his attempts to keep himself away from drug and alcohol, Whip unfortunately fails to do so. In the end during the trial, he confesses that he has addiction, and he takes drug as well as alcohol before taking off. Even he utters that he’s drunk at that moment. Thus, national transportation committee sends Whip to federal prison where he finds the opportunity to rehabilitate himself and where he quits his bad habits. To the statements of Whip, he is “free for the first time in his life” (Scripts.com [accessed: 16.03. 2023]. This is a nice film to discuss the problem of addiction on the basis of sociology and social policy framework, which will be an absolute stimulus for course takers.


Concept: industrial labor; movie: Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)

Modern Times (1936) is a super film that I prefer to teach industrial labor or labor sociology in connection with Fordism, Taylorism and the impacts of Great Depression upon industrialized societies. Charlie as a factory worker in the movie is a silent figure but fairly impressive in terms of his strength stemming from his illustrations of factory working, a monotonous way of employment, routine jobs, and critical analysis of technological advancement. Via the cameras fixed in workplaces, the employer, whose only concern is to increase production capacity and to minimize the costs, controls everything within the factory from top to toe and he, Mr. Observer and Controller, is the real owner of machines, production line, and even the employees. In the opening ceremony of the movie, some symbols such as clocks, running sheep, subways, and smoked industries are consciously utilized. Here, the clock symbolizes the significance of ‘timing’ in modern societies as well as the segmentation of family life from the work itself. When it comes to the running sheep, it can be alleged that the movie lays an emphasis upon “rush hours” enforced by modernization. This can be interpreted in a way that big masses are manipulated like ‘animals’ and they all have a certain shepherd called as employer, the big boss. In this system, new manners of transportation like subways, railways, and cars are provided and all these serve for capital accumulation of business owners. Smoked industries are direct representations of industrialized communities, which will provide freedom, welfare, high wages, independence, elimination of classes, and so on and so forth. However, this is not the case in practice. To the viewpoints of Chaplin, modernization coming with industrial revolution brings artificial ways of life and work, psychologically disordered people, mechanic occupational procedures, all of which serve for business owner, not employees. Chaplin has the idea that unique solution for this economic system is unionism and the brotherhood of workers. Maybe, socialism is the first step to do so.


Concept: disadvantaged groups; movies: Forest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994) and Laal Singh Chaddha (Advait Chandan, 2022)

As an academic topic, disadvantaged groups are the ‘heart’ of sociology and social policy courses. In my instructions, I systematically get benefit from Forest Gump (1994), a US movie; and its Indian version Laal Singh Chaddha (2022) in order that I can teach this issue in an effective way. These two movies represent two disabled men and their miraculous life story. In the former one, Forest is characterized by Tom Hanks while Amir Khan is the Laal himself. Both tell the audience that fragile groups can be absolutely successful in life and also at work on condition that they desire, and these movies are full of positive as well as optimistic messages concerning disadvantaged groups. The reason is that large masses see Forest and Laal in the movies as “hero in the historic wars like Vietnam and Kargil”, “well-educated men”, “sport champions”, “perfect lover”, “perfect father”, “entrepreneurs”, “business owners”, “family member (as father)”, and so on. Due to the fact that these two men are the portrayals of peace, childish nature of humans, accomplishments, goodness, and goodwill; they are quite special for society as a whole. Maybe, it can be alleged that they are advantageous from birth, yet the great majority of the people are not aware of this reality. All these things pave the way that these two films are nice examples for academic analysis of fragile groups and they can be used as part of sociology and social policy instruction.


Concept: racism; movie: Hidden Figures (Theodore Melfi, 2016)

Racism is another topic to be discussed within sociology and social policy contextual framework. In order to teach this topic, I frequently handle this situation. The movie includes fantastic scenes and messages about the problem of racism and its roots in US in 1960s. It is about the legendary story of basically three bright black women living and working in high top US institutions like research centers in Virginia and NASA Space Task. Because of her unprecedented capabilities on mathematics and analytical geometry, Katherine is appointed to space task team where she is exposed to discrimination stemming from her race and sex. To illustrate, even the toilets are categorized for whites and blacks in workplaces under the name of “colored bathroom”; that’s why, Katherine goes to another building to go to the toilet, which takes much time for her. Therefore, it can be put forward that the workplace is not comfortable for Katherine at the beginning. However, along with her diligence and meticulous work, she proves her capability and helps to the landing of Friendship 7 capsules in a successful manner. Additionally, Mary, another black and successful woman characterized by Janelle Monáe, would like to be an engineer in NASA and applies for that position, but she is not accepted in view of the fact that the position requires more courses to be taken. And she applies to Hampton High School, which is full of whites, to take additional courses at night, yet her attempts are in vain. Mary takes this case to the court, and she wins and gets her right at the end. Dorothy, another visionary and intellectual colored woman, makes a revolutionary change on an electronic computer in NASA and she, with her black team of women, reactivates the machine. These three blacks as well as intellectual women contributed a lot to the US space programming, which is in competition with Soviet Union at that time.


Concept: unionism; movie: Bread and Roses (Ken Loach, 2000)

In this film, unionistic struggles of janitors in USA are uncovered with characters like Adrien Brody as Sam Shapiro and Pilar Padilla as Maya, who illegally immigrated to the US from Tijuana border through the assistance of human traffickers. It is a well-known fact that unionism emerged as a reaction to industrial revolution, long hours of work, unfair distribution of wages, and harsh working conditions. This is also the case in this movie; however, the events take place in service industry. Following her migration, Maya struggles a lot to find a convenient job for herself, but there is no way out. At last, she starts to work with her elder sister Rosa as a janitor in big plaza but in an undocumented way. Owing to Maya’s unregistered manner of employment, she faces to face a great deal of challenges in workplace such as discrimination, inequalities, sexual exploitation, long hours of work, uninsured way of hiring, and etc. This negative treatment is valid for all female employers working in that sector. One day, Maya becomes acquainted with Sam, who is the representative of a union, and all changed radically not only for Maya but also for whole janitors working in that plaza. They try to unionize in spite of Mr. Perez’s interferences and his attempts to block the process. At the end of the movie taking its strength from the socialist perspective, janitorial workers make a strong protest in Los Angeles streets under the campaign of Service Employees International Union. The name of the campaign is “Justice for Janitors” and the protests are oriented upon the message that “as women employees, we want both bread and roses” (https://www.youtube.com [accessed: 12.05.2023]. Here, the word “bread” symbolizes their desire to be treated equally and their rights of work whereas “roses” lay an emphasis upon their genders, which means that they would like to work and open a space in a men dominated labor markets.


Concept: aging; movie: The Intern (Nancy Meyers, 2015)

Aging, a sort of socio-economic risks within social security framework, is considered as one of the hot topics of sociology and social policy courses. It is a great matter for everybody sooner or later, but more than that the way of dealing with the problems in this period is more critical than that. So that this issue is to be taught in an effective manner, this movie and its video clips are frequently used by author during the instruction of this course. As a matter of fact, the movie tells the story of Ben, Robert de Niro, who is a retired person and who converts his old age into an advantage because of the fact that he was appointed to a particular work as a senior intern that belongs to Jules, owner of the fashion startup company in Brooklyn, New York. In this comedy drama, Ben contributes a lot not only to the affairs in the company but also to the Jules’ personal life and at the end, he acts something like her mentor or advisor. Additionally, Ben’s optimistic behaviours, work-oriented experiences, good communication skills, interpersonal characteristics, his regular, tidy and neat style as well as his close and helpful manner at work alters workplace positively. This movie perfectly illustrates the fact that age is not a barrier or a handicap to do something good or useful for humans or to advance in the career; in the stark contrast, it can be a pushing force for changing something favorably both at work and within the lives of others. For this reason, the slogan of the movie is entitled as “Experience never gets old” (https://www.imdb.com [accessed: 15.05.2023].


Concept: prisoners as disadvantaged groups; movie: Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)

As stated well in advance, disadvantaged groups are another key issue within the context of sociology and social policy education, which is also the case for ‘prisoners’ too. Their participations in the labour force, their integrations into and adaptations to social life, their stages of employment are the phases available to be planned. Within these processes and depending upon social and cultural norms, there are a great many risks for these people like discrimination, racism, adaptation, social exclusion, unemployment, low levels of wages, social stratification, sexual abuse, and etc. All these social and economic problems are valid for the prisoners in Shawshank Redemption, an American popular drama, in which Andy Dufresne and his close friends in Shawshank State Prison in USA is concentrated. Andy, a genius banker and an accountant, possesses two consecutive life sentences due to his wife’s and her lover’s murder. During his imprisonment in Shawshank, Andy comes across a lot of problems including maltreatment by security officials, sexual exploitation by “the Sisters”, discrimination by other prisoners, a ceaseless threat with death by Norton, the head of the prison and many others. During his imprisonment, Andy assists many security officials and guardians on their tax payments, financial plans, and future investments and following an assault by “the Sisters”, Andy was appointed to the library by Warden Samuel Norton and over there, Andy meets with Brooks, an old man nearly imprisoned for fifty years. Later on, Brooks is paroled in 1950s, but he cannot adapt to the real world, and he always thinks that he is the commodity of prison, and he belongs to there. That’s why, one day he hangs himself. By the way, Andy develops his works in the jail, and he achieves to establish a new library, and he learns from Tommy Williams, a young prisoner, that Tommy’s cellmate in another prison undertakes the responsibility for Andy’s case. Afterwards, Andy explains the situation to Norton, yet still Norton does not do anything owing to Andy’s capabilities for laundering his money and more than that, he gets Tommy killed with so-called claim that he attempts to escape. At the end of the movie, Andy escapes from the prison and Red, one of his closest friends, goes to Andy, who lives in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican town on the Pacific. Last but not the least, it can be claimed that the movie portrays the life of prisoners and their predicaments in labor markets in a fantastic manner; hence, it is commonly benefited by the researcher for sociology and social policy pedagogy.


Concept: class conflict; movie: Snow Piercer (Bong Joon Ho, 2013)

Class conflict is such a crucial topic to be contemplated in line with the curriculum of sociology and social policy courses. In teaching environment, the movie named after Snow Piercer is a critical ‘lab’ for outstanding teaching of this theme. This movie addresses a future projection for humanity within the framework of climate change and those who achieves to be alive tries a lot to continue their life in a train that follows the same navigation in a circular way. Outside the train, there is a snow and a freezing weather, inconvenient for humans; and inside the train, the remnants of human are segregated depending upon their classes. It is something like moustache and beard case. The last wagon belongs to those who are the poorest, who are socially and economically segregated from the others, and who have the lowest level of income, which can be comprehended from their living circumstances, their manner of clothing, and their hungers. That’s why; the people struggling in this wagon constitute “unhappy majority” in a particular society. Interestingly, the passengers living in the tail does not have any idea about upper classes and what’s going on in the next wagons on account of the fact that it is forbidden for them to go over. One day, a revolt or let’s say a revolution was organized by Curtis and Edgar and they eliminate the security officials, and the people of the lowest class possesses the opportunity to transfer to other wagons. As they change the wagons, they realize the fact that people are categorized depending upon their way of life, income, skills, life styles, and abilities. Different wagons represent different and divergent residents. More than that Curtis is curious about privileged Wilford, who creates this closed system and would like to ask him the reason behind his motivation to form such a place like that. The movie ends with an explosion and the train gets an accident, so everything becomes upside town. The people getting out of the train comes to the resolution that there is not a freezing weather; contrarily, it is quite appropriate for them to live, and they understand that they are deceived by the creators of this unequal ‘order’ (system) for years just for its sustainability.


Concept: unemployment; movie: Cinderella Man (Ron Howard, 2005)

Unemployment impels labor force to be ‘disadvantageous’ compared to those employed; that’s why, it is to be regarded as one of the principal issues in sociology and social policy courses. Just as lecturing this particular subject matter, the researcher regularly gets benefit from Cinderella Man, which depicts the vehemence of Great Depression in 1929 and its negative consequences on US labor markets. Throughout the film, dramatic life story of a box champion called James J. Braddock is referenced. Due to breaking his hand in the ring, Braddock has to give up boxing, which turns into a great burden financially in the aftermath of Black Thursday. He struggles a lot to find a secure job, which is unfeasible in those years, and which pushes him to be unemployed. Even if he finds a few jobs like docker, they are seasonal. A great majority of US residents lose their income and because of the lack of social security systems and insurance agencies, the masses become the victims of the system economically. In particular, free market economy, which gains a great momentum following industrialization, results in catastrophe for all Americans. With his economic reform package called ‘New Deal’ that prioritizes state intervention into the markets, everything changed radically with Roosevelt’s election. This is also the case for Cinderella Man characterized by Russell Crowe in the middle of 1930s. As the movie scrutinizes unemployment, poverty, the crisis of free market economy, labor surplus, deficiency of social security systems including unemployment insurance, and the significance of state intervention into the economic matters, it is an excellent sample to be utilized to teach the problems of labor markets, fundamentally unemployment.


Concept: inequality of opportunity; movie: October Sky (Joe Johnston, 1999)

October Sky is also to be concentrated upon as part of sociology and social policy education for its emphasis upon inequality of opportunity. The movie, as a biographical drama, unveils the true story of Homer H. Hickam, who becomes a NASA engineer in spite of his father, a miner in Coalwood, West Virginia and despite bad living conditions and unqualified circumstances of education over there. In 1950s, Coalwood is an isolated place in US where unique sector to be employed is mining as the name suggests. There are plenty of work accidents and explosions in the mine, so deaths and disabilities are regarded as quite normal. Therefore, teenagers are free from the equality of opportunity, which is also fostered and clinched by members of education. At this point, the leading figure is Principal Turner, who does not have any belief about the academic potentials of his students, and he has the idea that most of the students studying in his school will go to coal mines to work. According to his philosophy of life, they do not have any chance other than that. However, a group of students like Homer, Quentin, O’dell, and Roy differentiated the bad fate of Coalwood guys through the assistance as well as priceless guidance of Miss Riley, a visionary teacher in the same school. Via a rocked they innovated, they initiated to prepare for a National Science Fair, which will be held in Indianapolis. They, as a team, win the top prize and Homer as well as his friends gets scholarship offers from various universities and colleges. By means of this development, they study in perfect colleges, and they find jobs in variant sectors other than mining, which demonstrates that they get equal opportunities in their careers.


Concept: family; movie: The Pursuit of Happiness (Gabriele Muccino, 2006)

In relation to family sociology, The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) can be used within sociology and social policy curriculum. The movie lays a great emphasis upon family ties, which only enables people to grapple with economic and social problems and which directly connects humans to life. Chris Gardner, the leading actor, lives in San Francisco, USA and works as salesman of X-rays. However, his business is not so promising, and it is impossible for him to convince the doctors to purchase those machines. That’s why, all the ways go to poverty, unemployment, and financial problems. Because of all these, his wife Linda leaves from New York to find a job at her sister’s boyfriend’s restaurant, so Chris and his son Christopher remains alone. Chris struggles a lot to find a particular job to support his family and he gets an internship from a company acting in capital markets, yet his employment in this firm depends upon his success in stockbroker license exam. In spite of all the negative circumstances, Chris becomes successful in the test and gets a great job offer. Chris makes a perfect job for his family especially for Christopher that motivates him to do something better.


Concept: the future of labor as disadvantaged group; movie: Replicas (Jeffrey Nachmanoff, 2018)

From the perspective of labor sociology and the future of work, the movie called Replicas is an excellent sample to be studied. This science fiction movie, commonly used as part of sociology and social policy instruction by researcher, delineates Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence (AI), changing work styles, digital labor, labor priorities, and labor relations in the years ahead. William Foster is a scientist working as synthetic biologist and an expert on neural mapping while Ed Whittle is on the fore front with his human cloning activities. The research center, in which these guys are employed are so innovative that it is home to novel scientific discoveries that have a potential to alter military operations, trading issues, and the portrayal of labor. On a rainy day, Foster and his family have a tragic traffic accident and all the family members, except William, die. Then William calls Ed to clone his family and he uses memory transfer machine to reactive their mental capabilities and memoirs, and their initiatives work. William’s family comes again, and they start to live together. Additionally, William transfers his own mind to Subject 345, a robot operating with AI, to eliminate the threats coming from outsiders like Jones. This is actually a visionary and open minding movie in terms of picturing the position of technology in relation to Industry 4.0 as well as AI and it suggests a holistic perspective for humanity about what will happen next.


Concept: immigration; movie: The Swimmers (Sally El Hossaini, 2022)

Immigration embedded with an original movie like The Swimmers (2022) is another social and economic issue to be discussed in sociology and social policy instruction. This topic, its causes, results, and the manners are always on the main axis of this discipline. From this framework, it can be addressed that this movie is a perfect fit to teach this issue. The plot is about a group of Syrian refugees, in particular, two sisters like Yusra and Sarah Mardini, and their struggles to move to Europe in the aftermath of Syrian Civil War, which created an economic, political, and social instability in the region. For many Syrians including these girls, the war, bombings, political upheavals, economic problems, uncertainties, insecurities, and many other factors can be assessed as ‘pushing’ factors for immigration whilst job opportunities, financial support, medical care and education facilities, and technological improvements are the ‘pulling’ instruments of this population flow. Owing to these concerns, Yusra and Sarah depart from Syria to go to Turkey, first of all. Later on, they pay smugglers to transfer them to Lesbos, a Greek island located on Aegean Sea. Having arrived at Lesbos, they find a way to go to Germany where a new life begins for these sisters. Here, Yusra becomes a member of Refugee Olympic Team and partakes in Rio 2016 Olympics and gets a medal while Sarah starts to work as a volunteer in Refugee Camps in Lesbos. Hence, it can be ensured that this movie is quite popular about the depiction of immigration as a ‘social’ problem and its possible reasons and consequences.


Discussion

Due to their suggestions of “real life experience”, their illustrations of economic and social problems (Sexton 2006, 417) and their portrayals of disadvantageous or marginalized groups,1 the movies have become significant educational instruments and their usages in pedagogy have skyrocketed for the last three decades, which is also valid for sociology and social policy instruction as well. Admittedly, the studies that connect “sociology” instruction with movies and cinema studies date back to 1980s due to their powerful assistance to teaching environments (Demerath 1981, 69). However, it is also to be noted that these sorts of studies have gained a big momentum in the aftermath of 2000s. In association with this discipline, there are a number of studies in related literature. In this study, the movies benefited by the author while delivering the course were compiled and the reasons behind their utilizations were also clarified. In order to create an effective learning environment, Hollywood and Bollywood movies are commonly benefited. That’s why, fifteen movies were listed, elucidated, and prioritized. In some courses and in line with the topics uncovered, the clips or short videos from these selected movies are illustrated whereas the whole movie is sometimes shared for the others to stimulate the learning activity and if time demanding situations are of no avail. Furthermore, the students are required to write a ‘detailed’ analysis as an assignment that links theory with practice. From these perspectives, it can be claimed that current study clarifies the pure experiences of the researcher.

 Modern Times (1936), as one of the cases focused within the study, is a ‘fascinating’ sample for sociology and social policy instruction and it is concentrated upon by many intellectuals from different perspectives in the literature (Stewart 1976, 295-314; Kotkin 2001, 111-164; Korte 2010, 123-141; Galanopoulos 2008, 117-30; Grace 1952, 353-363; Hurley 1960,313-320). However, its strong emphasis upon industrialization and the industrial labor that it created are closely probed within the context of this paper. In close coordination with the study of Tolich (1992) and Demerath (1981), it can be ensured that the author preferred to take advantage of this movie from sociological and socio-political background and the ideas of Tolich (1992) and Demerath (1981) overlaps with the points shared by the author in this research.

Within the scope of the research, the movie called The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) is referenced to teach the issues concerning sociology of the family, which includes diverse topics ranging from the dynamics of a particular family, inequality, problem of divorce, the influences of globalization upon family relations, marriage patterns, marriage education, etc. (Nonoyama 2000, 27-41; Hood-Willams 1986, 270-272; LaRossa 1984, 315-322; Kolb 1950, 65-72). On the other hand, the identical movie is listed as one of the top films used to teach the principles of economy, not social policy or sociology solely. To illustrate, the studies conducted by Mateer, O’Roark, and Holder (2016, 213) upon 105 educators stressed the idea that this film places 17th amongst the greatest films for teaching economy. More than that, Lv, Guo and Li (2017, 473-477) analyze the same film from individual American values perspective whilst Adriani and Nugroho (2021, 213-219) focus on the movie from a social perspective. Temmy (2009, 68-72) portrays the cultural side of the movie, though. Therefore, this paper and its claims contradict with these scholars mentioned. To the writer’s personal point of view, this is true strength of social sciences in which each scholar regards divergent things from the same case.

 An American miracle named after Forest Gump (1994) is other film focused in relation to sociology and social policy pedagogy in particular from the standpoint of disadvantageous groups. Yet still, same movie is examined from various perspectives like teaching the past (Wineburg et al. 2007, 168-177), literary and semiotic studies (Benihingan 2018, Rutsyamsun and Sakinah 2023, 22-30), hierarchy of needs (Fiedhawatie 2013), postmodernism (Scott 2001, 23), ascertaining personality traits, and instruction of psychology (Manggalasari and Luthfiyati 2018, 89-92). As seen in the related literature, not a single study or research that scrutinizes the movie from the author’s outlook is available; so, it can be affirmed that the approach adopted in the study suggests novel insights for the analysis of this movie and for cinema studies. These kinds of conceptual contradictions are also existent for other movies like Shawshank Redemption (1994)(Xinya 2016, 61-69; O’Sullivan 2001, 317-334) Cinderella Man (2005) (Radošinská 2018, 20-37; Llarena 2018, 101-120), and October Sky (1999) (Kangas, Cook and Rule 2017, 45-65; Wissehr, Concannon and Barrow 2011, 368-375; Hébert and Neumeister 2001, 224-235) within the overviews of literature.

 As one of the chosen cases in the paper, Bread and Roses (2000), nevertheless, and its philosophy of analysis is in coordination with the current literature. The unionistic struggles as well strikes clinched with socialist ideals, the combat with capitalist and free market economy, and the critics against capital owners in US labor markets are clearly identified in this study, which is the case for former studies (Guzmán 2012, 101-118; Boyd 2001, 106-109).


 In addition to those movies mentioned and discussed well in advance, new modern films such as Laal Singh Chaddha(2022), Hidden Figures (2016), Snow Piercer (2013), Replicas (2018), The Swimmers (2022), The Intern (2015), Dangal(2016), Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020) and so on and so forth are also added to the cinema assisted sociology and social policy curriculum, which symbolizes the fact that the paper is visionary and promises a contemporary approach to the discipline and to the social as well as cinematographic sciences as a whole.


Conclusion

Beyond their structural and entertaining aspects, movies can be referred as sinequanons of education, which is the case for sociology and social policy discipline. In literature, movies are frequently used for the instruction of a wide range of topics such as economics, geography, history, politics, medicine, and etc. accordingly. The scenes, conversations, explicit or implicit messages, symbols are more effective than ‘talking’ and ‘chalking’ philosophy or strategy. Moreover, usual and audial infrastructure of cinema plays a very crucial role on conveying pedagogical implications. That’s why, the usage of cinema for academic studies and their manners of teaching are very promising.


Limitations and further suggestions

Indeed, the research has some limitations. First and foremost, the study just focuses upon personal experiences of the researcher and secondly, empirical research is not available, which may be problematic for the cases and the results debated all through the paper. Third, just a limited number of cases or movies were mentioned, and the others were not shared as they are beyond the scope of this study. What’s more, computer software programs like Nvivo, Maxqda, and or SPSS were not benefited. For future researchers, it can be suggested that either a qualitative or quantitative study can be conducted upon a number of students concerning the impacts of those movies listed in the paper.


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1 Disadvantaged groups like disabled people, employed children, immigrants, refugees, women, employees, those sexually abused and etc. are so varied within cultural and social norms of each community that their representations in global cinematography are also widely distributed. Thus, for illustrations of disadvantaged and or marginalized groups in cinema, see also Bielby and Bielby 1996, 248-270; Summerfield 2009, 935-957; Philips 2004, 253-272; Maule and Russell 2005, 51-55; Hershfield 2010, 170-185; Datta 2000, 71-82; Kılıçkıran 1997, 89-111; Wang 2015, 589-622; Davis 2017, 39-50; Martínez-Sotelo 2016, 127-144; Smolin 2011, 74-89; Andersson and Sundholm 2019, 19-34.