The third edition of this book analyzes over 165 films distributed throughout the United States
over the last 80 years to construct a theory of curriculum in the movies that is grounded in
cultural studies and critical pedagogy. The portrayal of teachers in popular motion pictures is
based on individual efforts rather than collective action and relies on codes established by
stock characters and predictable plots which precludes meaningful struggle. These conventions
ensure the ultimate outcome of the screen narratives and almost always leave the educational
institutions - which represent the larger status quo - intact and dominant. To interrogate the
Hollywood curriculum is to ask what it means as a culture to be responsive to films at both
social and personal levels and to engage these films as both entertaining and potentially
transforming.
