What Are You Watching? Considering Film and Television as Visual Culture Pedagogy

The use of visual culture to engage students in critical discussions about the politics of power, culture, and identity in educational contexts is not new, particularly in art education (Duncum, 1987, 2006; Eisner, 1997; Freedman, K. 1997, 2003; Tavin, 2003). The field of art education has, for more than two decades, opened the discourse of its own practices to consider the roles, values, and influences of visual culture. This consideration has not been completely favorable, and the inclusion of visual culture in or even as art education has sometimes been framed as a confusing, problematic project (Dorn, 2005). Supporters of visual culture in art education recognize the potential benefits that come from more explicit attention, interrogation, and construction of the increasingly available amount of visual experiences in the daily lives of learners. Such socially relevant content has placed increased attention on contemporary concerns related to representations of identity, culture, ethnicity, gender, religion, and race. Because visual culture places these concerns in question with respect to imagery (Mirzoeff, 1999), exploring its role in classroom discussions and school assignments seems like a sensible pedagogical project.