"And if they do think movies are reality, they probably think you are the pompous literature professor from Back to School. I mean, do economics teachers need to tell their students that economics is actually boring? 'It's not all like The Wolf of Wall Street, you know!'"
Writes Professor Hawks in "Archaeology is not boring!"
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He should tell his colleagues to read Virginia Postrel's The Power of Glamour. Very good book. She identifies glamour as a form of rhetoric or expression (like humor) that appeals to our desire to transform ourselves and live a better life - maybe by going into a career like archeology because of Indiana Jones or crime scene investigation because of CSI. Glamour is not necessarily dishonest. As he says, people know that the shows aren't real, but the yearning for discovery (of bones, clues) is real.
Repetition is the mother of all education.
http://blog.brainscape.com/2011/05/repetition-learning/
Not all education is about reality, and people "learn" facts that aren't.
People *say* they know movies are not reality and then act on movie tropes. Like all the gun-grabbers who claim I don't need more than 10 rounds, because (just like the in the movies) the bad guy goes down with just one shot to center mass.
Its pernicious because people's reason is subconsciously affected by what they feel. "Sure, I *know* Bartlett isn't a real president" they claim as they act on "feelings" they got from watching 4 seasons of West Wing.
Its why hollywood pull that crap in the first place. What, you think they aren't doing that on purpose?
I was going to mention The West Wing, but I see Fen beat me to it.
Following the movie, "The Bird Man of Alcatraz", many well-meaning people wrote the prison trying to get Robert Stroud" pardoned. However, the real man wasn't quite like the mild-mannered character portrayed by Burt Lancaster.
Too many people do believe that movies portray history accurately.
YES! YES! YES!
Does this mean Alhouse's job isn't like The Paper Chase?
No wonder she blogs. There's no Hollywood version of blogging to be disillusioned by.
...Unless you count Pump Up the Volume as a pre-internet substitute for blogging/podcasting.
Weinstein got into a discussion with Stern about the issue of gun control, telling the controversial radio host, "I don’t think we need guns in this country, and I hate it. I think the NRA is a disaster area."
"I shouldn’t say this, but I’ll tell it to you, Howard. I’m going to make a movie with Meryl Streep, and we’re going to take this head-on," Weinstein continued. "And they’re going to wish they weren’t alive after I’m done with them."
I liked the scene where Indy shot the sword guy.
In Back to School, the econ prof was pompous, the literature prof was hot!
Phaedrus - Yeah, I thought so too, but maybe to an archaeology professor its the other way around?
"I shouldn’t say this, but I’ll tell it to you, Howard. I’m going to make a movie with Meryl Streep, and we’re going to take this head-on," Weinstein continued. "And they’re going to wish they weren’t alive after I’m done with them."
Exactly. And Hollywood wants us to believe they don't proslytize just as bad as those mythical evangelicals.
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