Getting Reel: A Social Science Perspective on Film
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Getting Reel: A Social Science Perspective on Film By Michael D. ...

Chapter 1:  Introduction
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As Jeoffrey Richards (1983:2) says, “…the relationship between film and audience is reciprocal. An audience does not accept passively every message that is put across in a film. For one thing, it can choose which films to see and which to avoid, even within a given film it can accept elements that it likes and rejects unpalatable ones.”

Thus, good questions include: did you make a responsible choice of movies to see and, then, were you an active or passive audience member?

5. Does the film tend to reaffirm or to challenge our society’s common value system?

My former student, Sara Kelly, argues the value of films that challenge society’s value system. Her remarks continue to motivate me to extend myself to a much wider range of films. She says:

…films…could be classified in terms of whether they attempt to reaffirm or to challenge our society’s common value systems…The films that offer a reaffirmation of ideals tend to be more escapist and to lack profound meaning. They deal largely with the superficial and have as their primary aim entertainment and mass appeal.
(Other) films…present troubling views of human nature and society that may have had as their aims the challenge or provocation of our cultural values systems and norms….(such) films are not so much reflections of our society as they are reactions to it. All of them deal, on one level or another, with man’s inner conflict between good and evil…(sometimes) there is no good guy or bad guy…in the end (the audience) may be confused.
Given the choice between confusion and reaffirmation, I would opt for confusion. All entertaining movies have a certain escapist value.