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

Social Science Perspectives

This is a scattering and sampling of perspectives from the social sciences that I have found very useful in analyzing particular films. It contains the short list of my favorite perspectives; the more you know about the social sciences, the more likely you will have perspectives, that once used, will prove to provide that key insight. I have found that the most basic economic and political science issues tend to overlap, and I have combined them into one area of discussion. The political and economic issues section is followed by the behavioral science perspectives associated with psychology and sociology. The third section includes questions about history and film. The last section asks questions about cultural pluralism.

Political and Economic Issues in Film

Does the film tend to reflect conservative or liberal values?

Generally the underlying values within a film will reflect basically liberal or conservative values. I have found political scientist Terry Christensen’s description of conservative and liberal values helpful in applying to films a working definition of the terms conservative and liberal. Christensen (1987:213) says that some movies “lean to the right, stressing individualism and traditional values like self help, hard work, family, and patriotism, often criticizing moral decline, bureaucracy, and big government…others lean left, emphasizing tolerance and co-operation, criticizing discrimination, conformity, greed, and sometimes capitalism…”