Learning through Films: Looking at Classroom Experiences from a Gender Perspective

Abstract

Cinema is frequently studied as a branch of art and mass media studies. In addition to these functions, movies have long been seen as an aid to education. With the use of audio-visual materials, especially movies, as educational material, it becomes easier for students to concretize the concepts. The use of movies in gender and media classes has the potential to cause students to question this concept. In a country like Turkey, where gender inequality is high, it is thought that examining gendered classroom experiences, in which movies are used as material, will contribute to the literature. From this point of view, the aim of the study is to reveal the usage practices of the related courses conducted in the Communication Faculties that train the future professional to the cinema industry. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to the lecturers in the field and to the students of the courses in which movies were used as material. In line with the answers received, the films used as materials in the lessons were examined in the context of the effect of cinema on the construction of gender representations. One of the important findings of the study is that the instructors' purposes of using movies as course material and student experiences do not match, and that movies are more effective than other materials in making sense of the concept of gender for students. For students, it has been seen that movies have turned into a means of making sense of gender practices and opened up a space for an egalitarian classroom experience where non-dominant identities are recognized.