# Teachers & Professors: What movies have you/will you show in class this year?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 7, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328 "2006-03-07T01:17:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/1 "2006-03-07T01:17:09Z")
Meaning mainstream movies and/or documentaries meant for general audiences, rather than films made specifically for educational purposes.
Someone online mentioned seeing “Troy” in class for its educational value, so that’s made me wonder what other teachers are showing these days.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/2 "2006-03-07T02:46:25Z")
I teach AP European History in high school. This year I showed _The Agony and the Ecstasy_ when we were doing the Renaissance. After the AP test, we go film-happy and show _The Quiet Man, Help! and Shogun_. 😃
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### Author:  [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/3 "2006-03-07T03:50:07Z")
I’m going to show An Andalusian Dog next week to art history survey, but that’s probably not pop.
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### Author:  [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/4 "2006-03-07T03:55:39Z")
I haven’t shown a complete movie in years (takes up too many precious class days) but when I did, I occasionally showed:
Glory
The Right Stuff
Shawshank Redemption (in a Street law class)
All Quiet on the Western Front
Rasputin (HBO film)
Nixon
Platoon
Sullivan’s Travels
and a few more that I can’t recall at this time
BTW, I primarily teach US history, if you haven’t already figured that out.
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### Author:  [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/5 "2006-03-07T04:49:42Z")
Bits and pieces: Excaliber; Oedipus Rex; Fantasia 2000 (all for my myth class).
Whole films: Oedipus Rex (world lit); lots of different Disney films (some shorts, some full length)(various writing classes centered on Disney’s cultural impact). The best is when I got to teach a class on Arthurian lit.; it featured quite a few films, culminating in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/6 "2006-03-07T05:03:40Z")
I showed _Glory_ as a sort of coda to a US history course i taught last semester.
If it’s out on DVD in time, i’ll be tempted to show _Good Night and Good Luck_ later this semester.
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/7 "2006-03-07T05:41:17Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> If it’s out on DVD in time, i’ll be tempted to show _Good Night and Good Luck_ later this semester.
It comes out on March 14.
I have a cousin who works in a video store.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/8 "2006-03-07T06:09:49Z")
> [@Superdude](#):
>
> It comes out on March 14.
Cool, thanks.
I’ll have to get the university library to order it, because i believe that copyright law prohibits me from showing a regular rental or purchased DVD in a classroom. I think the library pays a higher price in return for permission to show the movie in undergraduate classes.
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/9 "2006-03-07T06:13:09Z")
I’m only a TA, but in this year’s introductory Japanese history class we showed:
[Rikyu](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098204/)
[Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351817/)
The Last Samurai (only sections)
[The Makioka Sisters (Sasameyuki)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086242/)
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/10 "2006-03-07T07:09:27Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> Cool, thanks.
You’re quite welcome.
> [@](#):
>
> I’ll have to get the university library to order it, because i believe that copyright law prohibits me from showing a regular rental or purchased DVD in a classroom.
That’s one thing I’ve never understood. You’re not charging admission, nor trying to profit from the viewing, so why is that a violation of copyright law?
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### Author:  [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/11 "2006-03-07T07:41:30Z")
I don’t understand the idea of wasting classtime in such a manner…Assign the damned thing for viewing on the students’ time, and use the class time for review, discussion, actual work. Use class time for actual learning beyond the material. Hell, use class time for a run-through of the thing, and use excerpts from the film as support. Drag in auxiliary texts, but really, why use class time like this?
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### Author:  [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/12 "2006-03-07T08:36:04Z")
As a bribe to a class (English as a foreign language) of young teenagers, I promised that we would get to watch a movie for the final class if the achieved certain goals. They overwhelmingly voted for a cartoon/animated movie so I chose Finding Nemo. They loved it.
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### Author:  [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/13 "2006-03-07T12:29:27Z")
I’ve never shown a movie in my class, nor do I intend to do so.
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### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/14 "2006-03-07T14:28:41Z")
I show the opening sequence of _Armageddon_, which is a very nice computer animation of the K-T impact and illustrates quite vividly how a large impact can affect the entire planet.
Plus, it’s fun to list all the things that the voiceover gets competely, utterly, totally wrong.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/15 "2006-03-07T14:35:40Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> Cool, thanks.
>
> I’ll have to get the university library to order it, because i believe that copyright law prohibits me from showing a regular rental or purchased DVD in a classroom.
Really? Uh, oh, I’m in trouble…
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/16 "2006-03-07T19:00:37Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> Really? Uh, oh, I’m in trouble…
Actually, having looked into it further, i might be wrong. If the film is being shown to a class for purely educational purposes, this could fall under fair use.
But i don’t claim to be an expert in this stuff, so if you want proper advice you’d be better off asking your school/college’s legal department or the library.
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### Author:  [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/17 "2006-03-07T19:06:24Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> Actually, having looked into it further, i might be wrong. If the film is being shown to a class for purely educational purposes, this could fall under fair use.
>
> But i don’t claim to be an expert in this stuff, so if you want proper advice you’d be better off asking your school/college’s legal department or the library.
I did try to look this up a few years ago. This is another one of those obnoxious cases where there are tons of exceptions to a rule, but there is no _direct_ exception that easily applies in this case. Basically, as near as I can tell, fair use applies. (…and if anyone from “the industry” wants to agrue with me, I will point out how much free advertising they are getting out of my use of said videos in class…)
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### Author:  [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/18 "2006-03-07T19:17:50Z")
> [@JustAnotherGeek](#):
>
> I did try to look this up a few years ago. This is another one of those obnoxious cases where there are tons of exceptions to a rule, but there is no _direct_ exception that easily applies in this case. Basically, as near as I can tell, fair use applies.
Last time I had a question about “fair use,” someone pointed me towards [this site](http://irt.austincc.edu/copyright/FairUse/). Clicking on their “Video & Broadcast” link gives the position of Austin Community College on showing vidoes (and, one assumes, DVD’s). They give instructors a free pass with non-entertainment showings of videos.
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/19 "2006-03-07T19:26:52Z")
The actual [copyright codes](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sup_01_17.html) are frustrating - a lot of it is quite vague and there are a lot of situations (and new technologies) that it simply doesn’t cover. For teachers, there’s this [handy little guide](http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/copyright.html) available though. It’s one person’s interpretation, but it’s as good as anyone else’s, I figure.
I am the distance learning specialist for a university department, so I get to research copyright issues as it pertains to electronic dissemination of materials all the time. I’ve concluded that common sense serves you just about as well as anything else!
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### Author:  [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teachers-professors-what-movies-have-you-will-you-show-in-class-this-year/347328/20 "2006-03-07T19:30:12Z")
> [@cerberus](#):
>
> I don’t understand the idea of wasting classtime in such a manner…Assign the damned thing for viewing on the students’ time, and use the class time for review, discussion, actual work. Use class time for actual learning beyond the material. Hell, use class time for a run-through of the thing, and use excerpts from the film as support. Drag in auxiliary texts, but really, why use class time like this?
Because it’s not a waste of time.
Frequently, the films I’m using aren’t widely available. They can’t find them at Blockbuster, and I can’t send 130+ students to the media center; there just aren’t the facilities to handle that crush.
Also, in cases where I’m showing an excerpt, it seems pointless to have students pay a full rental fee for 10 minutes worth of a film.
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