Teaching Mexican American Experiences through Film: Private Issues and Public Problems

Abstract

This article focuses on the use of feature films as a pedagogical tool in sociology classes. Sociological and cinematic representations are used to contribute to an understanding of the Mexican American experience. An interpretive procedure, or hermeneutics, is used as a methodology that provides an encounter between the student's experience, film, and social science texts. As well, the Millsian relation between personal problems and social issues are developed within the context of the material. The cinematic construction of reality is analyzed as the effect of the constraints of the Hollywood production system, and the operation of ideology, including representations of ethnicity and gender