ABSTRACT
Movies are filled with scenes of people of all ages, sexes, races, and social classes reading and writing in widely varied contexts and purposes. Yet these scenes go largely unnoticed, despite the fact that these images recreate and reinforce pervasive concepts and perceptions of literacy.
This book addresses how everyday literacy practices are represented in popular culture, specifically in mainstream, widely-distributed contemporary movies. If we watch films carefully for who reads and writes, in what settings, and for what social goals, we can see a reflection of the dominant functions and perceptions that shape our conceptions of literacy in our culture. Such perceptions influence public and political debates about literacy instruction, teachers' expectations of what will happen in their classrooms, and student's ideas about what reading and writing should be.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |18 pages
Introduction
chapter 1|17 pages
Literacy in everyday life, literacy on the screen
part I|64 pages
Representations of literacy and identity
part II|42 pages
Literacy and social contexts
part III|36 pages
Literacy myths in the movies
part |10 pages
Conclusion