The D'oh Vinci Code: deciphering and balancing the postmodern curriculum
Brooks, KR & Williams, B 2007, 'The D'oh Vinci Code: deciphering and balancing the postmodern curriculum', Screen Education, vol. 46, pp. 110-121.
ANZSRC Fields of Research
1902 Film, Television and Digital Media
Abstract
Responding to the death throes of the old curriculum and the need to create critically aware young people who can engage with the culture that consumes them, educationists have deployed twenty-first century aid. They’ve loaded up the traditional canon with popular fodder and fired it into classrooms, exciting many students about learning in ways that they haven’t been for a long time.
This action, however, has attracted criticism from a number of spheres, including the Prime Minister, who has threatened to link future education funding to the teaching of canonical texts. Claiming that Shakespeare has shuffled off his mortal coil in favour of less salubrious choices such as Spiderman 2 or the Terminator movies, headlines like ‘Hasta La Vista, Shakespeare,’ appeared in national papers for weeks, arousing fears in parents and the general public about the state of our education system and the future of young people.
The reality for those at the coalface, however, is very different to that being discussed in much of the media. Not all students fall into raptures over the canonical texts like those created by the Brontes or Sophocles. In fact, many are more likely to fall into a catatonic state and reject anything they may gain from studying these texts, and to subsequently close their minds to the study of English or Media altogether. Demonized by politicians and other interested parties with personal or ideological axes to grind, popular culture, media, postmodernism, critical literacy and the entire curriculum have taken a veritable beating. So what are we to do? How do we unravel the D’oh Vinci Code? Should we employ the likes of The Simpsons alongside traditional works to capture our students’ minds?
This paper will sort fact from fiction and demonstrate practical ways of providing balance in contemporary syllabuses: syllabuses that embrace the canon, critical literacy and popular culture and, in doing so, engross students, excite their imaginations and instill in them the desire for lifelong learning.
URL: http://epubs.scu.edu.au/era/229
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