Television and film are usually associated with entertainment, but lately some English professors are adding television shows and films to their curriculums.
Students are analyzing these shows and films as they would analyze a novel, play or short story. Some professors say the academic community will one day regard entertainment, television and film on the same level as fictional literature.
Fictional literature used to be read mainly as entertainment and was regarded as inferior to the poem in the Romantic Era. Television and film seem to be going down the same path as fictional literature.
Nathan Holic, a visiting instructor at UCF, said using television and film in the classroom corresponds with the rise of technology in today's society.
"The [Internet] generation doesn't know what life is like without constant videos, whether those videos are on television or film," Holic said. "As a professor, you have to make your students comfortable with the teaching methods."
Holic said the same concepts learned through reading literature can be learned through watching television shows and films. When teaching creative writing, he shows his students how to create compelling characters by showing them films such as Garden State.
Holic also uses movie trailers in his lessons.
"I use movie trailers to show students how to write a concise story in two minutes," he said. "Having visuals enhances ideas. You have to look at words to become a better writer, and although reading helps writers become better thinkers, [television and film] helps writers become better thinkers too."
Kate Giglio, a professor of Shakespeare and Milton at UCF, also believes that television shows and films present an alternative way of learning.
But rather than just demonstrating conciseness and character development skills, both television and film can act as a canvas for analysis, just as literature does.
"Not all television and film is created equal, just like not all literature is created equal," Giglio said. "The good shows out there provide means for interpretation - they get people thinking."
One of those "good" shows, she said, is The Sopranos, a drama on HBO.
The hit series' ambiguous ending sparked conversation among viewers, causing debates and various interpretations, getting people thinking and analyzing rather than just simply watching, Giglio said.
"Shows like The Sopranos reinvigorate literature," Giglio said.
Holic agrees.
"The Sopranos' open ending is art that can be analyzed," Holic said. Did Tony die, or did life simply go on for him? The public was, and still is, torn between these possibilities.
The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin that has been accepted into the canon of American literature, also has an ambiguous ending. Was her death intentional? If so, why? If not, how did she die? Scholars have been debating this for years.
So if The Awakening can be studied academically, can television shows and films be studied in the classroom as well?
"A class on a TV show can definitely happen," Giglio said.
Giglio said both fictional literature and television/film question stereotypes and can cause people to think about different cultures.
For example, in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, readers meet a "colonized other," allowing readers to question stereotypes of foreigners.
In The Sopranos, viewers are familiarized with the Mafia, causing them to rethink the stereotypes associated with organized crime.
Weeds, a drama/comedy on Showtime, also offers commentary on stereotypes, specifically those of marijuana smokers and dealers, Giglio said.
"All of these shows give readers and viewers insight into the human condition," Giglio said. But although there are similarities between the print and visual mediums, there are differences between learning through viewing and learning through reading.
"On screen, students can see the characters' emotions better, especially comedy," Giglio said. "Students also have more time to pause, reflect and make connections when they are reading."
As visual mediums are proven to be capable of academic study, both Giglio and Holic agree that fictional literature will always exist and be highly regarded in the scholarly world.
"Not everything in the world can be learned from books and not everything in the world can be learned from television," Holic said. "You need a balance between both mediums."
Zac Alfson, a junior theatre major, has studied film and literature and was able to learn from both mediums.
"You have to think hard about both [mediums], but you have to think differently," Alfson said.
For example, Alfson said that in novels readers are usually exposed to the characters' internal thoughts and in films viewers usually have to infer characters' thoughts by their external dialogue and actions. Because of this, scholars must use different techniques when analyzing characters in print and visual media.
Because of his own experiences as a student of literature and film, Alfson said that the visual medium is rising as a learning tool.
"TV will rise in the classroom," he said. "It's an evolution more than anything."
But are television shows and films solely rising up to an academic par with fictional literature, or will this rise in visual media overtake print literature completely?
Print literature will always exist, Giglio said.
"I can see television and film being analyzed as literature, but there will always be print literature," she said.
As far as a canon of television shows and films, Giglio and Holic can see a
legacy building.
"There is an evolution and history of television and film, just as there is an evolution of literature," Giglio said.
Holic agrees.
"Television and film can definitely be used as cultural commentary, especially now."
He said Seinfeld can be used to study the cultural trends of the 1990s.
Giglio said it's good for society to take TV and film seriously.
"It all begins in academia and then it trickles down. If students and teachers engage in TV and film in a scholarly fashion, more good shows will be created and things will change," Giglio said.
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