Academia on Screen

The World of Higher Education in Film and TV Series Across the Globe
Erscheinungsjahr 2027
ISBN: 978-3-032-41348-2
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan

Buch, Englisch, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm

This book explores the multifaceted portrayal of academia in higher education in film and television series from around the world. It analyzes how universities, research, teaching staff, and students are represented across cultures and genres, including Hollywood films, Indian comedies, European arthouse films, and Chinese propaganda narratives.

Combining perspectives from cultural and media studies, linguistics, and higher education research, the volume investigates how academic communities and life are dramatized, distorted, idealized, or satirized on screen. It examines the intersection of these representations with social issues such as class, race, gender, and power hierarchies. Through intercultural comparison and critical analysis, the book explores which elements of academic life are highlighted or omitted and how these choices shape public perceptions of higher education.

is essential reading for educators, researchers, and students in media and cultural studies interested in how cinematic narratives about academia reflect and shape our understanding of intellectual life in the 21st century.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wawra, Daniela

Krämer, Lucia

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1: Representations of Academics and Higher Education in Film and TV Series Across Cultures by Daniela Wawra.- Chapter 2: Academia on Screen: Genres, Tropes, and Archetypes by Daniela Wawra.- Part 1: Academic Communities and Practices – Narratives of Higher Education in U.S. Cinema.- Chapter 3: “Don’t Sleep on Us”: Dap, Freddie, Shazza, and Fudge: ‘Woke’ Black Collegians on TV & Film before Dear White People by Richard M. Breaux.- Chapter 4: Reflections on Netflix’s The Chair: A Critical Race Theory Counterdialogue by Vanessa Vollmann.- Chapter 5: Campus Sex on Celluloid: Defining The College Sex Film Subgenre and Its Evolution by Daniel Reid.- Chapter 6: Linguistics Saves the Day. And the World, Eventually: The Portrayal of Academia in Denis Villeneuve's Arrival (2016) by Nina Riedler and August Krocker.- Chapter 7: The Campus Novel and the Campus Film: White Noise and Wonder Boys by Stephen Joyce.- Part 2: Society, History and the University – Narratives of Higher Education in Indian Cinema.- Chapter 8: Masti Ki Paathshala: Aamir Khan’s Portrayal of Evolving Masculinities on Indian College Campuses by Utkarsha Kotian.- Chapter 9: Changes in the Indian Higher Education System in the 1990s and their Relationship with Popular Perceptions: A Case Study of Select Kannada Films by Tharakeshwar V. B..- Chapter 10: The Pleasure and Pain of Higher Education: A Reading of Chhichhore by Gita Viswanath.- Chapter 11: Learning Desire: The College Campus as Terrain for Negotiating Social Hierarchies through Romantic Love in Indian Film Narratives by Nikhila S..- Part 3: European, Chinese and Transcultural Cinematic Perspectives on Higher Education.- Chapter 12: Beyond Oxbridge: New Universities and the Quest for Cultural Heritage in The Lost King by Hermínia Sol.- Chapter 13: Arrested Transformations: Women and Academic Change in Post-British Films by Harald Pittel.- Chapter 14: Cinematic Representations of University Professors: Exclusionary and Inclusionary Practices within a Community of Practice by Jean E. Conacher.- Chapter 15: Breaking with Old Ideas and Counterattack: Maoist Educational Ideals and the Politics of Representation in Cultural Revolution-era Films by Xiaofei Tu and Wendy Xie.- Chapter 16: Dream Scenario: A Cautionary Tale on Media Exposure by Tiago Ramos.

Über Autor(innen)

Daniela Wawra is Professor of English Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the University of Passau in Germany. She is particularly interested in how identities, institutions, and ideologies are constructed and negotiated in public discourse. Her work frequently explores the intersections of language, power, and culture through an interdisciplinary lens, drawing on linguistics, media studies, and cultural analysis. 

Lucia Krämer is Professor of British Studies with a focus on Cultural and Media Studies at the University of Passau. Her main fields of research concern phenomena of productive reception. This includes a strong interest in historical and biographical fiction and period drama. She has published widely on the topic of adaptations (especially in relation to Indian cinema). She has also co-edited volumes about constructions of authenticity and Remakes and Remaking.