A Study of the Relationship between Teachers and Students in American Movies——Take Mona Lisa Smile, Dead Poets Society, Mr. Holland's Opus and Dangerous Minds as Examples58209

Abstract The relationship between teachers and students is the most primary and important aspect of interpersonal relation in educational environment. It is a complex and abstract concept, differs in each different stages and certain cultural backgrounds, and is also influenced by teachers and students involved. There are many American movies depicting the topic of education, which draws a lot of attention in literary critic. This thesis intends to analyze the relationship between teachers and students in four typical movies, which are Mona Lisa Smile, Dead Poets Society, Mr. Holland's Opus, and Dangerous Minds. The reasons of choosing these four movies as examples are explained at the beginning of the thesis, and several features of the relationship have been illustrated in details. What is more, the reasons accounting these features are discussed in terms of backgrounds of different aspects.

Keywords： relationship, education, American movies, features, reasons

毕业论文美国电影中师生关系的研究——以《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》，《死亡诗社》，《生命因你而动听》和《危险游戏》为例

摘要师生关系是教育过程中人与人关系最基础也是最重要的方面。它是一个复杂抽象的概念，因所处的阶段不同和文化背景不同，或者是相关的师生的不同，会有不同的表现。文学界对于以教育为主题的美国电影有过很多评价和分析。本文旨在通过四部代表性的美国教育影片——《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》，《死亡诗社》，《生命因你而动听》，《危险游戏》分析师生关系，总结师生关系的特点，并探讨造成这些特点的原因。希冀本文的一些分析能够对中国教育环境下的师生关系的建构有所启示和借鉴。

关键词：师生关系；美国电影；特点；原因

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1. Introduction of the Four Movies 1

1.2. Reasons of Choosing the Four Movies as Examples 2

1.2.1. Social Background 2

1.2.2. Gender of Protagonists 3

2. Features in the Relationship of the Four Movies 3

2.1. Equality and Democracy 3

2.2. Romanticism 4

2.3. Humanism 7

3. Reasons Account for the Features 8

3.1. Social Background in terms of Education 9

3.2. Background of Teachers 10

3.2.1. Teachers’ Gender, Race and Class 10

3.2.2. Teachers’ Professional Background 10

3.3. Background of Students 11

4. Conclusion 12

References 13

1. Introduction

This thesis researches the relationship between teachers and students in American movies based on the analysis of four typical movies. The features of the relationship and the reasons that account for these features will be illustrated in the second and the third part of this thesis respectively. These two parts both contribute to pedagogic and intercultural knowledge in China. This part briefly introduces the four example movies and the reasons of choosing these four movies.

1.1. Introduction of the Four Movies