Useful for: Disability, identity, equalityĮxplanation: Another recent film that looks at a young boy with facial disfigurations trying to live a normal life in an American school. Useful for: Religion, gender, equality, feminismĮxplanation: An Irish mother has her child taken away from her by the catholic church under horrific circumstances and a journalist picks up the story many years later to investigate the whereabouts of her child. Another difficult watch but if students like the film then they can also watch the follow-up mini-series 86, 88 and 90, the latest of which is on Netflix. Useful for: Ethnicity, Social class, identity, subcultures, crimeĮxplanation: A film that takes a look at how a young boy becomes initiated into a group of racist skinheads in England in the 1980s. Useful for: Gender, equality, power, identity, FeminismĮxplanation: I have included this one as it is on at the cinema at the time of writing and is sure to pick up many awards, this is a really interesting look at the power imbalance between a husband and wife and how there is an expectancy for the husband’s role and status to take precedence over the wife whilst she adopts the emotional, expressive support role. Because this film is almost twenty years old then many students may not have heard of it let alone seen it though every single person I know who has seen this film has been moved by it. Useful for: Crime, deviance, ethnicity, labelling, stereotypingĮxplanation: Well, if this one does not make them cry then nothing will! An incredibly powerful story of a black man accused of child murder and rape who possess a special gift. This is really good to look at labelling in schools and also interesting from a methods point of view as the students keep a diary to record their feelings.
Useful for: Education, ethnicity, social class, labelling, methodsĮxplanation: A film that both students and teachers can relate to that looks at a young teacher attempting to inspire students from poor and ethnic minority backgrounds. The film also covers issues of divorce, teenage relationships and sexuality. Useful for: Family, sexuality, gender identityĮxplanation: I have often shown some of this film to students during the family topic in order to understand empty shell marriages that look ideal from the outside with the perfect home, car and lawn but are far from perfect behind the closed doors. There is also a follow up entitled ’10 years later’. This is another hard-hitting film which I have recommended to students in the past and the feedback has always been overwhelmingly positive.
Useful for: Crime, Ethnicity, Social class, inequalityĮxplanation: A multi-awarding winning film which helps to understand the life of crime in an area of Rio with deep rooted poverty. This is a great feel good film to watch on a rainy day. Useful for: Sexuality, identity, gender equalityĮxplanation: Some students will say that a few of these film suggestions are ‘well old’ so here is one right up to date, an American high school boy struggles with the secret of his sexuality and forms an online relationship with another guy to open up about his feelings and experiences.
Where can I watch it: Amazon Prime and YouTube Movies This is certainly a film that leaves a long-lasting impression. Useful for: Ethnicity, racial inequality, povertyĮxplanation: A film that many students will find uncomfortable to watch but is an incredibly powerful depiction of a former neo-Nazi white supremacist trying to turn his life around after serving a prison sentence for his actions. This film is really useful for explaining the cycle of deprivation and why living in poverty can be a fatalistic and hopeless existence. Useful for: Social class, underclass, inequality, poverty, workĮxplanation: A very powerful film that looks at the difficulties of unemployment in the North East of England from the point of view of an older unemployed male and a young single mother of two. So, as the evenings close in, the clocks go back and the temperatures drop I decided to compile an essential watch list of 12 films from the last 20 years that are useful for a range of different topics.
#THE 13TH FILM SOCIOLOGY SERIES#
It has never been easier to consume media and in particular TV series and documentaries, in a time of binge-watching though I am often asked by students for advice on actual films to watch rather than just series, in particular films that are both inspirational and useful for Sociology.