Cinema is consistently making a claim to particular memories, histories, ways of life, identities, and values that always presuppose some notion of difference, community, and the future. Given that films both reflect and shape public culture, they cannot be defined exclusively through a notion of artistic freedom and autonomy that removes them from any form of critical accountability.
Interpretation
Cinema influences and reflects society's values and identities while remaining accountable to public culture.
In this quote, Henry Giroux emphasizes the profound role of cinema in shaping and reflecting societal memories, identities, and values. He argues that films are not merely expressions of artistic freedom; they are embedded in a cultural context that requires them to be critically examined in relation to the communities they portray and the future they envision.
In practice
During a film studies class, I used this quote to explain the relationship between cinema and societal values.
Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that was called cheating. The curriculum sent the clear message to me that learning was a highly individualistic, almost secretive, endeavor. My working class experience...was disparaged.
I'm involved in all things musical. It's all consuming, even if it doesn't necessarily manifest as a record or a concert.
Art for art's sake makes no more sense than gin for gin's sake.
An actress can only play a woman. I'm an actor, I can play anything.
Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.
But remember this, Japanese boy... airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.
I don't understand why the press is so interested in speculating about my appearance, anyway. What does my face have to do with my music or my dancing?
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