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University Microfilms A Xerox Education Company 72-27,101 SCHUTH, Howard Wayne, 1942- THE COLLEGE MILIEU IN THE AMERICAN FICTION FILM WITH EMPHASIS ON THE WORK OF MIKE NICHOLS: A STUDY IN BELIEF SYSTEMS. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1972 Speech University Microfilms, A XERQK Company, Ann Arbor, Michigem © 1972 HOWARD WAYNE SCHUTH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TSTTM MTp-pnVTT.MVn VYAPTT.V AR PVPVTVPn THE COLLEGE MILIEU IN THE AMERICAN FICTION FlIM WITH EMPHASIS ON THE WORK OF MIKE NICHOLS: A STUDY IN BELIEF SYSTEMS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Howard W. Schuth, B.S., M.A. The Ohio State University 1972 Approved by Department of Speech PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank those who have made this study possible. Special thanks go to my adviser. Dr. Robert W. Wagner, and the members of my committee. Dr. Alfred C. Clarke and Dr. Franklin H. Knower. Their advice, help, and encourage­ ment have been invaluable. Many thanks go, too, to the numerous individuals and companies who provided access to films and other related materials for this study: Mike Clark of WBNS-TV, Columbus; Dave Hackle of Coaxial Cable Television, Columbus; Edwin Jahiel of the University of Illinois; Burt Shapiro of the American Film Institute; Audio-Brandon Films; Avco-Embassy; Columbia Pictures Corporation; Films, Inc.; Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer; Paramount Pictures; Twentieth-Century Fox; Tywman Films; United Artists; Warner Brothers. I wish to thank the many students at The Ohio State University who made my work during this study so enjoyable. Finally, my wife, Mary Schuth, deserves much credit for her understanding and patience, without which the task would have been much more difficult. May 23, 1942 Born - Oak Park, Illinois 1964 .... B.S., Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois 1966 . M.A. 5 Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois 1965-1969 Instructor of Film and Television, Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri 1969-1972 Instructor of Cinema, Department of Photography & Cinema, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS Report of the Work of the Film Committee of the Missouri Council on the Arts, I965-6 7. Monograph, l967. "An Introduction to Film Aesthetics." The Independent School Bulletin, October, 1968, pp. 77-79» "Techniques of Teaching Film Production." Journal of the University Film Association. Vol. 21, No. 3, l969^ pp. 85- B7Ï "High School." Audio-Visual Communications Review, Summer, 1970, pp. 212-21 3: "85-," "Red Desert," and "Hiroshima, Mon Amour." Three thirty-minute audio-tape cassette lectures in the Classic Films Lecture Series; Published by Everett/Edwards, Inc., Deland, Florida, 1971. Seven motion pictures— Producer-Director. Twenty-five television programs— Producer-Director. iii FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Film Studies in Film: Professor Robert W. Wagner and Professor Alfred C. Clarke Studies in Communication Behavior: Professor Franklin H. Knower Studies in Educational Communication: Professor 1, Keith Tyler iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................. ii VITA ........................... iii LIST OF P L A T E S .................. vil Chapter I. BELIEF SYSTEMS AND THE COLLEGE FILM .................. 1 Method ................ 4 Criteria.............. 13 II. SIGNIFICANT PRE-NICHOLS FILMS .................. 15 The Adventure of the Absent- Minded Professor . 7~. 7~. 24 Tnose College cJTrls . 27 The Freshman........... 33 College T T ........... 40 Horse Feathers......... 51 The Duke of West Point . 58 Blondie Goes to College . 64 The Male Animaf I . 68 Goodbye My F a n c y ....... ?4 Take Care of My Little G i r l .................. 77 Beach P a r t y ........... 80 Joy in the Morning .... 87 Conclusions I T T .... 93 III.' THE WORK OF MIKE NICHOLS . 97 Who's Afraid of Virginia Wool f ? ................ 97 The Graduate........... I06 Catch-22 . T ........... 117 Carnal Knowledge ....... 122 Page IV. CURRENT TRENDS IN THE COLLEGE FILM ................... 133 Television: The Mass Medium 136 The Jimmy Stewart Show . , Call Her M o m .......... The College as Background . The Sterile Cuckoo .... 148i Love Story ............ 151 What»s Up Doc? ......... The College as Central Theme The Strawberry Statement . R . F. M. I Getting Straight ....... 165 172 Findings . 172 Validity . 180 Recommendations 182 APPENDIX A . 184 B . 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY Vi LIST OF PLATES Plate Page I. The Adventure of the Absent-Minded Pr o f essor..................... 23 II. The Freshman ................. 32 III. C o l l e g e ....................... 39 IV. Horse Feathers ............... 50 V. Joy in the Morning ........... 86 VI. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? . 96 VII. The Graduate................... 105 VIII. Catch-22 ..................... II6 IX. Carnal Knowledge .............. 121 X. Sterile Cuckoo ................ l47 XI. Love Story..................... I50 XII. What's UP3 D o c ? ............... 154 XIII. The Strawberry Statement ....... I58 XIV. R.P.M. ...................... 161 XV. Getting Straight .............. l64 BELIEF SYSTEMS AND THE COLLEGE FILM During a screening of Horse Feathers at The Ohio State University Film Society, I watched the Marx Brothers glee­ fully make fools of college deans, professors, and students. They attacked the traditional, institutionalized forms of college life, satirizing the highly-structured heirarchy involved in education, and pompousness and highly absurd rituals that seems to be a part of the college milieu. From the classroom to the football field, the Marxes did their best to ridicule the educational system. It struck me that Horse Feathers was a brilliant, inspired version of the image of college that has dominated practically all American films. To judge by the films I could remember, administrators were rigid, slightly absurd authoritarians; teachers were ineffectual pedants. I could remember few films in which students took their teachers or their studies very seriously. A number of critics and educators have expressed concern about the image of education in films. They claim that this image is distorted, unsympathetic, and unfavor­ able to the performance of education’s proper role in a 1 modern^ democratic society.^ They regret that so influ­ ential a mass medium does so little to show the vital role that education plays— or, at any rate, should play— in a democratic society. There has been no systematic attempt to study the image of education presented in American films or the exact nature of the implicit and explicit criticisms. The most ambitious study to date has been The Portrayal of Education in American Motion Pictures. 1911-1961. a University of Illinois doctoral dissertation by Jack SchwartzIn his study Mr. Schwartz analyzed some four hundred pictures dealing with education in general. As we would expect, he finds the treatment of education primarily negative. In most films, the school is presented as a highly conform­ ist environment, where deviant social and intellectual behavior is suppressed. Although some teachers are helpful and sympathetic, others are brutal and sadistic. Hiese ^Some examples of this type ,of criticism can be found in the following: Monika Kehoe, "Campus Confessions," School and Society, 48 (December 10, 1938), pp. 755-56; H.M. Lafferty, "Hollywood versus the School Teacher," School and Society, 62 (August 11, 1945)s PP. 92-94; Claude 6. Bowman, "The Professor in the Popular Magazines," The Journal of Higher Education, 9 (October, 1938), pp. 351-56; Gienn Dodds, ‘‘Does Fiction Libel the Teacher? The