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[dogville]

Hey there,
   As usual, we tend to obsess about the little things of our interviews, since you never know what might be read wrongly by the SC....
so here I am now preparing my talk (mix of research/teaching talk).  I am planning to show a 6 minute clip of a dark comedy from the country in which I am presenting on.  I also teach courses on film so this is one way to highlight how I use film in the classroom.  The film makes an important parody on the topic I am presenting.  The film includes briefly a town mayor saying to someone 'F*** the Americans, F**** the Arabs..."  Not in a mean way, there is no fight going on, but in a matter of fact way to another leader he is talking with.  This is not in English so the audience will just read this in the subtitles.....
    To me, this is NO big deal, we are all adult and have seen/read bad language, but I'm concerned that in a job talk setting with students, some may firstly think that the whole "comedy" clip is inappropriate, but even worse, the language is.  What if I prefaced it by apologizing in advance for some "inappropriate language?"   
   I think the film does a great job of illustrating my arguments and it is a good break in the talk.
  Any thoughts??? 

[dogville]

p.s. this is a SLAC, big emphasis on teaching of course, and particularly active learning..

[johnr]

Why even take the chance of offending even one voting member?  Is there nothing that you can show that doesn't drop the F-bomb on the students and search committee?

[gourmetless]

I would preface the clip with standard disclosure: Adult language is used.

Be matter-of-fact, objective.  Don't use the word (s) yourself. 

[mended_drum]

Your risk is probably not offending sc members, but if this is a SLAC, some member of the administration may drop in on your talk, whether or not you've been warned ahead of time (our president, for example, likes to attend job talks, but has a hectic schedule that can change from day to day).  I think I'd want to avoid the possibility of offending a dean for no good reason, especially since they'll have little effect on what you'd teach day to day if hired anyway.

[zuzu_]

Last year, I used the word b!tch in a teaching demo. It was a presentation that I always do with students, and the "shock value" is key to the point I was trying to make.

I could tell by their faces that the SC was horrified. This totally surprised me, as it didn't even occur to me that people would be offended. But I learned a lesson and never used that teaching demo again.

[seniorscholar]

Several years ago a job candidate had a clip with a lot of naked men in it. I mean really naked, full frontal. And not even standing still.This made at least 75% of the people in the room really uncomfortable, and unable thereafter to concentrate on the talk. Of course the 25% who were fine with it were also unable to concentrate, since they were having othr thoughts. Bad idea.

[happymedium]

For what it's worth, I used a clip from a mainstream Hollywood film that repeatedly uses the F Word in a teaching demo, and got a job offer (from a small LAC). I prefaced the clip by telling the students, "I should warn you this contains bad language, but pay attention to what it says about ethics ..."

Granted, it was late in the hiring season, and there were no administrators in the room. ;-) I suspect it was a risky move in retrospect!

Is there a way to edit your clip around that particular line and summarize what happens? I don't think the comedy element would work against you, as in my experience search committees are looking for teaching approaches that engage/entertain students. But others may have different opinions. Good luck!

[much_metta]

I think there are other important questions you have to ask yourself, first:

1.  How much do you want this job?
2.  Would you be comfortable working at an institution or with students/colleagues/administrators who would sink your candidacy over a single word you didn't even say yourself?  If the answer is no, then in effect this is a sort of litmus test for you as well as them.

I'm with gourmetless:  use a standard preface about adult language, but not in an apologetic way.  If you have used the clip before and students have found it to be useful, say so, perhaps something along the lines of:  "Here is a clip to illustrate points XYZ that my students have found particularly helpful in semesters past.  It contains a brief instance of adult language.  While you are watching, I would like you to pay particular attention to issues ABC, which we will discuss at the conclusion of the clip..." 

[katherineparr]

We had a thread on this a while back, perhaps someone with better search skills than I have will dig it up. It was pretty extensive, as I recall.

I vote no, having observed a mock job talk with adult language in both slides and the presenter's text. That was a bloodbath.

But also, 6 minutes is a really long clip. Are you sure you need that entire time?

[dogville]

I agree with most of you that it is not worth the risk...even if this says something about the dept, etc... Getting this job is extremely important, more than anything in the world really (even though I have a job now...long story).
   With some fancy editing program, I have been able to cut out the inappropriate F language I mentioned - the wonders of technology of course!!  It works great now. 
     There is still the word "whore"  and "a-hole" but do you think this is more acceptable if I preface it with the 'adult language' caution (though not apologizing) (as much_metta and gourmetless noted, thanks).
   6 minutes seems long, but it illustrates multiple things and I don't think with 45 minutes total for the talk, it would be, but maybe I'm wrong....

[hegemony]

Six minutes still seems a bit long to me, and I'd worry about "whore" and "*-hole."  They're likely to be what your talk is remembered for.  I'm not sure you want to be known as "the guy who screened the foul language."

[svenc]

I can't imagine anyone in our Department would flinch at these words, with or without the disclaimer, but then again our shop is full of self-proclaimed whores and a**holes.

Good luck Dogville!

[acrimone]

You've got to be kidding.

No swear words in your presentation ANYWHERE.

Find something else to do for your talk.

[prytania3]

There was another thread about this sort of thing last year, but I can't find it. I tend to be with Acrimone. Why risk it?