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[gourmetless]

Dogville, ask some our your colleagues their response.  I suspect that this issue may vary according to discipline as well as type of school.

I really don't think anyone in my department would notice.  If they did, I doubt they would think twice about it.

[larryc]

Don't do it.

Could you run the clip through Moviemaker or iMovie and bleep out the F-bombs?

[gunsgermsandsteel]

Do not do it.

Share it with your friends, and that is enough.

[dr_crankypants]

I'm sorry, but six minutes is just too long.  Especially if that clip also raises questions for anybody about your judgement. 

[imawakenow]

I agree with dr. cranky. I actually think the 6-minute clip--no matter how interesting--is almost as risky as the off-color language. Unless it is EXTREMELY compelling, you will lose your audience and likely not get them back.

Just my 2 cents.

[katherineparr]

Yeah, I agree about length and the relative problem. In a 45 minute talk, six minutes given over to a film clip is really a lot of space. While there may be a huge amount of valuable content there, I still think it's way too much.

That 45 minutes is your one and only chance to demonstrate how great a researcher/teacher/scholar/colleague you are. To give over a chunk of it to a film strikes me as a serious loss.

I also agree that if you rid yourself of the F word, keeping A**hole is not a great idea. The use of the word whore is a little different, since that's a nasty word but not a generally recognized curse word. I can imagine various historical fields where that word would come up naturally in historical work.

Surely this is field specific. If your field is history, avoid bad language and cut that clip.

[heybeerman]

I asked about this last year, the thread is here:

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,33434.0.html

I used the slide and I think it went over great.  i didn't get the job, but the person who did was FAR more experienced and qualified than I.  I would do it again.

[katherineparr]

Thanks, beerman. That's the thread I was thinking of.

[octoprof]

<disclaimer>I'm sure I'm not in your field.</disclaimer>

13% of your job talk will be devoted to a film clip.
 - said film clip is foreign using subtitles
 - said film clip uses rude language

...unless, of course, your field is rude foreign films...  just do not do it.

Why would you intentionally want to wave so many red flags?

[anon33]

Yeah, I agree about length and the relative problem. In a 45 minute talk,

In practice, a 45 min talk feels like 20 min or 10 min for the speaker. According to my own experience.

However, at the same time, any video clip inserted in your talk feels like Eternity. for the speaker as well as the audience.

The open secret is that the audience would not enjoy most of the video clips at all. They will capitalize on this opportunity to go out smoking or getting a choco bar.

[ruralguy]

No way in "heck" should you do this as planned.

[iomhaigh]

Okay, what is your field?  (You don't need to answer for us.)  But, if it is a film class, then a clip is appropriate. A 6 minute clip might be long, but if it is the source for the rest of your discussion, then trim it a bit and move on.  If you need to show them how you use film in classes and you need to show them the film because it is what you do your work on, then so it goes. 

Do we ask Mamet scholars to not assign his plays to students who are taking part in their teaching demos?  No.  Do we ask them to black out the curse words?  Good luck with that.  You won't have much of a text left and you'll ruin the lilt of the language.  If you are in a similar situation, then you need to make the call based on your field and how integral the clip is to your research and your talk.

Consider the source of this advice, however:  I teach texts that are chock-a-block full of profanity, ethnic slurs, derogatory gendered language, and sexual references.  I have no choice but to teach such texts because they are my canon.  You simply cannot avoid profanity in some periods, and you cannot avoid ethnic slurs ever, really. 

I have no choice but to teach these texts during teaching demos either, particularly when they are assigned to me because the students happen to be reading something like Mamet during my interview slot. 

But this is my field.  If you have a weak stomach for the uglier side of humanity, then take some Pepto before you set foot in my classroom. 

You've got to consider your field, your topic, and what you are being asked to do.  I can't see a reason for *sshole to come up in Physics, for example, but I can see plenty of legitimate academic reasons to include a clip with one swear in a film or theatre class, just like I can see the reason for nudity in an art class.

Seriously, what do you tell someone who is dissertating on Mapplethorpe?  "Sorry, you need to focus on his flowers in your job talk even though your work is on his male bondage photographs?"  It isn't like the SC doesn't know what they are getting into when they invite the Mapplethorpe scholar to campus. 

OP, are you in a similar boat or is this gratuitous?   

[dogville]

Ok, first, the clip (still 6 minutes) is TOTALLY CLEAN - spent an entire day it seems like editing here and there and there isn't a single offensive word of any kind, I even cut some parts out that weren't important to the narrative.  You all were totally right, I can't believe I almost risked it all....

But, I'm still confused why most of you are so opposed to showing a film clip at all?  No, I'm not in film studies, I'm in the social sciences. I do teach a class on film, but that isn't what this job is about or what they want me for.  I thought that the film idea would be an interesting alternative to the standard talking the whole time with power point since based on this clip of 6 minutes, one can then make a whole host of arguments related to my case study (this foreign country) - the film does well to illustrate the perceptions and responses of this society in dealing with a very difficult post-war time.  In short, I think the film then allows me to go into my analysis and the students and faculty have something tangible to connect what I'm saying to....

Why does katherineparr think people would be bored?? For me as an audience member, I would be thrilled to hear someone give an interesting talk, break that with an interesting clip and then analyze it?

What if I just made it 4 minutes (I can think of one section to cut out and it may still have the same effect)?  This school is quite progressive, I can't see how they would think I want to just "waste" their time with the clip?!!

I'm down to the wire here on time.  I'm about to present this talk to my spouse tonight so we'll see how long it all is with the clip.

I cannot afford to mess up anything here and I valuable all of my forumite friends advice, but I am frankly worried now that so many of you think this is a red flag (I mean the clip at all, not the language - that has been solved.)

[octoprof]

OK, first, the clip (still 6 minutes) is TOTALLY CLEAN - spent an entire day it seems like editing here and there and there isn't a single offensive word of any kind, I even cut some parts out that weren't important to the narrative.  You all were totally right, I can't believe I almost risked it all....

But, I'm still confused why most of you are so opposed to showing a film clip at all?  No, I'm not in film studies, I'm in the social sciences. I do teach a class on film, but that isn't what this job is about or what they want me for. 

A six minute film is using 13% of your allotted time.

You are not in film studies. Films probably aren't the norm in your social science field (I could be wrong).

You are there to sell yourself. The film will distract from your presentation skills. 

You have to decide if these six minutes are better used with this film or with you doing something that shows how wonderfully knowledgeable you are.

Do you really need 6 minutes of film to illustrate the relevant information about that particular society?  Can't you do that yourself?  Or, with a much shorter clip?

And...

What are you going to do if the technology doesn't work at your presentation and you've built your presentation around this clip?

I'm not saying don't use it... I'm saying that you need to think it through carefully and use the time as wisely as possible.

[I am very glad you cleaned it up.]

[dogville]

Yes octoprof, good points.  I'm already worried about not having enough time to really get my main points across and this may make that worse. 
I have found a way to make it 4 minutes (or even 3) and to focus more on two themes instead of three connected to the clip.  Do you think this would work better and wouldn't look like I'm using it as a crutch? 

One of my colleagues thought the film idea was great, she thought 5 minutes would be ok out of 50 min. total (no one said how long the talk should be, the time alloted is 75 min.).