Wednesday, January 21, 1998
Film course utilizes personal experiences for instruction
CLASS Students take more active approach in dealing with ethical
issues on TV
By Jammie Salagubang
Daily Bruin Contributor
Professor Robert Trachinger sits relaxed but professional on his
desk while addressing his students. The class is attentively silent
– until Trachinger notices the topics on the blackboard. He turns
to his teaching assistant and says with a laugh that everyone soon
joins, "You forgot to put in ‘sex.’ What were you thinking?"
This question is one of the main points of Trachinger’s class,
"Problems and Ethical Issues in Film and Broadcasting." Students
select, but are not limited to, topics ranging from talk shows and
sex to politics, confronting the moral dilemmas inherent in
them.
"We are profoundly influenced by TV and this media we swim in,
no matter how independent we strive to be," Trachinger says. "The
only chance we have to swim a stroke in this ocean of media is to
be conscious of what’s going on and why it’s going on."
However, the class will not be completely occupied by
philosophical musings. The only text the students use is the sum of
their personal experiences. Trachinger strongly encourages
interaction and discussion.
A major requirement for this class is a multimedia presentation.
Using a deck of cards, Trachinger and his TA split the class into
groups that must make a presentation based on a group-selected
topic. Instructors provide equipment and encourage students to
bring in guest speakers or choose other creative directions.
"I believe we learn in a variety of ways, but one of the most
important ways is hands on," Trachinger says. "This class isn’t
‘you all’ learning from me all’; it’s about all of us learning
together."
Trachinger says that storytelling is another significant way of
learning. Unlike animals, humans are not born with instincts and
must be told "stories."
"You don’t know how to live fully unless you know something
about what has proceeded you and information has been passed down,"
Trachinger comments.
In this age, Trachinger says the greatest and most pervasive
storytellers are television and film. He also says they have turned
into something even more powerful.
"What is the drug of choice in the United States?" Trachinger
asks the class.
"Are we going to be experimenting later?" quips TA Caris
Odea.
According to Trachinger, most of us already have experimented to
our own detriment. He condemns television as a drug that breaks
down family relationships. He tells sobering and depressing
statistics about television that seem ironic coming from a man who
has spent half of his life working in the television industry.
"I’m essentially pissed off at what the industry did with its
potential," Trachinger says. "I’m biting the hand that fed me, but
I gave so much back that I don’t feel the least bit guilty about
it."
And part of what he gave are three Emmy award-winning
contributions: the documentary, "Decision to Die," a production of
the 1984 Olympics and the development of slow motion in black and
white film. When he retired after 37 years in the television
industry, he held the position of vice president of operations and
production at ABC.
Not bad for a man who never went to college, Trachinger laughs.
He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., during the Depression and lived in a
tiny house with only his mother, often going hungry and sleeping in
the streets during the summer. At 18, he went on convoy duty in the
North Atlantic during World War II. Upon return, he enrolled in a
technical school that just happened to have a course in
television.
"Luck’s been an important part of my life, but all of us deserve
an opportunity to function more fully, and media is counter-human
and counterproductive," Trachinger states.
Raising consciousness about the media is one reason Trachinger
started teaching. He was first asked to teach a class during the
production of "Decision to Die." He went on to become a Fulbright
scholar and has taught in Denmark, Israel and France.
Already in his 30th year of teaching at UCLA, Trachinger’s class
is not just for film and television students. Offered only during
winter quarter, this class is open to all students, graduate or
undergraduate, regardless of major.
Trachinger doesn’t pretend to have all the answers to the
problems and the ethical issues; he leaves that up to the students.
Awareness is really the fundamental goal of his class.
"We are ‘the person’ who’s responsible for our behavior,"
Trachinger says.
CLASS: Film and Television 127, "Problems and Ethical Issues in
Film and Broadcasting," meets Wednesdays, from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. in
Melnitz Hall, Room 2589. For more information, call (310)
825-5761.
Photo courtesy of Robert Trachinger
Robert Trachinger is an adjunct professor in the School of
Theater, Film and Television.