The Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice is hosting monthly movie nights to build community in the department and find things to do outside of class.
The idea was formulated by Dr. Ben Peterson, assistant professor of political science to get students more engaged in the department.
“I tend to propose and select older, classic films that I think students will enjoy but that they might not know about or watch on their own,” Peterson said.
The movie nights occur once every month on Fridays at 6 p.m. in the Hardin Administration Building in room 128. Three movies are left in the semester. On Feb. 23, they will premiere Lincoln. On March 22, they will play Battle of Algiers, and on April 26 they will play A Man for All Seasons.
Peterson said he has chosen a variety of movies that relate to political science in some way.
“It is one thing to read about them and think about them conceptually, but it’s interesting to see how these things play out in real historical examples,” Peterson said.
Canaan Fairley, sophomore political science major from San Antonio, is a frequent attendee of the department’s movie nights and said seeing events portrayed on the cinematic screen rather than just reading about them in a textbook brings them to life.
“It’s a very chill and laid-back environment where you are able to unwind after a long week and see what the professors are like outside of work,” Fairley said.
The movie this past Friday was Primary, a documentary about the 1960 Democratic primary election in Wisconsin between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey.
Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, is a drama about Abraham Lincoln’s fight for the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery.
Peterson said he is excited to watch Battle of Algiers. He considers the movie to be more of a “war” film that has a current connection with the Israel-Hamas conflict. Lastly, A Man for All Seasons is a 1966 film about Sir Thomas More who stood up to King Henry VIII.
The movie nights are not only for people in the political science department. It is extended to any student, faculty, or staff member who has an interest in learning more about political science.
“I love movies,” said Peterson, “so this is something I wanted to do to bring our department together.”
