PART I

• Compare and contrast the function of music in this film with other films we have seen this semester. In what ways is it the same? Different?

• Music and the Diegesis
  • Is the majority of music in Blackboard Jungle diegetic or non-diegetic? Why do you think the filmmaker chose one over the other?
  • Are the boundaries between diegetic and non-diegetic music ever problematized or made ambiguous?

PART II

• What are some of the different musical genres in this film? Do they tend to be associated with particular characters or groups of characters?
• How does your reading of the excerpt from Bruce Tucker's article change the way you think about the use of the song Rock Around the Clock in this film? What was the danger that Tucker says rock 'n roll represented at the time this film was being made? What does it represent in this film? Does rock n' roll's current-day equivalent represent the same thing in our society?
• How is music used to create representations of the "Others" in this film?
• How is music and respect for traditional values used to transmute issues of race into a general, less threatening and more manageable generational conflict?

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