From Discipline to Empathy: The "Therapeutic" Reconstruction of Teacher-student Relationshipin the "The Chorus"

Li Jinhui

Xizang University

Abstract：

The French director Christopher Baratti's film "The Chorus" artistically presents two opposite teacher-student relationships in the "Bottom of the Pond" nursing home. Based on Foucault's theory of discipline and Rogers' theory of therapeutic relationship, this paper makes a systematic comparison between President Hassan's behaviorist discipline model and Teacher Matthew's humanistic empathy practice. The “action-punishment” management model of Hassan is like a panoramic monitoring system, which aims to discipline students as individuals who are absolutely obedient, so that the teacher-student relationship falls into a state of indifferenceand confrontation. Matthew takes the three elements of Rogers' therapeutic relationship: sincere consistency, unconditional positive attention and empathy as the cornerstone, and uses music as the mediumto establish an emotional bond and reshape the trust relationship between teachers and students. It has important enlightenment value for the contemporary construction of a harmonious teacher-student relationship with more humanistic care.

Key Words：

“The Chorus”; teacher-student relationship; discipline; empathy; therapeutic relationship