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Archive for the ‘Social Studies’ Category

Media Literacy and Social Studies: An Argo Update

Posted in Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , , on February 23, 2013| 1 Comment »

Will they be clinking their glasses at the Oscars?

Will they clink their glasses at the Oscars?

Earlier, I discussed the movies Argo and Lincoln in relation to cross-curricular connections that can be explored through analyses of movies and history.  Since then, there have been many provocative developments that add to the angles to be scrutinized with Argo (including its many major awards and Academy Award nominations).  Some of the most interesting include comparisons of the historical record to the narrative of the movie as well as recent commentary that has been recorded in the press from figures who were involved in the actual events.  Of particular significance are the complete fictions in the movie, such as the chase scene through the airport and while the plane takes off, and the depiction of the roles of the Canadians who sheltered the Americans that had escaped from the embassy in Tehran.

Victor Garber as Ken Taylor and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez

Victor Garber as Ken Taylor and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez

Let’s ask ourselves as media investigators: why were these choices made?  Are they valid?  Do the distortions or invented events constitute fraudulence on the part of the filmmakers?  Take into consideration a variety of storytelling and aesthetic decisions in the film – and one I suggest is from the closing credits in which director Ben Affleck and his collaborators inserted historical photos in comparison to images from the movie.  I also recommend recent interviews and reports that feature reactions from the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor, and the American President at the time, Jimmy Carter, including these articles from the Associated Press and E!Online.

In my initial blog post, I referenced Canadian journalist Jian Ghomeshi’s article about the depiction of Iran and Iranians in the film, and here is another piece related to Ghomeshi and Argo: an interview with actor Victor Garber who plays Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor.

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The Presidential Inauguration and Images

Posted in Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , on January 21, 2013| 1 Comment »

President Obama being sworn in for second term with wife Michelle Obama holding bibles of Lincoln and King

President Obama being sworn in for second term with wife Michelle Obama holding Bibles of Lincoln and King

Today President Barack Obama was inaugurated for a second term, and many people around the world experienced this event through a wide range of images.  As always, there are many angles to consider.  Have you ever switched between different channels covering the same occasion to see how different each can look, even when they are showing almost the same exact image?  Even without changing the source, note how colors, skin tones, and effects of light can change when cutting from a wide shot to a close-up.  It certainly helps to understand cinematography to comprehend how the choices made during production affect what we see and how we interpret it.  Now, the images that record this ceremony are available to be seen immediately on the Internet, and the different aspects of the event are instantly being further scrutinized, dissected, and evaluated, from President Obama’s speech to Richard Blanco’s poem to Beyoncé’s rousing rendition of the national anthem to Michelle Obama’s new hairstyle.

Here are some links that are interesting to check out: first, an ABC interview with poet Richard Blanco.  The interview should also be looked at by scrutinizing the total content of the image: that in addition to the interview with Blanco we are looking at a screen made up of many things going on at once.  Why?  How does that affect our understanding of the information, our processing of the visuals, and its aesthetic impact?  Of course, there is also Beyoncé singing the national anthem.  Finally, considering one of the key moments of President Obama’s speech when he made reference to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his holiday, here is a link to Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.’s August 28, 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington.

beyonce.inaugurationPostscript: Okay, so the Marines spilt the beans: Beyoncé was lip-syncing.  Good old pitch adjusters.  So does anyone else want any more “Wizard of Oz” moments here or lessons in “what you think you see is not necessarily what you get?”

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Media Literacy and Social Studies in the Classroom

Posted in Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 25, 2012| 4 Comments »

Where is the truth and what does media communicate to us? Ben Affleck standing in center with the real-life inspirations for “Argo,” including his character, CIA agent Tony Mendez, on far left (Keegan Bursaw/Embassy of Canada)

In earlier posts, I have discussed possibilities of cross-curricular work with social studies courses and this fall has offered countless examples of further opportunities to use media literacy to enhance learning in social studies classrooms.  Here are related pages from the newseum site, Edutopia, and Frank Baker’s Media Literacy Clearinghouse.  For the media literacy classroom, one of the most interesting aspects of this election was the creation of videos outside of the two campaigns and their dissemination through the Internet, such as the lip-dub treatments of the debates and other comedy pieces such as the gangnam-style parody with a Mitt Romney imitator done for the College Humor site.  At my own school, social studies teacher Mike Barile had his Civics students make their own videos for fictional campaigns (no, not comedy parodies but ones that suggest new approaches to official campaign ads) and they used them for comparison and analysis with current media and historical examples from American presidential races.

Still from Edward Zwick’s 1989 movie “Glory,” from which certain scenes can provide interesting comparison and contrast to “Lincoln”

Among current movies, two releases may provide for interesting discussion and study in either American history or International Studies curricula.  Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln joins the rich trove of Civil War movies that can be used in the classroom, while Ben Affleck’s Argo can be used in relation to studies of the history of Iran and its relations with the United States during the 20th century.  Here is an excellent counterpoint piece written by radio journalist Jian Ghomeshi in response to the depiction of Iranians and the political context of Iran in Argo, while here is a Washington Post article on the real people behind the story of this movie.  For Lincoln, there is an iPad book for the movie that may be useful for teachers.

Speaking about iBooks, in an earlier post about Tim Burton, I talked about his recent movie Frankenweenie.  Disney has released a free iBook for the movie, which is highly recommended.

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Politics & Media 2 (some super-heroes too)

Posted in Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 5, 2012| 4 Comments »

As a follow-up to my recent blog post on Satire, Politics, and Media, here is the second part of the excellent interview of Frank W. Baker by Peter Gutierrez in which they discuss politics and media.  And here is a pertinent quote by Baker for media literacy educators: “Media literacy teaches us, among other things, that media are businesses designed to make a profit. This is a huge point that should be taught. Ask students who benefits when candidates purchase time for their messages, and they may not think to answer: the broadcasters themselves.”

Gutierrez’s blog – Connect the Pop – is highly recommended.  It is full of many useful and compelling posts, including this recent one on the Spider-Man reboot.  And with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises about to come out, here is a piece on a recent book about Batman’s creation by Bob Kane and the uncredited Bill Finger (Bill the Boy Wonder).   In the interview, author Marc Tyler Nobleman says: “One of the biggest takeaways from my Siegel/Shuster/Finger research is that the Internet does not have all the answers. Most of the big discoveries I made researching these books came from either interviewing people (most of whom are elderly and some of whom have since passed away) or combing through archives that were not online.  When searching for information, even young people know how to google. The value of librarians is that they know how to do a lot of the rest—direct you to city records books, photo archives, and other non-digitized resources.”

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Politics, Satire, and Media

Posted in Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 30, 2012| 1 Comment »

Political satire with Amy Poehler on SNL

In an earlier post, I highlighted an interview of Neal Gabler by Bill Moyers about politics and movies.  As the American presidential elections heat up, it is a good time to return to this topic with a few interesting links and ideas.

One of the most interesting sites concerning politics and the media available for students and educators is on the Museum of the Moving Image site: the Living Room Candidate.  These pages that contain presidential ads from their first appearance on television are a treasure trove for Media Literacy and Social Studies teachers and can serve as an invaluable resource for curriculum development.  A good place to start is to have students work in collaborative teams – which can combine media and history classes – to develop analyses of media messages seen through historical and communicative contexts and to create their own politically-oriented media messages.

How do young people get their news? How do they interpret media messages?

One of the most prevalent manners in which media addresses young people is through satire (often, it’s the only way that youth have any connection to current events).  Here is an example of a Learning Blog lesson plan from the nytimes.com website.   For this series of lessons, students can develop analyses of satire in which they compare and contrast news pieces from mainstream text media and parallel satiric pieces from motion picture media.  Chris Kennedy, a journalism teacher and colleague at my high school, shared with me the following two examples he has used: (1) the debate on Paul Revere’s ride initiated by the comments of Sarah Palin, as viewed on The Colbert Report and through interviews with Palin; and (2) satiric commentary on the role of the vice presidency and contemporary issues such as gay rights.  The Saturday Night Live piece on Vice-President Biden works very well, and can be used with a number of other historic SNL pieces, such as the infamous Amy Poehler rap delivered during the news segment with then-candidate Sarah Palin.

It is also very interesting to note that, in my experience, unless required to produce a piece that deals with political issues, students tend to avoid “serious topics” completely in their media creations.  I can also add that it has been noted that students in our school tend to use a satiric approach in virtually all of the commercials they produce for school events.  At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, a report was produced by students for this unit in which they demonstrated that 100% of the short commercials and PSAs produced by students and shown during the morning announcements at school that year were of a mocking or satiric nature in regards to the event or topic.

Thanks also to my Social Studies department colleagues Katie McGurn and Tim Shea for sharing ideas and working together on lessons.

For some final thoughts about politics and media, check out this interview with media literacy guru Frank W. Baker, who is the author of Political Campaigns and Political Advertising: A Media Literacy Guide, among other titles.

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