In your classroom, all 30 of your students will see 30 different versions of events that happen in class. Such is the nature of individual perception. Likewise, at the movie theater, audience members may see the same images, but that doesn’t mean they all “see” the same film. In a way, it’s the audience that makes the movie, not the director or the producer.
In this MediaLit Moment, all 30 (or more, or less) of your elementary school students will have the chance to experience firsthand the different ways in which audiences respond to the same media message. This lesson is adapted from a lesson in CML’s 5 Key Questions That Can Change the World. For more lesson ideas, visit the CML site at www.medialit.com
Have students view a silent excerpt from a film which features physical comedy
AHA!: My friends don’t see exactly what I see even when we watch the same movie!
Key Question #3: How might different people understand this message differently?
Core Concept #3: Different people experience the same media message differently.
Grade Level: 2-4
Materials: DVD Player and DVD of feature film Choose a scene from a live-action film which your students are not likely to be familiar with, but also choose something which makes frequent use of physical comedy. This will help your students make some good guesses about the significance of the action on screen. A scene from a classic such as Frank Capra’s Arsenic and Old Lace would be a good choice (e.g., the scene in which Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster discovers a dead body—which the audience cannot see---in the window seat of his aunt’s parlor).
Activity: Grab students’ attention by asking them questions about their favorite films, especially comedies. Let students know that not everybody sees the same thing when they watch a movie, and that they’re going to find out how that happens during this lesson. Play the silent clip for students two or three times so that they get a good “shot” at guessing the meaning of the action on screen. As you discuss the different interpretations that students have of the clip, draw their attention to the distinction between what they actually observed and what they interpreted. And have fun, too. You might want to have students vote on what they think is the most likely explanation/interpretation for what they saw.
Play the clip again with the sound on so that students can discover what actually happened in the scene. In your final discussion, draw from their experience to help them understand that different people everywhere will see the same movie differently.
The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework. Used with permission, © 2002-2011, Center for Media Literacy, http://www.medialit.com
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