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Education Initiative:
Films and Violence

Level: Grades 6, 7, 8

Objective:
The overall objective is to heighten awareness in students regarding what they are presented in the media so they can critically interpret popular films. Students will have an appreciation of how a ‘hit’ movie changes and influences society…and in particular sub-cultures. Students will develop awareness of the impact of violence in the media and the overall affect, particularly on young children.

-	Students will have fuller awareness of the film as a “product” and recognize that it is something that has been constructed for monetary gain.
-	They will have a more developed idea of how a “hit” film is promoted.
-	Students will become more aware of their own responses to a particular film.
-	Students will better understand that media violence affects children in the following ways:
	1. Increases aggressive and anti-social behavior. 2. Increases their fear of becoming victims. 3. Makes them less sensitive to violence and the victims of violence. 4. Increases their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life.

Preparation:
The presenters will select a film they have seen and collect clippings, critiques and advertising for the film they have selected. The unit will be more effective if the students select well-known current films with which most are familiar.

Classroom:
STEP 1
Gain agreement around what constitutes a ‘hit ‘ film:
- moneymaker, audience size, ‘buzz”, etc.
- special effects
- hot star(s)
- promotional merchandise

STEP 2
As a group discuss the following questionnaire.

THE YOU-SAW-THE-MOVIE-WORE-THE-SHIRT QUESTIONNAIRE

1.	When did you first hear about this movie?
2.	How? (TV ad, movie trailer, poster, friends, newspaper etc.)
3.	What was your reaction to the promotion you saw/heard?
4.	If you saw the movie, was it what you expected? If not, how was it different than what the advertising led you to expect?
5.	Was the violence important to the plot of the movie? Would anyone die or go to jail? Would anyone be sad?
6.	Did the violence solve problems or create them?
7.	Could you have predicted it would become a blockbuster? Why?
8.	Could it of been a blockbuster without the violence?
9.	How can you change the movie to omit the violence and still keep the audience interested?
10.	Have you read the original source of the movie (ie: novel, comic book, TV series)? If so, when? Was the movie more violent than the original source?

-	Have the teams share their responses to the questionnaire. Have a spokesperson summarize the findings.
-	Ask the class to examine how the film was promoted: advertising, film-related merchandise, other promotional tie-ins (special meals or prizes at fast food-outlets, etc.
-	Did the promotions and advertising influence how you felt about the film?
-	Has the film been ‘designed’ for specific audiences? For who was it targeted? Can you tell the target of the movie from the advertising and the promotion effort?

Wrap-Up and Learning Consolidation:
The key learning point here is that films are ‘designed ‘ for specific audiences and media violence influences the behavior and perception in young children. As well as having students develop media literacy. Discuss how some films have become so much a part of our culture that lines of dialogue become part of our everyday speech. Seek out examples as confirmation. To help students develop problem solving skills to offer alternatives to violent scenes in films for young children.