Complex

"The need to engage students in solving complex and ill-structured programs, engage in higher-order thinking, so as to not develop oversimplified views of the world."

When I first began to design a course called Media Literacy at the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, I was advised by my peers to not make the course "too sedentary." Students needed to be engaged in ways that went beyond just watching films and talking about them. As Professor Steve Cohen at Tufts says: "putting on a video can act like a narcotic and put everyone immediately asleep."

Clearly, students need more to engage them, get them out of their seats, conversing with others, working with others, solving complex problems together.

A c t i v e	Constructive
Collaborative	Conversational
Reflective	Contextualized
Complex	Intentional

Because the study of media, known as Media Literacy, is not a new field, there is a wide array of materials available to teachers. (link to media literacy resource list). The breadth and scope of material available is enormous and spans many curricular areas. These areas include social studies, english or language art, and visual arts. As the course is a part of my high school's arts elective program I have the liberty of incorporating a great deal of tactile activities, as well as kinesthetic in the realm of improvisation. Music, one of the nine elements of film, plays a powerful and important part.

Music created by Marcus & James

Powerful Ideas and

Empowering Education

"Media can be manipulated and can manipulate you."

Part of the job description of any educator, in my opinion, involves the empowering of students--helping them to understand that they have the power of choice. When it comes to media consumption, I don't preach to students to give up watching TV or stop using the internet. Blind consumption is different from informed consumption. One of the first things we do is watch the PBS Frontline program called "The Merchants of Cool." It's a video that examines the multimillion dollar industry of "cool hunting"--high paid corporate executives who seek out teen trend setters--kids who are on the cutting edge of the next wave.

The program also explains how five corporations own and control all of the world's major media production and distribution apparatus. One of the powerful ideas set forth in the documentary is how companies such as Viacom (which owns MTV among other things) creates what is dubbed "a giant feedback loop." This is where young people behave like the teens they see on MTV in the hopes that they will also be photographed and included in MTV programs.

To the right are a few essays witten by my students about the "Merchants of Cool."

--Paul Sarapas

For a complete teacher's guide for "The Merchants of Cool" visit:

http://www.PBS.org

"The Merchants of Cool"

"Has seeing 'The Merchants of Cool' led you to think about how you express your identity?"

"What questions do you have about who you think you are and who you think your peers want you to be?"

Seeing this movie has certainly had an effect on how I think about what I should look like and how I act. Today, I got braces put on and the first things that I thought when this happened were; How do I look? Am I a nerd? and will I get made fun of? I think these questions are in large part due to me seeing the movie and becoming more self-conscious about trying to fit in and become the "average teen". In regards to the second question, I ask myself, "What should I wear?" many times in a year, and I think my friends and I try to be somewhat like people we see in advertisements or on television, just like MTV wants us to. The scary part is, we think about being "cool" without even realizing it, as it has become part of our culture.

--Kevin, October 2003

Do you think that the "mook" (stereotypically crude male adolescent) or the "midriff" are real or are constructions of the media? Do you know any "mooks" or "midriffs"?

I believe that the "mook" and "midriff" are constructions of the media and do not reflect reality. The "midriff" sends out the message that girls are sex objects and that they need to spend lots of time, money and effort to make themselves look good, so that guys will like them. The "mook" sends out the message that guys need to be tough and macho, so that girls will find them appealing and other kids will think that they are cool. I believe that the "mook" and "midriff" are very unrealistic. There are few girls who actually look like the models in magazines and the dancers in MTV music videos. However because girls are seeing the images of the "ideal girl" on TV, in magazines, in music videos and in movies etc. they feel that in order to be cool and appealing they need to look like the women projected in the media. And since there are so few people that actually look like that it is impossible for most girls to look as good as the women on TV; therefore they feel bad about themselves and their self esteem is lowered.

Many girls will do anything to look good including: extreme dieting, spending lots of money, dying their hair and wear provocative and revealing clothing. Since the media is everywhere, I think that every teen is unfluenced by MTV's standard of "cool".

--Rebecca,October 2003