Final Paper

Literary Unit: Interracial Relationships and Film

Blog Setup
Students will be introduced to blogs and explained the purpose of their use. Students will establish their own personal blogs using https://www.blogger.com/start.


Week 1: What are Media Representations?

Objectives:
Students will understand the meaning of meaning of media representations.
Students will understand how racial and ethnic groups are defined in the media.
Students will understand and define their own racial group through the creation of an identity collage.

Open: Students will read article on Gramsci’s Theory (http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm) and read an article discussing the lack of Hispanics on primetime television (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-06-24-Latinos-absent-in-TV_x.htm). These articles will provide a framework for the students to understand media representations of race.

Work: Once students have a developed an understanding of media representations of race, they will create a digital identity collage to define their own race. Students can use any pictures of visuals derived from the internet to create collages. Students will choose a tech tool to (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, or Movie Maker) to create a collage visual.

Close: Students will compose a one page writing single-spaced explaining why the chosen artifacts represents self and their ethnic group or why the artifacts are not representative of them. Students will also define other racial groups and explain their rationale for defining the groups in the way in which they did. Students will post all work to their blogs.

Week 3: Understanding Film techniques

Objectives:
Students will learn and understand how filmmakers use film techniques to convey certain meanings.
Students will use techniques to critique films.

Open: Student will learn the various films techniques by also choosing their favorite films to analyze. The first step of the process will consist of students familiarizing (not memorizing) themselves with the various types of shots that directors use to convey the messages within a film. The students will view examples of the various shots and then use this acquired knowledge to analyze their favorite scene from a film.

Work: The class will choose 3 of their favorite films that are recommended by MovieLens to use for choosing films to view. I will select 4 crucial events from one of the films and allow students to vote for the scene they would like to view. The selected scene will be used to teach the various camera shots. After acquiring this skill, students will identify the use and purpose of other elements (e.g. music, lighting, etc.) in the film. I think students will understand these concepts more thoroughly when they realize that a favorite movie is enjoyable because of these essential elements. The idea in teaching film literacy concepts is to engage students while they are actively learning.

Close: Student will choose one of the films not used in the model lesson to analyze and write a review on. Sample reviews can be seen at http://www.aintitcool.com/ or http://movies.aol.com/reviews/main.This activity will be conducted in small groups in which the group summarizes the film, explains message being delivered, and explains the film techniques. After group presentations, students will post a one page reflection to their blogs.

Week 4: Media Representation of Race-Cultural and Historical Contexts

Objectives:
Understand historical forces shaping character’s actions and belief systems.

Open: Students will read the following synopsis derived from http://www.moviefone.com/movie/guess-whos-coming-to-dinner/5545/synopsis before viewing Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967).
Synopsis: Old-line liberals Matt and Christina Drayton (Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) have raised their daughter Joey (Katharine Houghton) to think for herself and not blindly conform to the conventional. Still, they aren't prepared for the shock when she returns home from a vacation with a new fiancé: African-American doctor John Prentice (Sidney Poitier). While they come to grips with whatever prejudices they might still harbor, the younger folks must also contend with John's parents (Roy Glenn Sr. and Beah Richards), who are dead-set against the union. To complicate matters, the older couple's disapproving maid (Isabel Sanford) and Christina's bigoted business associate (Virginia Christine) put in their two cents' worth. While Joey is determined to go ahead with the wedding no matter what people think, John refuses to consider marriage until he receives the unqualified approval of all concerned. The closing monologue delivered by Spencer Tracy turned out to be the last scene ever played by the veteran film luminary, who died not long after the production. The film was a success in the racially volatile year of 1967 and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Hepburn and screenwriter William Rose. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
After reading of the synopsis, students will view the movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) to begin analyzing media representation of interracial couples.

Work: Students will research the historical elements defining the events that shaped the era revolving around 1967. Students will create a timeline illustrating the significant events shaping characters beliefs and actions.

Close: In a 1-2 page response, students will explain how the events on their timeline convey the values and beliefs of the characters in the film.

Week 5: Understanding the Importance of Point of View

Objectives:
Students will describe key information of a text from a prescribed viewpoint.
Students will discuss differing viewpoints.
Students will discover the importance of viewpoint in a text.
Students will compose alternative viewpoints of a selected text.
Open: Teacher will explain to students that point of view refers to how a character or person views a situation. Teacher will model point of view using the following clip:

Teacher will have students to write a brief summary of the clip. Students will answer the questions listed below to get them thinking about each character and their perspective on interracial relationships.
1. Why do you think Dr. Prentice suggests that he goes to a hotel instead of going to meet Joey’s mother?
2. Why do you think the director of the film included a shot of Joey clasping arms with Dr. Prentice? Does this action evoke any type of response from business associate from the gallery? If so, explain.
3. What does Tilly (the maid) mean when she says “I don’t care to see a man of my own race getting above himself”? What can you assume she means by this statement and why might she say something of the sort?
Answers will be discussed within a whole class discussion.
Work: Students will be divided into small groups and will be assigned 10-minute clips of the movie, until the entire movie is assigned. The entire movie can be viewed via YouTube in short segments.
Clip 1 (used in model lesson): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCLmB8qVP5k
Clip 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu6Wv9r4Z78
Clip 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3j5F5AsHik
Clip 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8IJk6J8K4
Clip 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWHRUKPsnTk
Clip 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCko3cm5cN8
Clip 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBYcKuRiwRo
Clip 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAtXeWxczoM
Clip 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3RyWyuwHIw
Clip 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvo8HvcJ0I

Once assigned the clips, students will critique the clips using the skills acquired from week 3 lesson and week 4 lesson. The critiques must depict and validate the characters’ perspectives about interracial relationships using historical significance and director’s use of film techniques. After completing critique, students will be asked to take on the perspective of a character from the film and to rewrite the clip with the character’s actual thoughts. Hint: Teacher should urge students to choose their least favorite character or character’s perspective to explore. Example: Joey’s father (Matt)says, “This has been a very strange day”. What does Matt really mean? The student might rewrite the line to say “It’s a crazy day when you come home and find that your daughter is marrying a Negro”. This activity will allow students to analyze language and get to the point that is trying to be made.
Close: Students will post their rewritten lines to their blog along with a reflection of the activity.


Week 6: Comparison/Contrast of Film

Objectives:
Students will compare/contrast movies.
Students will analyze stereotypes to see how the effects influence/change the perception of interracial dating.

Open: Students will explore the meaning of comparison and contrast through a cooperative learning activity. Students will view clips (introduction of key characters) 2, 3, and 4 of Guess Who (2005) to compare and contrast with Guess Who’s Coming Dinner (1967).
Clip 2: http://www.youtube.com/wwatch?v=JkxlcTLdOCQ
Clip 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR9e5wdsNOM
Clip 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQWlvIav3Vk

Work: Students will work in small groups and answer the following questions after viewing the clips. Are the fathers’ responses to their daughters’ fiancés similar or different? Explain. How do the mothers respond to fiancés? Although the fiancés in both movies are similar in that their races differ from their spouse, in what ways do they differ? If the men exchanged qualities, do you think they would be perceived differently by the prospective in-laws? Does the production of these two movies insist that there is a prescribed formula for when interracial dating is acceptable? How would these perceptions reflect the stereotypes that often depicted by the media about races of people?

Close: Students will post answers from the work session into a comparison/contrast essay to their blogs.

Week 7: Developing a Critical Perspective with the Exploration of Movie Reviews

Objectives:
Students will develop a critical stance on how interracial relationships are portrayed through film.

Open: Students will read movie reviews as a basis for understanding the producers’ intentions for the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) and Guess Who (2005).

Review 1: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/217412_guess25q.html
Review 2: http://www.accessatlanta.com/movies/content/shared/movies/reviews/G/guesswho/ajc.html

Review 3: http://www.criticsociety.com/review.asp?id=2869

Work: Students will decide if the producers of the movies accomplished the goal of discussing interracial relationships with the production of these two movies. Students will develop their own movie review in which they will assess the movie.

Guiding Questions: Are the real issues/concerns of interracial relationships discussed in the movies? Do the producers offer a variety of perspectives about interracial movies? Does one producer achieve the goal of opening up dialogue about interracial relationships better than the other better than the other? How does the comical satire affect the message of interracial relationships?

Close: Students will post responses to their blog.

Week 8: An Extended Critical Look into Interracial Relationships

Objectives:
Students will understand rationale for the film director's approach with discussing a controversial issue.

Open: Students will view clip of Jungle Fever (1991) to analyze the black female perspective of interracial relationships. Note: Clip contains adult language and may not be appropriate for younger student audiences.
Clip 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpOMQ41UB9c



Work: After viewing the clip, students will discuss their thoughts on the clip.
Guiding Questions: Do you think the director of this film offers a more overt look into interracial marriages? How are these views relevant to the time period in which they occur? How does this perspective differ from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? The purposes of these questions are to get students to think about how the topic of interracial marriages can be depicted differently by different producers. The screenwriter of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner uses a subtle approach in his canvass of interracial relations whereas screenwriter Spike Lee presents the issues directly. The approach may be influenced by the audience that was intended for the films. Just who were the directors trying to engage in these conversations and were some audiences more ready than others to participate? Students should also realize that even though Jungle Fever was made in 1991, almost 30 years after Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, that racial tensions still existed among different racial groups. So, the remaining question revolves around which movie provides a realistic depiction of the insights into interracial relationships.

Close: Students will post their responses in their blogs and comment on at least 2 of their peers’ blogs about this topic.


Week 9: Wrap-Up

Now that students have spent some time exploring the topic of interracial relationships in film, they will be asked to created a short clip similar to Jungle Fever clip in the previous lesson. Students will conduct a panel discussion that can be composed of a particular social group or contain participants from a various social groups. The panelist will be presented with a scenario similar to the one in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner or Jungle Fever and asked to converse about the topic. Students will analyze the panelists’ responses to see how the acceptance of interracial relationships has evolved during this time period.