Media Literacy Questions To Discuss Before Seeing The Film
From Learning Activities Using "The Yes Men Fix the World"
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1 Media Literacy Questions To Discuss Before Seeing The Film
| “ | (Are you afraid of being recognized? ) The world's largest industrial disaster (Bhopal) is still not recognized by many - so how would we be? | ” |
| — The Yes Men |
1.1 Some general questions connected to what needs fixing in the world
In addition to the background information—about satire and various perspectives for making sense of the world—needed to appreciate the film, I suggest asking students some very open-ended questions about their thoughts on what’s going on in the world. In this way, they can start to think about a situation in which they might want to intervene. No matter what their answers—even “everything is fine,” or “I don’t care,” or “nothing can be done”—they will be alerted that this question is something connected to the movie, a question that try to answer throughout all their work. This discussion will also give you a sense of what taken-for-granted assumptions about the way of the world that students have picked up, from what media sources.
- What is broke, what needs fixing, in the world?
- How do you think anyone can fix the world?
- What have people done to fix the world?
1.2 Some specific questions connected to the broken parts dealt with in the film
I also suggest asking some questions directly related to the specific issues in which intervene to prepare students for viewing the film. Since there is so much going on in The Yes Men Fix the World, this will help students be alert in watching the film to find out more about these issues. Further, since many students will not know much about issues like Bhopal, returning to these questions after the film provides a good introduction for discussing media literacy, one of the main themes in the work of . I recommend introducing these questions by indicating that they involve topics that students will learn about through the film—they should not feel embarrassed if they do not know anything about these issues now—most people don’t, and many who do know, don’t know the real deal. After the film, after students see ’s non-corporate media perspectives on these issues, the class can think about reasons why they did not know more before the film.
- What do you know about Bhopal?
- What do you know about global warming, or as many scientists are calling it now “global climate disruption?”
- What do you know about Hurricane Katrina?
- What do you know about Exxon?
- What do you know about Halliburton?
