MediaSmarts Tags - Stereotyping

Level: Grades 6 to 8

Author: Media Literacy for Development & Children's Rights, UNICEF Canada. Used with permission. For more teaching and lesson ideas for global education from around the world, visit UNICEF Canada's Global Schoolhouse at www.unicef.ca.

Level(s): Grades 7 to 9

Author: This lesson is based on Dr. Jean Kilbourne's article "Deadly Persuasion: 7 Myths Alcohol Advertisers Want You to Believe". Production of this lesson has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada.

Overview

What colour is an Airbender? If this question is not at the top of your mind, it's because you haven't been following the controversy surrounding the casting of the film The Last Airbender, set to premiere in early July. The question of ethnicity in the film's casting casts a valuable light on many of Hollywood's decisions when it comes to race and gender – and the attitudes and assumptions that underlie them.

In political ads that talk about protecting “our way of life”, “our culture”, “our values”, “our civilization”, I can generally assume that my group is included.At school, I can expect to be given materials that attest to the existence of my group.When talking about the best movies and television shows, I can expect to see my group widely represented in almost all levels of production (writing, producing, acting, directing).I can easily avoid shows that do not focus on telling the stories of individual

Level: Grades 7 to 12

Author: This unit was created for MediaSmarts by Media Educator, Maureen Baron.

Overview

In this three-day unit, students assess media coverage of natural disasters and their aftermath. Students explore how sensationalism plays a role in determining what is newsworthy, and how that can distort our perception of issues in developing nations.

Level(s): Grades 10 - 12

Author: This unit was created by Roger Bird as part of a Media Education course taught by John Pungente at the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba, 1992.

Overview

Level: Grades 7-12

Duration: 1-2 hours

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

In this lesson students are introduced to the key media literacy concept that media are constructions that re-present reality and consider how representations of crime in news and entertainment media may influence how we perceive members of particular groups.

Level: Grades 9-12

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

From the study, the group concluded that the media do not reflect the changing work and family experiences of most men today—and that this fact is not lost on the boys who noticed the discrepancies between the media portrayals and the reality they knew. [1]

Some of the study’s main observations: