MediaSmarts Tags - Movies

The challenge is to control the aggression that may arise in such play, while recognizing the important role that this kind of "creative drama" plays in the healthy development of children. Properly supervised, superhero play can be a great outlet for energy and a wonderful stimulus for the imagination.

The new movie Zero Dark Thirty, which tells the story of the tracking and eventual killing of Osama Bin Laden, has received several Oscar nominations (including Best Picture), but it's attracting another kind of attention as well: several writers, including Jane Meyer a

Level: Grades 9-12

Duration: 1-2 hours

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

Will the recession depreciate Oscar gold? Promises of a leaner, more entertaining Academy Awards ceremony have come to be as reliable as the first robin of Spring, but viewership continues to fall. Each year something new is tried to shake things up, in this case giving the actor Hugh Jackman the hosting duties. This is a role traditionally given to comedians, with the idea that there would be no conflict of interest as they were unlikely to be nominated for any awards.

Level(s): Grades 11 - 12

Author: "Movie Heroes and the Heroic Journey" was adapted from the The AML Anthology. Supplement (1992), produced by the Association for Media Literacy.  By Don Walker, Metropolitan Toronto Separate School Board and Leslie Johnstone, York Region Board of Education.

Overview

Always popular with young people for decades now, films carry with them their own set of concerns such as representations of violence, diversity and stereotyping. The following section explores movies and the related issues that are relevant for different age groups.

Downloading copyrighted material without paying for it, by any means including file sharing, is illegal. In Canada, the Copyright Act protects all intellectual property and forbids unauthorized copying.

Users who share files break the law in two ways:

While there's a wealth of great films out there, young people also have easy access to adult material that is clearly unsuitable for them.

To be aware of the content their children are exposed to, parents need to understand the rating systems for movies and home videos and take an interest in what they're viewing.

A new trend with Hollywood studios is to take teen-oriented films, add raunchier scenes and then remove the voluntary ratings. These unrated versions are released on video and DVD with "Director's Cut" or "Uncensored" labels. Parents should be aware that the content of many of these unrated movies is not appropriate for young people.