Making Contexts Relevant Social, Economic, Political, Cultural, Institutional, Technological
How do we engage students with contexts? Make them relevant - easier said than done! Short, engaging tasks - scaffolded Research-based - but structured with modelled egs Look at as many texts as possible - go off-spec to encourage curiosity and engagement
5 mins discuss Why are contexts exciting?
Why are contexts exciting? Bigger picture - interconnectivity of things Challenging idea: no media is made in a vacuum: institutions, creatives, audiences all impact on final product
Make It Relevant to yourself and students What s a piece of recent student work that was clearly influenced by: your school (equipment? ethnic/religious mix? class?), i.e. an institution the student, i.e a creative /producer exam board requirements i.e. audience
Using ideology as a doorway We ll focus on gender/sexuality - why relevant or engaging to your students?
Basketful of Kisses - Mad Men Set 1961 - how does the way the men and women behave differ from an office today? Why might some of the behaviour seem inappropriate? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvi7-ufwr6i How have gender roles/behaviours changed since late 50s/early 60s?
Gender change in 20th century factsheet Scaffolding historical knowledge Summarise: Name three ways gender and sexual roles changed in the 20 th century.
Beautiful Girl Singin In The Rain (1952) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z0feze5ajs How are men and women being represented in the clip? How are the representations different from music videos today? How are they similar? How does this reflect the gender roles of the time? What other social, political, economic etc events may have influenced these representations?
Alexis Takes Control - Dynasty (1984) How are men and women being represented in this clip? Why might a male audience feel threatened by this scene? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwjdbnnmquq How does this link to the contexts? What events may have influenced this text?
What do these terms even mean? What kind of events or influences might be termed: Political Technological Social Institutional Economic Cultural
Choose a Decade! What were some more key events from your decade? Political Technological Social Economic Institutional Cultural
Linking ideology to other contexts Classify each of the events on the sheet as: cultural, economic, political, technological, institutional Venn diagram sheets: what events overlap these categories? (Promoting interconnectedness)
Influence on Media Products What media can you think of that seem linked to these? What texts are you studying that these contexts would be relevant for? Can you link them to specific scenes / characters / themes in the texts you are studying?
Model: 1980s and ET The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewkrol1cp_q Spielbergian idealism from 70s ( believe in magic ) Film School graduate, but also worked on underground B movies struggling studios willing to finance alternative voices Spielberg/Lucas bridging arthouse and populist Versus. Cynicism of 80s (backlash against counter-culture, liberal vs conservative values) Independent single mom working, providing for family But heartbroken, stressed (high divorce rate) President Reagan s encouragement of free market led to boom in economy - Continued move from urban to suburban areas lots of space, large homes Children s/youth culture target market separate to adult world Political, Technological, Social, Institutional, Economic, Cultural
Influence on Media Products What media can you think of that seem linked to these? What texts are you studying that these contexts would be relevant for? Can you link them to specific scenes / characters / themes in the texts you are studying?
Bring It Up To Date - 21st Century How would you summarise changes to perceptions of sexuality and gender over the past 18 years? What are some key events? Where can we see conflict between progressive and traditional values? What are some media texts that reflect these changes?