It's Glee Week in Teenagers in/and the Media!For this week, you need to watch the Pilot Episode of the television series
GLEE. You can find that episode in a number of places:
1) You can download
itunes if you don't already have it on your computer. Then you can purchase the first episode of GLEE for $2.99
2) You can watch it online at
AMAZON for $1.99.
3) You can go to
NETFLIX and start a Free Trial which will give you two weeks of free viewing. You should get Season I: Volume 1 for the Pilot episode.
If you want to "watch ahead" for class, we will be viewing episode 9 ("wheels") in class. It is available for free on
hulu.com or on the
FoxTV website.
For your blog post this week, I want you to think about how this show represents teenagers. What is the "secret education" that this show offers? Remember the work we did in class around
Beauty and the Beast using Linda Christiansen:
“I ask students to watch for who plays the lead. Who plays the baffoon? Who plays the servant? I encourage them to look at the race, station in life, body type of each character. What motivates the character? What do they want out of life? What’s their mission? If there are people of color (in the cartoon), what do they look like? How are they portrayed? How does the film portray overweight people? What about women other than the main character? What jobs do you see them doing? What do they talk about? What are their main concerns? What would young children learn about women’s roles in society if they watched this film and believed it? What roles do money, possessions, and power play in the film? What has it? Who wants it? How important is it to the story? What would children learn about what’s important in society?” (Christiansen, 129-130) Use this, along with any other tools we have been developing in class, to guide your analysis.
Here are a few brief and random articles about the show that may help you to do some analysis on your blog:
Is GLEE anti-Christian?
Glee and Gay IdentityMore Gay Commentary
Glee and Images of Disability
Brief comments on Gender and Race
Songs in the Key of RacismHave fun with this!! See you on Tuesday!
LB :)
I am really looking forward to seeing your photo projects on Tuesday, April 6th. Just remember to be very clear and direct about naming an ARGUMENT and using your photos to support it. The rubric I handed out in class should help guide you as you put together your 5-minute digital presentation. 
Read the introduction and pay attention to how she frames the project — she uses the photos to tell a particular story about young people in Los Angeles. You will be doing the same thing with your photos, so study her writing as a model. Then look through the full series of photos that are in the her book.
