Teaching Genres: Four Corners!

One way to introduce students to the idea of genres within film and television would be to play a four-corner activity. We would have the students stand in the center of the room. Then we would say the name of a popular TV show, i.e. “If you like Grey’s Anatomy’s stand in corner 1” “if you like The Simpsons, go stand in corner 2” ,“if you like family guy…corner 2,” “House…corner 1” etc. Once everyone had a corner to stand in, we would have them discuss:
-why they like the show(s) they picked
-what the shows have in common
-similar character(s)
-plot line
-setting
and then come up with a name for that genre (may or may not be the “name” it has been given by mass culture). We could repeat this activity for multiple genres.

Media Ethnography: Nerd Fighters

Nerd Fighters is a term used to describe avid followers of the brother-duo John and Hank Green. Omnictionary defines Nerd Fighter as: “a person who is proud to be nerdy and intelligent, and who fights to decrease WorldSuck. Nerdfighters are not composed of cells and tissue, but instead made entirely of awesome…Nerdfighters are diverse in their hobbies, which can range from writing Nerdfighter songs to playing D&D. Nerdfighters have also been described as someone who is ‘Outgoing, intelligent and awesome enough to accept nerd as a compliment.’”

John is a young adult author who wrote An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. Hank is a singer-songwriter and the founder of the largest environmental technology blog. The brothers began communicating via weekly vlogs in 2007. Their vlogs can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers. Each of the vlogs has over 45,000 views.

They often perform together. I saw them perform at a book signing for Paper Towns in Boston, MA in 2008 and I wanted to learn more about this particular group of people. In order to do so, I went on the Nerd Fighter ning site and made some new friends. I found out about their manifesto, their reasons for being Nerd Fighters and so much more. I also spent time looking at the vlogs, blogs, video responses, posts and connected websites in order to gain a better idea of what makes these fans tick. The following is what I discovered.

In 2006 on one of his famous vlogs, John Green mentioned a video game called “Nerd Fighters” and spends the rest of the vlog discussing what a “nerd fighter” might look like.

The vlog in which "Nerd Fighters" is mentioned:

In this original video, a NF is described as a nerd who is fighting against “popular people” with calculators and trombones, etc. After this video was published, followers of the “brotherhood 2.0” (as the Green siblings call themselves) began self-titling themselves Nerd Fighters. According to their Ning (nerdfighters.ning.com) created by Hank Green, the site is “a place where nerds gather and play to increase awesome and decrease suck. What more is there?” The Ning site is the main place for NFs to communicate with one another, however there is also a Nerd Fighter Gazette (http://nfgazette.info/news.php), over 80 Facebook groups from all over the world (+ a fan page), a Twitter account, a LiveJournal, and a fanpop page (http://www.fanpop.com/spots/nerdfighters). The following is the transcript of an online interview I conducted on the Ning site with three different Nerd Fighters in a chat room. In an effort to respect their privacy I will be referring to them as NF 1, 2 and 3. I have also left the punctuation and spelling exactly as it was typed during the interview.

SR: How did you become a NF?

NF 1: Got into it with the books and watching the VLOGs

NF 2: Well to be honest with you and only a select few know this I first got introduced to nerdfighters when i was a troll on youtube. I trolled a couple vids and got hooked. It was mostly hank and his envrionmental green stuff that got really interested. and the whole internet culture too

NF 3: I am a NF because I am seeping with Awesome. Sheer Awesome radiates from my very skin.

SR: Why are you called Nerd Fighters?

NF 1: I thought it was because we're nerds and we fight for what's right.

NF 2: it's from a couple vids they made the first year. orginally john saw a video game named nerdfighters and then it evolved from there

SR: What is your favorite part about being a NF?

NF 1: connectedness.

NF 2: togetherness.

NF 3: Uh. . .the fact that we accept everybody, and that you don't have to like or dislike anything to be a Nerdfighter

SR: If you don’t mind my asking how old are you? Or how old do you think most NFs are?

NF 2: most people on the ning are 13-25

SR: How are NFs different from other groups you are a part of?

NF 1: I think their wide varitey in backgrounds and talents bring something special that other groups miss that are very homogenous.

NF 2: Nerdfighters differ in that they are very organized and motivated.

SR: Where are you from?

NF 2: BC, Canada

NF 3: Illinois, US

SR: Are you male or female?

NF 1: Male

NF 2: female

NF 3: Female

SR: Do you have any NF friends offline?

NF 1: no nf irl

NF 2: I don't have any IRL NF friends but have made some really good ones that i keep in contact through youtube, skype, and FB too beyond the ning

SR: Do you prefer John or Hank or do you like them equally?

NF 1: Johns writing is intriguing and captivating, while his brother completes the circle by being wildly entertaining

NF 3: John's writing is awesome, but Hank's music is inspiring

SR: What are some terms that you use that are specific to NFs?

NF 1: N.I.T.

Nerdfighter in training

NF 1: dftba

NF 2: DFTBA

NF 3: DFTBA

Don’t forget to be awesome

And jokes. like you would say something is “jokes”

SR: I noticed that you all write using correct punctuation and grammar rather than using numbers, acronyms or shortened words, is this for a specific reason?

NF 1: We are an oasis of correct grammar in a desert of bad punctuation.

NF 3: Because we speak properly

SR: NF 2, I noticed you have the title “ningmaster” after your user name. What does this mean?

NF 2: each ningmaster has a specific part of the site they are entrusted to work on, mine is the forums along with NF 4.

SR: How did you get that job?

NF 2: Ningmasters are appointed every 3 months. I applied and got choosen

NF 5 is the head ningmaster that john and hank choose and he chooses us underling ningmasters.

SR: What part of the blog are you in charge of?

NF 2: whats posted in the forums mainly, make sure there's nothing inapproritate posted or spam

From the ethnography it appears as though this group is a very coherent whole made up of young adults who are fans of the “brotherhood 2.0” and do not play favorites. The love that they can be anything and no one judges them. Most of them only interact with other NFs online and appear to spend a good amount of time watching vlogs, reading blogs and chatting with other NFs online. They are energized by the books and songs created by the brothers, but they are more drawn to the collective energy of the NFs and the shared ideals. Some of them haven’t even read the texts, but still enjoy online discussions with other NFs about the ways they plan to change the world.

John’s Blog: http://www.sparksflyup.com/

Hank’s Blog: http://www.ecogeek.org

Critical Analysis Activity: Postcolonialism

In order to teach my students about Postcolonialism I would start with doing a free association activity using the following phrases:
"In 1492, Columbus___________"
"At Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and __________ ate dinner together"
"Little boys play cowboys and ________"
What did Lewis and Clark do? (one sentence or less)
“If its not “criss-cross applesauce” its sitting _________ style”

Then I would show them this clip about “Reconsidering Columbus Day” and ask them to do a free writing activity responding to the video. I would then show them clips from the Disney movie Pocahantas and then assign groups different segments of the movie to annotate on VideoAnt using the Postcolonial lens. They would then share their annotations with the class and we would have another discussion regarding what they discovered (no pun intended).

Teaching Media Representation: Using VoiceThread

I also think that using a program like VoiceThread or iMovie would be a great way to teach media representations in an English classroom. Following a lesson on media representations of different groups and a discussion of stereotyping, I would have the student do the following performance assessment: Work with a partner to make an advertisement for a product. Advertise the product to the best of your ability using rhetoric and language that you think will appeal to your audience. Here's the catch: do not use stereotypes. Then I would like you post a picture of your image/collage/advertisement on VoiceThread and discuss the process of making this ad on VoiceThread with your partner. Was this easy to do? Difficult? Why do you think so? Do you think your advertisement will be effective? Why or why not? I would hope that this assignment would elicit some conversations about archetypes versus stereotypes and the representative nature of most types of media.

VoiceThread: GLBT Representation in the Media

Critical Analysis

Critical Theory
“Old Spice: Scents for Gents” (2009)


Gender Lens:
This commercial talks about “being a man” with images of a white male doing various sports like skiing, lifting weights and golfing. There is also an image of the man wearing a suit, sitting a large leather chair, reading a book. The advertisement is for Old Spice deoderant, the purpose being to show the various different scents available. At first it seems as though the commercial is trying to tell you what it means to be “a man” and that it smells a certain way. But then if you listen carefully to the man’s voice, its seems as though he is mocking this idea of a “man.” He also keeps crashing into buildings, which adds an element of humor and makes you take his words less seriously. At the end of the commercial we see the man talking to what seems to be his wife. They are dressed in matching ‘preppy’ clothes and it he is all the sudden not really “manly” at all: he let his wife dress him. Overall, the commercial hilariously mocks the idea of the perfect man.

Marxist Lens:
This commercial is very obviously targeted at an upper middle class audience. The activities the man is taking part in: skiing, reading literature in an expensive leather chair, golfing, and spending leisure time at the beach, are limited to a very wealthy consumer contingent. The assumption that the customer can afford multiple varieties of deodorant is also making an assumption that they have a disposable income in which to buy expensive body care products.

iMovie

Here is what I came up with during class...I would love to work on it more, so we'll see what I can come up with!

Teaching Film: Using Literary Theory as an Entry Point for Critical Film Analysis

A great way to incorporate film into the English classroom would be to make connections between literary theory and critical lenses in literature and film. Perhaps following a unit on a specific critical lens, say the Marxist or now Social-Economic lens for sake of this example, you could show a film that elicited a (more surface level) critical viewing. The students could then use VideoANT to do a critical analysis of a scene from a selected movie or a movie of their choice through that specific lens. It would be a great way for them to apply literary theory to another type of media and internalize this concept and while simultaneously taking their understanding of film to a deeper level.