Media Analysis and Evaluation Activity
KEY FOR COLORS:
Teachers Notes
Question
Answers
ACTIVITY:
Before showing the film, a teacher would need to go over what the Watergate Scandal actually was in reality. Talk about the division between the two parties, who was involved, where did it take place, and even talk about what happened once Nixon resigned. A good short and quick website to get information from is http://www.history.com/topics/watergate. Then talk a little bit about Forrest Gump and his character in the movie and then ask the students a few questions before viewing the movie.
After being introduced to Forrest Gump and learning a little bit about the Watergate Scandal, how do you think this film clip is going to portray the scandal?
What role do you think that Forrest Gump will have in this film clip with the Watergate Scadal?
After asking a couple of previewing questions the teacher could then show the film clip from the movie Forrest Gump that is on the previous page. After showing the film the teacher should deconstruct the film with more questions. In order to think of questions that help deconstruct the film, a teacher can use the media literacy key concepts and the TAP Model file below. Examples of questions are as followed.
Do you think that the director of this film meant for this to have a political impact to the audience when it was watched, and why?
Does this clip send any message about what is right and what is wrong, and why?
Will this clip offend anyone who watches it because it deals with politics?
Could the Watergate Scandal be presented differently then it is in this film clip and if so how?
What type of messages does the form of this clip send?
What does this piece of media look like and why did the director choose to present it in this manner?
Could this media change how people vote, and why?
Why do you think this media was produced, and why?
Teachers Notes
Question
Answers
ACTIVITY:
Before showing the film, a teacher would need to go over what the Watergate Scandal actually was in reality. Talk about the division between the two parties, who was involved, where did it take place, and even talk about what happened once Nixon resigned. A good short and quick website to get information from is http://www.history.com/topics/watergate. Then talk a little bit about Forrest Gump and his character in the movie and then ask the students a few questions before viewing the movie.
After being introduced to Forrest Gump and learning a little bit about the Watergate Scandal, how do you think this film clip is going to portray the scandal?
- The director of the film will portray the Watergate Scandal as a bad thing in history with a funny side.
- The director may give the facts of the Watergate Scadal so that students can learn from it.
- The director may not use facts so that the scene can be funny,
What role do you think that Forrest Gump will have in this film clip with the Watergate Scadal?
- Forrest Gump will be the person sneaking in the Democratic Headquarters for Nixon and will then get caught and have several interviews with the press before being convicted and sentenced to jail time.
- Forrest will the character of Richard Nixon.
- Forrest will accidentally walk in on the scandal taking place and will not know what to do.
After asking a couple of previewing questions the teacher could then show the film clip from the movie Forrest Gump that is on the previous page. After showing the film the teacher should deconstruct the film with more questions. In order to think of questions that help deconstruct the film, a teacher can use the media literacy key concepts and the TAP Model file below. Examples of questions are as followed.
Do you think that the director of this film meant for this to have a political impact to the audience when it was watched, and why?
- Yes, because it the director could have chosen any other point in history, but he chose a time in history where the republicans really messed up. One of the most embarrassing times in history for the republicans.
- No, because the film did not even really focus on the scandal that much. It was just a funny point in the movie where they used Forrest Gump to make a joke about a time in history and the audience could understand it.
- It showed Nixon inviting Forrest Gump to stay at the Watergate hotel, and this allowed the audience to know during the scene that the Watergate Scandal was taking place.
- The director showed the organizer on the desk at the end of the clip in order to help the audience remember that he was staying at the Watergate hotel.
- The director showed Nixon stating that he was resigning at the end just in case that any audience members did not catch what was going on in this clip.
- Movie watchers are the targeted audience and they were targeted because the director thought he could make them laugh while watching the film.
- Political people were the targeted audience because they would be the only ones who cared about anything that happened with Nixon in history.
Does this clip send any message about what is right and what is wrong, and why?
- Yes, because it sends a message that if a person does not report what he or she sees then they might as well be helping out with the crime because they are doing something just as bad.
- No, all this film is showing is a point in history with a funny side to it.
- No, it is just making a joke about Forrest not being that smart and not realizing that anything is going on, and only thinking that someone is messing with a fuse box. He is just that naive.
Will this clip offend anyone who watches it because it deals with politics?
- Yes, my mom always told me that you do not talk about religion or politics and I think that goes for directors and writers as well.
- No, it does not even go deep into politics. It is just taking facts of history and making it into a movie.
Could the Watergate Scandal be presented differently then it is in this film clip and if so how?
- Yes, I did not like this clip because it did not really state the facts or go into the politics side. If I was to remake it I would show what actually happened in the Watergate Scandal, and then, since Forrest Gump witnessed it, I would interview Forrest on what he thought about the scandal and how it took place.
- No, I thought that it was done perfectly. It gave just enough information for the viewers to know what was going on.
What type of messages does the form of this clip send?
- It sends a message that the director did not really care about getting into the politics side of things, he just cared about taking parts of history and adding it into Forest Gumps life story.
- It sends a message that the director was very big into politics and he also was a democratic. He did not chose a time in history that a democratic president did something bad, but instead he chose this scandal of the republicans.
What does this piece of media look like and why did the director choose to present it in this manner?
- It is dark outside, which lets the audience knows something bad is happening.
- It is dark outside which lets the audience know about what time the scandal took place in real life.
- There is an old television and the quality is not that great. This lets the audience members immediately know about what time period the Watergate Scandal took place.
- Yes, if someone actually went through the Watergate Scandal, they may not find it as funny as someone much younger than them would.
- Yes, if it was a republican watching this film clip they may be more offended then if a democratic person was watching it.
- Yes, if a person has never heard of the Watergate Scandal then they would probably have no clue of what the director was trying to get at during this film clip.
- No, everyone will probably view it the same way.
- There probably would not be much of an effect, because this did not really focus on politics.
- He or she may be drawn to politics more than a person who did not watch media like this that often.
Could this media change how people vote, and why?
- Yes, it could make people dislike the republican party if they had never heard about this scandal.
- No, this is just a way for the director to show what things happened during Forrest Gump's life.
- Yes, they may think that things like that are still going on in today's world and may just stop voting because they have no hope in the government anymore.
Why do you think this media was produced, and why?
- To have a political impact on the audiences lives, because the Watergate Scandal shows how the two political parties are divided.
- To make money, and this was just another way to add history and interest to Forrest Gump's life story.
- Yes, because the more recent the film was the more people would have lived through the scandal and knew more about what the film was trying to portray.
- No, because most people are going to understand what the Watergate Scandal was about, and so most people will get the humor in this film clip.
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