A Humble Little 'Primary Source' Text for Teaching Media Literacy & The Oscars

[Peter Gutierrez]

I thought that analyzing a press release (on LIFE OF PI) that I received on the morning the Oscar noms were announced might make a neat teaching text for some media literacy educators. You can be the judge of that, I guess. Here's an excerpt of the copy and my response to it:

• "Ang is being recognized for his achievement with this film by VES (Visionary Award), MPSE (Filmmaker of the Year), and the International 3D Society (Harold Lloyd Award). He was also recognized this year as VARIETY’s “International Filmmaker of the Year” at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and he received a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres insignia.

• Film is not a story specific to one country or region – it’s a world wide story
• Film based on best-selling book that is now back near the top of the NEW YORK TIMES Best-Seller list
• Film is Ang’s first foray into the world of 3D
• Famous quote from W.C. Fields about never working with animals or children, but LIFE OF PI has both animals, a young lead actor, and water – and the film successfully uses all three
• Film crew was comprised of over 3,000 members from all over the world, including members for 21 countries worldwide.

Well, if you present this to students (be my guest), be sure to emphasize that, again, this is the copy verbatim, with nothing left out. In the absence of an intro, then, or a conclusion, you might begin with the big WHY. That is, what’s the purpose of such an e-blast? Certainly it contains a bunch of factoids that might be interesting in their own right to Pi fans, Oscar-ologists, trivia hounds, and industry watchers… but what else is going on here?"

The rest, including some specific discussion questions, can be found here:

http://blogs.slj.com/connect-the-pop/2013/01/movies/for-your-consid...