Something Old, Something New

[Shirley Durr]

I've been waiting for these resources to show up on MC Pop but decided to post them myself. The first one is old and I've used it some years ago. Has anyone done so recently? The second is currently showing in Chicago and I'm thinking about taking a weekend trip there. If you've seen it, let me know if it's worth the trip. Both deal with the touchy issue of race.

 

1. A Class Divided: I was reminded of this old documentary (PBS' Frontline, 1998) while working on something else. Considering the divisive rhetoric that's sure to re-emerge in the 2012 election (coming soon to a popular medium near you). I remember seeing it when it first aired and can still feel its impact. It starts in 1968 and does a 20 year follow up. You can watch the entire documentary online. The website has a study guide and other resources. Here is the blurb about it:

•  On the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in April 1968, Jane Elliott's third graders from the small, all-white town of Riceville, Iowa, came to class confused and upset. They recently had made King their "Hero of the Month," and they couldn't understand why someone would kill him. So Elliott decided to teach her class a daring lesson in the meaning of discrimination. She wanted to show her pupils what discrimination feels like, and what it can do to people. Elliott divided her class by eye color -- those with blue eyes and those with brown. On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes. Throughout the day, Elliott praised them and allowed them privileges such as a taking a longer recess and being first in the lunch line. In contrast, the brown-eyed children had to wear collars around their necks and their behavior and performance were criticized and ridiculed by Elliott. On the second day, the roles were reversed and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior while the brown eyes were designated the dominant group. What happened over the course of the unique two-day exercise astonished both students and teacher.

 

2. White Noise is a musical now playing on stage in Chicago. If you see it, let me know if it is something to keep an eye open for in my town. There is also a study guide, a review of the play, and other info on the website. Here is the blurb.

• White Noise follows a top-selling music producer who stirs up an explosive cocktail of shock and spin with a touch of controversy to package talented artists into blockbuster stars.  Steadily baited by fame and power, two diametrically opposed groups – a pop band that churns out catchy tunes of coded rhetoric and a hip-hop-turned-gangsta rap duo – meet at the top of the charts and collide with consequence. Inspired by real life, White Noise is a timely and cautionary tale that challenges conventional notions of free speech, media and the power of pop culture.