Using "The Avengers" To Reteach/Practice Concepts & Skills Related to Narratives

[Peter Gutierrez]

Some 6-12 post-viewing questions for this weekend or next week:

• Characterization: Summarize how all of the heroes are given their own character arcs. Moreover, how does the interaction between each of these arcs, their areas of overlap, further and deepen their emotional impact?
• Exposition: To what degree does one need to have seen the five previous Marvel movies to enjoy the flick? Is background information effectively sketched in on the fly, or does it slow things down?
• Audience and Purpose: In what ways does the film satisfy both geeks and those who simply want to thrill to a big-budget action/fantasy flick? Or does it short-change one or both audiences in some respect?
• Plot: How are complications and obstacles introduced that make the story more compelling? For example, how does the eleventh-hour threat with which Iron Man has to deal represent a natural escalation of tension set up by several talky scenes earlier in the film?

More, including a spoiler-free mini-review at Connect The Pop: http://bit.ly/K1yMRx

[Alan Teasley]

I encourage everyone to follow Peter's link to the "more" on his blog. I particularly liked:

Theme: How does each of the characters, good and bad, personify a different take on issues such as loyalty, the nature of heroism, and the role of violence in both the personal and public spheres?

With that focus, I think I could tie it in with Hamlet!

[Peter Gutierrez]

Thanks much, Alan. I try to address movies every week on the blog -- have done media literacy pieces on Hunger Games, Chimpanzee, etc. (And today I just made another Avengers related post.) Also, if you're interested in The Avengers generally, in how it connects to the idea of "wonder" in the cinema, I wrote this Twitch piece... which has turned out to be enormously popular for some reason (there are a lot of us geeks out there, I guess): http://bit.ly/KBuVrl

Thanks again--!

[Jeana Rock]

I think these questions could be used for many texts. I'm thinking of some of the sitcoms with ensemble casts like Malcolm in the Middle.

[Peter Gutierrez]

Thanks -- and I think you're right; in fact, this list of questions is probably too generic for its own good. That's because I was trying to do a spoiler-free review of the film at the same time, which is not the smartest strategy. Anyway, today I have a much more Avenger-specific post up but since it's media literacy-flavored I'm going to post in that group.