Analysing films as a tool for educating for active citizenship Peter Singer – OFI/Budapest

Prologue  Films, moving pictures can express authors’ intentions, will in a universal language  By now, due to television and the great amount of the products of film industry culture has become more visual than ever  The basic levels of getting visual information need hardly be taught as children grow up in and through this culture from the very beginning of their lives

The most relevant questions  From the aspect of educating for active citizenship the question is how films, animated or moving pictures can be used for raising social interest, encouraging activity in citizenship issues.  How the interest of young people can be directed towards more diverse thinking and taking active citizenship roles?  What direct aims can be set and how can these aims be achieved through watching a film and completing tasks connected to it?  Is it possible to measure the change in the thinking of the young people involved and if yes, how?  Can we succeed in developing basic social competencies, like debating skills, respecting and accepting others’ views, formulating and articulating diverse opinions, sensitivity to social problems, managing public, political and moral issues, dilemmas, recognizing the distorting effects of mass media, understanding the system of connections and conflicts between individuals and various communities, the role of individual responsibility at various levels of social life, asserting self interests?  Summarized: to what extent one becomes zoon politicon?

How films can be used?  It is the young who are the main consumers of the products of film industry, whatever the quality of these products is  Very often they watch films of dubious quality without selection  The aesthetic value of the film is less significant, though, when the subject of the film provides an opportunity for discussing issues concerning the young and being interesting for them.  Nearly any film can be used as a starting point, however, the deeper and the more thoughts a film conveys the more directly a discussion can be connected to it and the better the starting point is.

A film: „Citizen verdict” – and a few methods and aspects for using it  What topics could be discussed with the help of the film? 1. the social role of the media; 2. empowering the whole of society; 3. issues of crime and punishment.

Possible ways of discussing the topics 1.  To discuss the first theme “What do we know about the media?” a kind of brainstorming can be used. Personal experiences, ideas concerning the media can be collected and classified by using this method.  This can happen orally, when the moderator records what has been said, and then the ideas are grouped in a discussion aimed at consensus.  Another method is when personal ideas and opinions are written on a smaller post-it, which are stuck on the wall or a board and the post-its are grouped by the participants according to their own logic. At the end of the activity the common ideas and thoughts about the media can be summarized.

Possible ways of discussing the topics 2.  To discuss the second theme we recommend the method “Shortened dispute”  ”. For this we need a three-member group and the rest of the group has to be divided into two. The two groups will interpret a given topic sentence (in this case it would be: “Referendum is such a means of expressing public opinion – in any subject – that restricts those exercising power”). One group will collect arguments for (it is true because…. ) and the other group against (it isn’t true because …) They have 10 minutes for collecting arguments. Then a spokesperson from each group will present the arguments in 3 minutes each and the members of the groups will have 2 minutes each to ask questions from the other group. The answers should be short and quick. The members of the 3-member group will take time and take notes and at the need of the activity they will discuss and decide the arguments of which group and which way of expressing them was more convincing for them.

Possible ways of discussing the topics 3.  To discuss the third theme the so-called T-table method is recommended.  Arguments for and against death penalty are collected in small (3- 6 member) groups. A big letter T is put on a sheet of paper and on one side of the T the arguments for (pros) are written and on the other side arguments against (cons). After this is done, the arguments should be considered, and a consensus formed. Then the consensus-based arguments are collected and the justifications of each group are listened to. If there are controversial group views they are confronted. Naturally, the aim is not to convince each other at all cost, but rather to present the various opinions, views, and value systems and to respect others’ views. It is important how minority and majority opinions are treated. An important element of this method is the improvement of a debating culture, and practising the technique of confronting arguments for and against.

Thank you for your kind attention!