Closing the generational gap through film

Those of you who are reading this right now, how many of you are doing it from your own computer? Probably most, if not all of you. Why is that? Think about your parents. Did they have a laptop when they were your age? I doubt that your grandparents did. Our generation is popularly known for our knowledge with technology.

It is so common for me to go to class and see everyone with their laptops out. The way school is taught has changed so much. No longer do we sit with a textbook open and read 50 pages, hand write reports, or even open a dictionary. Now we have Google, Microsoft office, and Wikipedia. Has the classroom really changed that much? Yes, and most of it is due to our new found resources.

What else about the classroom has changed? According to an article titled “Teaching Criminological Theory:The Power of Film and Music” there are whole classes taught by using music and viewing films. The question in my mind is why haven’t I taken that class yet? Hmm…let me see would you rather take a final or watch a movie? For those of you about to endure finals week, I think we both know that answer.

So why is film or music valued in our education system? Why are they turning to film? It influences us more. “Teaching Criminological Theory” notes that while we spend only 5,000 hours of our lives reading we spend 20,000 hours of our lives watching television. Our generation has become more visual learners than textual learners.

We are so heavily influenced by what we see and more importantly what we consume. So when stereotypes are introduced to the way we consume information it is hard for us not to pay attention. When we constantly see the same minorities portrayed the same way, that is how our mind starts to view them.

The truth is that stereotypes are present in our films, our television, and movies. The question is why? According to an article titled “Portrayal of Minorities in the Film, Media, and Entertainment Industries” the answer is money. The money that the networks, producers, and even actors make outweigh the guilt of what they are showing. In the end, it is just business.

The truth is that if they really wanted to, they could include these stereotypes in a positive light. How? You could always belittle the people that believe in the stereotypes to show that they don’t agree with them. One way the article suggested was to show the stereotype as the minority rather than the majority of the people they are portraying.

One thing is for sure, either way our generation will consume it.