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Television and film has
increased literacy skills
A4 - The Victors
Andrew Cox
Erik Carlson
Zac Gorowski
Victor McCollin
Juan “Wiko” De La Rosa

West Georgia Univ.-- “What is Media
Literacy?”
“Film literacy is a convergence of the interdisciplinary practices of literary and media studies, which
both concentrate on the analysis of significance in all manner of texts: visual and written...Our job
as critics is to see these texts as a mélange of cultural archives, open to functionalist analysis and
critique...Representations and images in media catalogue or ‘mirror’ commonly shared practices,
ideologies and experiences… [Et. al.] a film might catalogue the beliefs, assumptions, and
prejudices of a particular historical moment.”*
Henry Giroux, a forefront specialist in pedagogy (the term describing the act or “style” of teaching)
says, “The media enacts its own invisible pedagogy.” The general media world is not a staple or
“black and white” form of communication; it has many complex levels of interpretation,
increasing one’s critical thinking skills if one cares to think.
http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/Film-Media%20Literacy.htm

Sheila H. Troppe, Yale Prof.
• “...most American children will have spent, by the time they graduate
school, 20,000 hours in front of the television set compared to 15,000 in
the classroom.”
• “...98 percent of all American homes now have television (a greater
percentage than those that have indoor toilets).”
Yale Article: Television and Teens
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1984/5/84.05.03.x.html

•
• “This makes 'media' interchangeable with 'technology.’”
“Media psychology, therefore, is a continually evolving field that touches every aspect
of daily and business life.”
“90% of communication is screen-based and 77% of people use multiple devices
simultaneously”
APA Division 46: Media Psychology
http://www.apa.org/divisions/div46/

Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH)
“Television and movies can be powerful teachers. They can expose people to new
cultures and places. They can tell stories, motivate people to act, and educate the
public. Research has revealed a number of benefits of watching TV and movies, but
these benefits depend on the content.”
Studies show benefits from TV such as:
• Learning Vocabulary, especially when children are dealing with a second language
• Learning Prosocial skills such as sharing, problem-solving, and sensitivity to different cultures
• Learning About Health: Media education campaigns about the effects of smoking, alcohol, drugs,
and unprotected sex are often successful because they reach a large number of people through
television and movies.
Television has its benefits
www.CMCH.tv

Television and Children
•
• “In general, studies have shown that the programs that have set out to promote
young children’s development, such as their literacy skills development, do so.”
- Annie Moses Journal of Early Childhood Literacy [1]
• “The good news is, watching developmentally appropriate programming with your
children can have many positive benefits… there are lots of exceptional television
shows for young children that are fun and engaging and that can help children build
early literacy skills along the way.”
- National Center for Learning Disabilities Organization [2]
[1] http://www.ncld.org/students-disabilities/homework-study-skills/quality-television-shows-that-focus-on-early-literacy
[2] http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/tv-can-improve-literacy-102436253.html

filmeducation.org argues that “Film engages children in a unique and powerful way, but films still
have much in common with books in the way they tell stories...Both mediums can be discussed
in terms of narrative structure, genre, themes, character and setting...Stories, whether
written in books, narrated orally or told in film, are usually more than entertainment alone...They
have different purposes and underlying messages, providing knowledge about worlds and subjects
that we may never have the opportunity to experience for ourselves...They can also provide us
with the chance to reflect on our own lives...As when reading books, we need to use a set of
skills to make sense of a story on film. We often use these skills without realising.”
filmeducation.org
http://www.filmeducation.org/

filmeducation.org
Another article on the same site states: “There are many links to be explored between film and
literacy that offer useful points for discussion and extend children’s understanding of narrative
texts.” They go on to talk about narrative structure, sequencing and chronology, characterisation
and setting and how they bear similarities in both film and text:
“Writers choose language carefully to create characters and settings in reader’s minds. Filmmakers
[sic] have various techniques at their disposal including costume, make up, set design and special
effects. Camera angles and actors’ performances help establish point-of-view and empathy in
a film whilst that is achieved through the use of first or third person narration in a novel.
Light, colour, sound effects and music all contribute to the mood of a film. A writer uses
descriptive and figurative language to create atmosphere on the page. Editing controls a
film’s pace and establishes the passing of time. In a book this is determined by time
connectives, sentence and paragraph length and the use of chapters.”
http://www.filmeducation.org/

• “Nine years ago, India’s national television
network decided to introduce karaoke-style
subtitles to [Bollywood song shows]... the
reading level in Khodi slowly improved.
According to Hema Jadvani, a researcher who
has been studying the effects of subtitles on
Khodi, newspaper reading in the village has
gone up by more than 50 percent in the last
decade.”
- Riddhi Shah [1]
Television and Children
[1] http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/19/watch_and_learn/
[2] http://i43.tower.com/images/mm117100900/dabanng-bollywood-dvd-with-english-subtitles-2010-salman-khan-cover-art.jpg
[2]

•
• Sesame Street
• Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood
• Dora The Explorer
• Bill Nye The Science Guy
• Zoom
• Schoolhouse Rock
• Super Why
• Cyberchase
• Word World
Educational Children’s Shows
[1]
[1] http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTgzNzc3Nzg4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjc1NDk5._V1_SY434_SX419_.jpg

Movies/TV shows with positive impact
House
Doctor Who,
Mythbusters
Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
Cosmos
Discovery Channel/Discovery
Science/Discovery Health/Investigation
Discovery
Animal Planet
Educational children’s programs
Fringe
Anything on BBC
Inception
Dead Poets Society
Sherlock [1] http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/All-11-doctor-who-actors.jpg
[2] http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/cosmos-fox.jpg
[1]
[2]

• “Kill the TV = Book Burners...It’s just a cop-out”
• “I don't think there is a person who didn't ask questions about TV. Be there and enjoy them.
Regardless what the subject or viewpoint, everything on it is open to discussion. Wide varieties
of beliefs and values can be brought up for review and discussion...Television provides a nearly
limitless supply of subjects to discuss”
• “[TV] links specifically with visual learners (and aural ones too)It is a vision based medium with
motion and sound. Even incidental music, theme songs of shows, without the high-level
opportunity for seeing people perform, and movies with award winning soundtracks, etc…”
• Puts you in distant or remote locations
Dan Vilter
http://television.vilter.us

Dan Vilter
• “TV is a huge information resource available to anyone without the prerequisite of the ability to
read.”
• “TV has become the poster child for laziness and obesity. It is an erroneous correlation. There is
just as much good information and worthy topics of interest on TV as their are in books. It is in a
different form. It does require discretion of the viewer. But so do books. Many books are not
worthy of the trees that died for them.”
• “...Books have no music and sound recordings have no visuals.”
• “Is TV making you (or your kids) a couch potato or are you (or your kids) a couch potato looking
for something to do on that couch?”
http://television.vilter.us

She quotes a study from the University of Rochester saying:
• “people who watched nature scenes felt more energetic and charitable,” that “just looking at still
images of nature can lower blood pressure and muscle tension, two markers of unhealthy stress,”
and followed it up with “Young girls who watched an episode of The OC...that featured a
character dealing with an unintended pregnancy said they would be more likely to practice safe
sex...Girls did not report the same safe-sex intentions after watching a news program on teen
pregnancy.”
The Benefits of Watching TV, by Jessica Girdwain
http://www.redbookmag.com/health-wellness/advice/watching-tv-has-health-benefits

"The film business has an impressive history of stability. Even at the height of the last financial
crisis, as stocks whipsawed, banks imploded, and real estate holdings cratered, demand for film
remained stable."
“Any profitability chart highlights the film industry’s potential for eye-popping returns on
investment, particularly when it comes to independent films, which account for all but two of the
titles in that top twenty...It also plays to the frequent characterization of film as an exclusively
hits-driven enterprise”
[This shows that even if one is not directly influenced by watching media, one may have cause to
become more literate in tech for the sake of investing and making a return -AC]
The Benefits of Film Investing, by Colin Brown, Editorial
Director, Slated Inc
https://www.secondmarket.com/education/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Benefits-of-Film-Investing-Part-2.pdf

Conclusion
To conclude: Use discretion, good judgment,
and a critical mind to gain from the benefits
of TV and film

References
• Colin Brown. (n.d.). The Benefits of Film Investing. Retrieved from
https://www.secondmarket.com/education/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Benefits-of-Film-Investing-Part-
2.pdf
• Jesse, H. (2008, october 28). Probing question: Why do people like scary movies?. Retrieved from
http://news.psu.edu/story/141312/2008/10/28/research/probing-question-why-do-people-scary-movie
• Sheila H., T. (n.d.). Television and Teens. Retrieved from
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1984/5/84.05.03.x.html
• Film in Primary Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.filmeducation.org/resources/primary/teaching_with_film/film_in_primary_literacy/
• Dan, V. (n.d.). Dan's Outline Notes for "The Benefits of Television" session. Retrieved from
http://television.vilter.us/
• Introduction: What is Media Literacy?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/Film-Media
Literacy.htm
• Media psychology: the Intersection of Psychology with Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/divisions/div46/
• http://www.cmch.tv/mentors_teachers/tv_movies_suggestions.asp
• http://kidstvmovies.about.com/od/kidstvshowcategories/tp/readingtvshows.htm
• http://www.apa.org/divisions/div46/

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