OVERVIEW

LEADER PREPARATION

• Edit a 5-10 minute video clip of MTV. Include interviews, parts of videos, and commercials aired on the network. The aim is to obtain clips of things that portray certain images to attain.
• Discuss the issues presented on the video with your leadership team in preparation for questions that may follow showing the clips to kids.
• For the meeting, a VCR/DVD and TV are needed.
• The following are needed for the Group Building, Group Presentation, and Wrap-Up:
  • Audio cassette playe/CD with 3 to 5 seconds of recorded music from about ten current songs. Record them consecutively, with five seconds of blank space between each song.
  • For this group of items you will need one item per person: large brown paper bag, scissors, many different kinds of magazines (to cut up) and glue stick (to share or for each person).

GROUP BUILDING

There are two possible warm-up activities that demonstrate the topics to be discussed. The first is "Name That Tune," which introduces current music. The second activity incorporates print media and personal reflection.

For the music game, divide the group into teams (i.e., males and females or by classes). Next, announce the game and explain these rules: the first team to correctly identify the title (and artist if you choose) of the song being played receives a point, and the team with the most points wins. (The music only plays for 3 to 5 seconds, so remember to stop the tape between songs. You may determine the number of songs.)

The second activity allows your group to examine magazine advertisements while thinking about their own individual personalities. The title of this activity is "What’s You?" Hand out the brown bags, scissors, and glue sticks, explaining to the group that each person is to create a collage using advertisements in the magazines. This collage should represent each person’s character. Supply a diverse style of magazines and place them in a pile for all to choose. When the group is finished, allow each person to explain his or her collage to the group.

GROUP PRESENTATION

Introduction. First, get the attention of the group by presenting the topic for the evening. "Tonight we’re going to talk about MTV, advertising, and sex." Next, tell the group that they will be shown a video. Video Presentation. Show the video clips edited from MTV. Prior to the group arriving, check the VCR and TV connection, view the video, cue the tape, and adjust the volume. Instructions for Group Discussion. The goal of the video is to prime youth for a discussion of the effects that MTV has on television, advertising, and individuals. Leaders will pose to the group relevant questions to provoke individual thought, reactions, and replies.

GROUP DISCUSSION

The following questions may be used to lead individual reflection, dialogue, and group exchange. Modify as needed.

• What do you feel about what you saw—anger, confusion, happiness, depression?
• What images or comments do you remember most? (Discuss the meaning of each.)
• What images did you like the most and why?
• What were the points of the commercials, the interviews?
• Would you rather be judged by who you are or by the way you look?
• Do you judge people by who they are or by the way they look?
• What does television judge as more important: looks or the person?
• Do you think advertisements are true depictions of life and people?
• Is it healthy to believe everything presented to you in advertisements? Why or why not?
• Do you watch MTV regularly?
• What is the purpose of MTV?
• What do you like or dislike about MTV? (Discuss each.)
• Do you think that it is alright to watch MTV? Why or why not?
• Do you think it is important to talk about these issues?

(Some of these ideas are from Ekstrom. Media and culture, chapter 7.)

WRAP-UP

Ask the group if they have any questions, remarks, or final reflections. Conclude the discussion section by affirming the participants on their honesty and ability to share with the group.

EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP

Always remember to find out how the participants responded to the program. Remember the goal: to reinforce a more critical view of media. Present these questions to your youth group for reflection:

• Think about the images you see on television. Why are they presented?
• What is the purpose?
• What is the meaning?
• Do you have to believe and conform to the media’s representation of life?
• Do you have to like everything on television?

IMPLICATIONS

As parents, teachers, and youth leaders, one can ascertain a great deal about a teenager by monitoring their listening and viewing habits. One can learn about teenage fears, loves, and goals, because media can express these ideas for adolescents. Youth may be living out their lives through television; people who work with kids need to know what is going on in their minds—what they are seeing and hearing—and how they are responding.

Scott N. Morin cCYS