Integrated U. S. History and American Literature Class
Deborah Aufdenspring and Sandra Mings-Lamar
New Technology High School, Napa, CA
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The living conditions of the characters portrayed in the videos are,
therefore, quite different. Where do you think these places are? Why do
you think one video was filmed in sunlight and the other in darkness?
Life seems simple and safe in one video, full of problems in the other.
One representation of this is in the film clips above. How do the videos
present this dichotomy? Do you think this is true?
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Children are splashing in one video. A child silently weeps in the
other. Are children happy in one place but not the other? Does this seem
likely? What images support this thesis in "Nowhere USA"? What
images support this thesis in "How Come How Long"?
Values are sung about and pictured in both videos. What values? What
lyrics and images explain those values? Which video advocates change? How?
Or, do they both advocate change? Change from what? To what?
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Both videos portray various ethnic groups. How? Why? Do you think
the ethnic portrayals in "Nowhere USA" are accurate? Why?
What do these clips of people walking say about the type of video
and, possibly, the values within them?
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Both videos use metaphor and symbols, in the above cases, a road and
reflections in a ceiling fan. What do the road and reflections have to do
with their respective videos? What are other symbols and metaphors in the
two videos? Is one video more sophisticated? How? How do you know?
There are lots of other comparisons and contrasts to make between these
two videos. What are they?
E-mail me.
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