5 Canadian Documentaries Every Media Literacy Educator Needs to See

From fundamental concepts about how mass media and advertising function, to the role technology plays in changing the way content travels the globe, these 5 docs offer a great overview of many key media literacy concepts. Use them to spark debate or inspire a media project in the classroom!

Listed in the order they were produced.

1. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)

Directed by Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick
Running time: 2:47:37 mins

This lengthy but important 2-part documentary outlines many of the key concepts underlining Chomsky’s work and even manages to get a bit of personal info out of him.

Where to find it
Online: https://youtu.be/AnrBQEAM3rE

Offline: DVD copies available at the Toronto Public Library

Related activity for the classroom

Chomsky speaks of cutting out words used in headlines from various news outlets concerning the same news event, then counting and comparing the words used to demonstrate which narratives get the most print space. This would make for a great activity to explore in any classroom, it could also be done using wordles that use size to demonstrate the same disparities. Or even better still: Incorporate visual literacy skills by having students pick a news event and gather all the news images associated with that event, analyzing which narratives are reinforced and which are diminished or excluded in the media’s representation of that event.

2. Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News (2002)

Directed by: Katerina Cizek & Peter Wintonick
Running time: 42 mins

Citizen journalism , crowd-sourced media footage and cyber activism are all now well integrated into the media landscape and vernacular, but when this short documentary was made they were all still burgeoning phenomena. Seeing is Believing shares stories that demonstrate how video and communication technology can shine a light on grass roots struggles living in the shadow of big news. Seeing is Believing focuses on the efforts of organizations like Witness, who put cameras in the hands of groups involved in human rights battles around the world, and also looks at cases where more notoriously shocking footage was the focus of the world’s attention, such as apartheid in South Africa and the Rodney King beating by Los Angeles police-officers.

Where to find it
Online: There used to be a few places to track it down online, but no current link that I can find. Check www.SeeingisBelieving.media for possible updates.

Offline: There is a link concerning buying a hard copy of the film at http://seeingisbelieving.media/about/buy/ but it too seems to be a dead-end at the moment.

Related activity for the classroom

There is a 4 part Teachers' e-zine available on the official site, with so many discussion points and hands on activities suitable for the classroom (grades 10-12).

3. No Logo (2003)

Directed by: Sut Jhally
Running time: 42:17 mins

No Logo is a documentary interview with author Naomi Klein outlining the observations made in her book by the same name. With a focus on the affects advertising and brands have on our lives, including how they are changing the meaning of public space and the rights of workers on a global scale, this documentary is an entertaining way to familiarize students with the history of brands, corporate consolidation of power and the No Logo dogma of anti-corporate resistance.

Where to find it
Online: https://youtu.be/6ZpnZ6s6NWM

Offline: DVD copies available at the Toronto Public Library

Related activity for the classroom

Explore subvertizing (culture jamming the image of a logo) by changing or mocking a famous brand and pushing back against the brand tribes Klein discusses in the film (Pepsi= Youth lifestyle, United Colors of Benetton = Diversity, Disney = The American dream). Alternatively, students could create a new brand logo and slogan for something they believe society should value that is not a product.

4. How the Kids Took Over (2006)

Produced by: CBC/ Radio Canada

Running time: 47:00 mins

A great little documentary that is both hilarious and disturbing for what it reveals about market research being done on increasingly younger demographics of children. The film outlines the move from marketing to adults (with wallets), to grooming children to cajole and otherwise harass adults to open their wallets. It focuses on a time period starting with the popularization of the feature length commercials of the 1980s (Strawberry Shortcake, He-Man, the Smurf’s), the cabbage patch craze of 1983, the publishing of a market research paper entitled The Nag Factor- Parents, nagging kids and purchasing decisions (image below), up until the 2000’s when tweens become a massive demographic (57 million of under the age of 12).

Where to find it
Online: https://youtu.be/iSWsYA09FDc

Offline: DVD copies available at the Toronto Public Library

Related activity for the classroom

Ask students to bring in product packaging (cereal boxes, food wrappers, yogurt containers, video game packaging, etc.) that demonstrate a marketing focus on children and tweens. Examine these packages as cultural artifacts and discuss what tactics they see being used to attract kids. Extra points for things used by all ages of people in their household but advertised to the younger ones.

5. RiP a Remix Manifesto (2008)

Directed by Brett Gaylor

Running time: 1 hour 26 mins

This documentary explains the history of the internet, how it changed the way media and information is produced and distributed and the subsequent shifts in copyright and patent laws. It also explores the way patent and copyright effects innovations in the field of science / medicine, reminds us of Metalica’s fight with Napstar, and explains the art form of mashup music.

Where to find it

Online: https://www.nfb.ca/film/rip_a_remix_manifesto/

Offline: You can download it directly from the NFB's site (link above) or borrow a DVD copy available at the Toronto Public Library

Related activity for the classroom

Create an audio or video mashup using clips from existing clips, songs and art works. Use collage and found objects to create something new from two seemingly unrelated things (a broom-radio? a toaster-necklace?). Seek out, borrow, recreate and make a hybrid of converging ideas in any medium or feild imaginable!