If every teen, tween and adult would put their coolness on hold long enough to join children in line for Charlotte’s Web they’d quickly see this is a profound parable of friendship with huge global messaging that goes far beyond a porker destined for the smokehouse.
Far from a treacly sapfest, the movie holds true to the book fairly well, dealing with life changes, appreciation of diversity, generosity of spirit, and selfless giving, not to mention defining the concept of true friendship.
With oceans of cyberbullying, ‘mean girl’ antics, ‘odd one out’ relational aggression, unsportsmanlike conduct, backstabbing nasties and stomping on feelings with reckless abandon, it would behoove youth and beyond to heed ol’ Wilbur & Charlotte’s positive charms.
Kids can be incredibly cruel to each other, and taking the lead to help others in ANY outreach capacity is sorely needed on this planet.
We found a fabulous resource called F.I.L.M. that takes this concept to engage youth in community building, with a free downloadable tween activity called “Charlotte’s Web: Become A True Friend.”
In their 3-step media tie-in, tweens see the movie AND read the book by E.B. White, then enter local environs with service projects relating to the central themes. Brilliant!
F.I.L.M. stands for Finding Inspiration in Literature & Movies, and is a team effort between the National Collaboration for Youth and Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Pictures.
The F.I.L.M. concept is fabulous for integrating multi-media literacy, and tapping into the potential of more than 40 million youth.
Obviously, the NCY/FILM alliance is right up our alley at Shaping Youth in terms of steering Hollywood toward creating media with more positive directions.
We clearly need to partner with this team to ‘pay it forward’ into the technology realm of mass media.
There’s some priceless messaging here, and my mind is spinning ideas into web executions of positive media and marketing opportunities…
Social media on the web and defining who your REAL friends are?
Geez. Talk about a natural media extension! Teen web crawlers, spiders, buddies; the analogy goes on & on…
Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Kerner Entertainment and Walden Media are behind this film…but aside from a nice music score on the web site and hawking goods with integrated teasers for their PAID programs like their standard arcade games (reviewed here) it seems they’re missing the boat on the friendship message altogether.
They could market maniacally and even get parents and orgs like Shaping Youth onboard with social impact games, interactives on ethics, diversity, coping with loss, countering stereotypes, even body image…
Yes, body image…Think about it. Pig. Spider. Obese. Spindly. Both low on the food chain of beauty messaging polarity…great “inside out” reversals on perceptions for youth.
As an arachnophobic who gets the heebie jeebies with spiders, Wilbur’s tender doe-eyed depiction of Charlotte as ‘beautiful’ was a stretch for me at first, but by movie’s end, I was there. A full anthropomorphic transformation…
Imagine how stereotyping and global community could shift and change like that; there’s inherent potential here far beyond a ‘kiddy’ film.
Rather than compare the brilliant E.B. White book with the movie, I’ll simply say both have subtle, layered nuances older teens and their parents will appreciate on a wry and witty level…like this little snippet of dialogue from the newcomer pig joining the established barnyard critters:
Wilbur: But, you’re all friends, right?
Gussy: Of course we are! Been here together our whole lives.
Wilbur: I’m not sure being in the same place is the same as being friends…Which is too bad, really, ‘cause I could sure use a friend right now.”
Most kids can surely relate to THAT sting of a melancholy moment…
Navigating friendships is a universal challenge.
Being in the same school, neighborhood, or even the same FAMILY doesn’t ensure genuine friendship.
So where are the mega-moguls to boost the latest box office ratings and create a bigger splash?
PIGGIES are even the rage with tweens: cellphone charms, backpack key chains, and lip gloss shaped-little oinkers abound…
Must we have a ruder pig? Flippant sarcasm? Some scatological grossness? Did the G-rating send it off into exile as ‘too babyish’ without even a look-see?
At least the F.I.L.M. folks saw the powerful potential…One of my favorite modules of their program is when they counter-market stereotypes.
Shaping Youth has a ‘media stereotypes’ counter-marketing workshop on body image and diversity based on Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Blink’ using rapid cognition, snap judgment exercises, and teen magazines as the media vehicle…But the F.I.L.M. effort amps up this premise even further.
Using the movie tie-in they add stereotypes of insects, animals, and generational ageism into the mix…great point.
They take negative reputations from key groups of different species often ignored, feared, or disliked because of stereotyping, then ask youth to write a few positive qualities side by side.
Their theme is that every animal and person has something valuable to offer, (even if you have to research a bit on the insect front) Here’s a sample:
Person/Animal: Senior Citizens
Negative Stereotypes: Old & sick; boring & old-fashioned; grumpy
Positives They Can Offer: Tell great stories; experience, wisdom, etc.
F.I.L.M. leaves the rest of the chart blank on positives; but asks kids to counter-act these stereotypes:
Teenagers/Negative Stereotypes: Get into trouble; rebel against adults; irresponsible
Spiders/Negative Stereotypes: Scary to look at; suck the blood from flies; can bite people
Bees/Negative Stereotypes: Annoying buzzing noise; sting people; frightening
They ask kids to think of a random insect, animal, or type of person that can have a negative reputation and add it to the list…
We tried this in our teen session and kids responded with shout-outs like: “Rappers, homeless, pit bulls, snakes, bikers, fat people, Goths, and jocks.”
Fascinating. Talk about a way to open up critical thinking and dialogue building…I think I learned more than the teens did.
I won’t get into the details of the film itself as there are plenty of reviewer round-ups out there, but I will say that cash is king, so if you’d like to see more positive messaging for youth…the only way you can shift the Hollywood zeitgeist is with your wallet. Go see it.
Finally, for teachers, tutors, and literary enthusiasts out there, you know how I love to align media and educational elements, so check out F.I.L.M.’s language arts activities to morph into older teen interests…
Friendship proverbs, word choice, using adjectives to express feelings like Charlotte does in her web, even meaningful quotes and prose from philosophers come into play here.
This particular quote wasn’t on their list, but I’ll close with it anyway, as it sums up my love for all creatures great and small and gives you a hint of my passion for a brighter worldview.
Besides…I think Charlotte and Wilbur would like it:
“Lots of people talk to animals…. Not very many listen, though…. That’s the problem.” ~Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh
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