Seeing the Big Picture, Revised Edition, is designed to broaden students' awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the many cultures and subcultures in the United States. The authors have chosen popular films as tools for exposing students to aspects of cultures, including those of African Americans, Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, and Muslim Americans. Writing and discussion activities will help students explore the cultural points of view portrayed in each of the films. Students are also advised to keep a film journal that will allow them to observe how their reactions and observations develop through the course of the class. In addition to increasing students' knowledge and understanding of cultural differences, Seeingthe Big Picture will help students develop strong critical-thinking and analytic abilities as they learn to recognize and question messages inherent in the films' portrayals of different populations. A unique feature of the text are the Points of View segments from directors, insiders, and students that appear throughout the text, provoking perspectives students might not otherwise encounter. This text is the ideal coursebook for undergraduate diversity electives and other multicultural awareness courses.

Seeing the Big Picture, Revised Edition: A Cinematic Approach to Understanding Cultures in America

Reference

Lee, Sandra

Summerfield, Ellen

English as a Second Language

University of Michigan Press/ELT

Crossing Cultures Through Film

UNKNO

Survival Kit for Multicultural Living

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

This work uses commercial films instead of documentaries to broaden students' awareness, understanding and appreciation of the many cultures and cocultures in America. The selection of films depict cultures with insight, care and authenticity providing a tool for cross-cultural learning. The film medium allows the viewer to experience a culture second-hand, with no threat involved it can introduce the viewer to topics that might otherwise seem too controversial or sensitive. In this textbook lesson plans have been built around each film including: setting the scene, viewing the film, spotlight on culture and communication, hands-on activities and further suggested reading and viewing.

Seeing the Big Picture: Exploring American Cultures on Film

Ellen Summerfield asks questions about when, where, and how we as individuals can bend, break, and rewrite rules. She dares to be unruly, but not for its own sake. She looks at how we live, love, age, and die—always with a stance of challenging norms and defining personal ethics. While many topics are heavy, they are usually approached with a light touch and characteristic gentle voice, and they are punctuated with humor. Her themes include, among others, mothering (or non-mothering), social class and poverty, grief, romance, Judaism, childhood, growing old, and the use of language. She writes for a wide audience and is especially pleased to reach those who generally do not read, or are intimidated by, poetry.

Unruly

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Bite-sized poems

Independently published

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