Media Meanings and Me

Each individual person brings their own meaning to a piece of media. My opinions about what a particular film is supposed to mean may vary considerably from Jacob's. Here are a few films and my opinions about them.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/vistas_little_thunder

This first film is based on an Aboriginal tale, about a boy setting out on a cross country canoe trip to become a man. I really enjoyed this film, I thought that it was very humourous and I liked the native style animation. Having said that, someone who doesn't know very much about Aboriginal culture, or would have trouble following the very busy, hectic animation, might not enjoy it as much as I did and may have interpreted the meaning behind it in a way much different from my own.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/girl_who_hated_books/

This film is actually based on a children's book that I've read to my son many times. I've always enjoyed this story, and I think the producers of the film did a great job with it. I think a lot of other students might be bored by it, but since I am a mother I have an appreciation for children's stories, because I am exposed to them every night.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/erlKing

I could not finish this film. Not because of it's length or because I didn't enjoy the style or music, but because I found the content too disturbing. As a mother, any subject matter to do with the harm or murder of children is appalling to me. Other teenagers my age are so used to slash, blood and gore that they might enjoy the story of the ErlKing, or even find it "lame" because it is not nearly as graphic as "Saw" per say. However, to me it is extremely scary, because I can picture my son as the little boy in the story.

Take a look at those videos... do you like them? Are your opinions different from mine? It's almost guaranteed that they will be. No two people are the same in their opinons, thought processes, or (as this pertains to the above) the meanings that they bring to the media they are exposed to.