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Ethics and Film: Messages, Themes, and Techniques Module 3: Mississippi Burning Magaret Haun, PhD Development Team Click Here for Lesson Plans
	Introduction In this era of high-stakes testing, the tendency is to view movies in the classroom as a distraction, at most a deserved respite from the serious work of preparing students for the minimum competency assessments they must pass to graduate.  The guiding principle of this  series of modules , however,  is that films provide students an opportunity to think critically about plots or events, characters, techniques, themes, and social issues.  In other words, bringing movies into the classroom in a viable and engaging way enables students to build on skills they already possess—thinking critically, framing arguments, decoding images—skills essential to success in high school, college, and the world of work.  From a values standpoint, films provide their viewers, young and old alike, with an opportunity to take a stand on important and often controversial issues, to accept or reject radically different interpretations of the world, to find confirmation of their own beliefs, or begin the process of questioning long-held assumptions about the world and their place in it. View More
	Key Concepts and Vocabulary Do film directors or producers have the responsibility to create morally acceptable films? Who determines what is morally acceptable? Can a film be good if it relies on racist, sexist, or anti-semitic content? Why do we sometimes find ourselves resisting a film’s “argument”? How do films pull us in to their worlds? How do films communicate their values? How important is it for our experiences as viewers that we share the values of a film? What is the difference between a fiction film and a documentary? Do the ethical responsibilities of a film director extend beyond the honest management of the actors and film crew? Can something as straightforward as the camera angle in a particular shot or series of shots be immoral, even sinister? How important is point of view as an element of both technique and content? What is the connection between a film’s formal techniques (camera angle and distance, lighting, edits, etc.) and its content? View More
	Background for for Teachers Alan Parker’s Mississippi Burning is an important film because it is rooted in the history of the Civil Rights era and the history of American cinema. On one level, it is a faithful account of the effort to bring the murderers of three young Civil Rights workers in 1964 to justice. Michael Schwerner, Andy Goodman, and James Chaney came to Neshoba County, Mississippi to register blacks to vote and to investigate the burning of a Black church. Harassed, arrested and then released by the Neshoba sheriff, the three were hunted down one evening in June 1964 and murdered by Neshoba KKK members. In 1967, only seven of the original nineteen conspirators were convicted on federal conspiracy charges. It was not until 2005--38 years after the crime-- that Edgar Ray Killen, 80, would be convicted on three charges of murder. The roots of this story, then, are firmly planted in the soil of this country’s Civil Rights history. View More

	Core Subject Areas and Grade Level		Description of Classroom Activities
	Objectives from Competency-Based Curriculum		Assessment for Activities
	Correlations to Language Art Benchmarks (Sunshine State Standards)		Extension Activity
	Core Values Emphasized in this Learning Module		Bibliography and Web Resources
	Suggested Time for Instruction

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