WNYC's Radiolab, I'm finding, is a great radio program and a wonderful resource for the Media Arts class. Today we listened to the drama/analysis by Radiolab co-hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, on The Mercury Theatre on the Air's "War of the Worlds" radio play. As the students took notes during this "audio portion of the class", I helped their understanding/enjoyment by performing a Google search on key content points mentioned in the show. If something or someone important was mentioned, I did a realtime image search and threw up a few relevant pictures on the plasma screen to assist with the learning. (Hint to future quiz takers: the picture prompts were important! Why not re-listen to the show and see what you may recall was up on the screen.)
A good discussion followed the audio portion, and talk centered around the concept--Could this happen again? I offer the opportunity for the Media Arts students to continue listeing to the second part of the show anytime they wish to see what further explorations and discoveries were made by the hosts and their on air guests. [We ended at ~28:00 minutes.]
All this coverage of the War of the Worlds broadcast inspired me to take a trip to nearby Grovers Mill, just across the tracks near Princeton Junction. There in an out of the way park (covered in about 6 inches of snow!!) is the monument to the "Martian Landing". Here's ONLINE ACTIVITY #1 (to which you students can leave your comment): take a close look at the relief sculpture (pictured and videoed below) and describe the artist's reasons for choosing these particular images/symbols in telling the story of the broadcast.
On location at the Martian Landing Site:
And Some Still Details:
ONLINE ACTIVITY #2:
Any current Media Arts student has the opportunity to WIN A HOAGIE HAVEN SANDWICH OF CHOICE if they can find the exact location of the Martian Landing Monument in Grovers Mill, New Jersey. To win your prize you must go to the site, take a picture of you with the monument in the shot as well and email it to me at my Hun School email address. Good Luck! For inspiration, here's my photo of me freezing my tuckus off at the monument:
Guy with microphone and stand --> Symbolize that this was a radio broadcast.
ReplyDeleteTripod UFO --> The main point of what went down in Grovers Mill, NJ. Put it on there since the monument is located in that part of NJ.
Words at the bottom --> Help to explain the monument to anyone who doesn't know about the radio broadcast
People sitting at home --> that's what people were doing while they were listening to the radio. The people are clutching each other and have their jaws dropped showing the fear they had from listening to the broadcast cause many people thought this was actually happening.
2 questions:
1. when's the quiz??
2. how long do we have to do the photo thing?
The people at home show how scared and shocked they were while listening to this broadcast at home .
ReplyDeleteThe man represents that this was a broadcast so he may be a reporter .
The little paragraph under the monument explains what really happened that night .
And the UFO shows what everyone was scared of .
Do you think a "hoax" like this could happen in his tv age. I believe that people are too aware of reliable reporters and reliable sources to be fooled like this. Generic reporter voices made people believe the war of the worlds "hoax", but how do you fake a reporter who no one has ever heard of?
ReplyDeleteIts not accurate to say that the people back then were more gullible but it was probably easier to believe things like this through the things they had. Now a days there are way too many sources for people to find the truth to. News spreads at a rapid rate at this day in age therefore I think this would not happen in this day in age.
ReplyDeletethe first picture that has a close up on the radio followed by people represents fear because at that time, the radio was the most trusted source of information so people believed it. the second one represents how thoughtless people are because the mans eyes are closed which represents how oblivious people are to the truth. the final picture represents how media, or aliens,control the thoughts and actions of powerful people everyday.
ReplyDeleteThe man standing behind the stand listening to the UFO was the broadcaster. The family was a typical family that believed it was true.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures on the monument could symbolize a number of things. First, the family in the room surround the the radio. This could show the dependence of the family on the radio or Americas families entirely. The family is also show being dependent to the radio by sitting. Even the child is held down by the mother. This could suggest their inability to move on their own ( recieve information ) without radio. The radio broadcaster being outside the house could also show the control radio had over the outside world for many families.
ReplyDelete