I posted about this 20-minute film last year, but I came across this article (thank you Melissa) finally giving it some recognition.

The thick-lined drawings of the Earth, a factory and a house, meant to convey the cycle of human consumption, are straightforward and child-friendly. So are the pictures of dark puffs of factory smoke and an outlined skull and crossbones, representing polluting chemicals floating in the air.

Which is one reason “The Story of Stuff,” a 20-minute video about the effects of human consumption, has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation.

I’ve used this in my classrooms in the past with much success. Even the kids that don’t like it allowed us to have some great discussions. I’m glad she is writing a book based on the film, which will allow her to go into greater detail.

It’s clear other teachers have experience success too. This part is pretty cool.

Mr. Lukach’s students made a response video and posted it on YouTube, asking Ms. Leonard to scare them less and give them ideas on how to make things better. That in turn inspired high school students in Mendocino, Calif., to post an answer to Woodside, with suggested activities.

But…of course some parents don’t want their kid “brainwashed.”

But Mark Zuber, a parent of a child at Big Sky High School in Missoula, had a stronger reaction when a teacher showed the video to his daughter last year. “There was not one positive thing about capitalism in the whole thing,” Mr. Zuber said.

Note that the film does not mention capitalism at all, which was actually one of my critiques of it. It talks about consumption and consumerism, but what we’re really talking about is capitalism. He goes on…

Corporations, for example, are portrayed as a bloated person sporting a top hat and with a dollar sign etched on its front. He described the video as one-sided. “It was very well done, very effective advocacy, but it was just that,” he said.

right…I’d love to hear a suggestion on how corporations should look if they’re personified.

Mr. Zuber argued before the Missoula County School Board that the way in which “The Story of Stuff” was presented, without an alternative point of view, violated its standards on bias, and the board agreed in a 4-to-3 vote.

She explained the way raw material move through the system of production, consumption, and trash. What is the alternate point of view here? That people and the land aren’t exploited for raw materials? That flowers come out of smokestacks? That nobody is being poisoned? That e-waste is fictional? Good luck with that.

story of stuff

This was one of the first books I ever learned to read, and I was obsessed with it. Learning to read was no easy task for me, but I remember feeling intimately acquainted with the main character, Max, who was sort of a shy, dreamy kid that didn’t care for school much and had a hard time making friends. Max, like me, spent a lot of time in his head, living a in a world where he didn’t have to meet other people’s expectations, he didn’t have to conform to roles that made him uncomfortable, and where he ruled as king.

The book starts out with his mother sending him to bed without supper, calling him “a wild thing.” Then he created a world where his “wild” side was not only accepted by the other “wild things,” but it was nurtured. I think there is a beautiful message in that for children. Life would be pretty boring if we didn’t let out the wild in us every now and then.

All this said, watching this trailer brought tears to my eyes. Spike Jonze has been working with Dave Eggers (author of the fantastic book, Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) for the last 4 years making this film. Alas, we still have to wait until October.

Power Paths, a documentary directed by Bo Boudart.

WHERE: Cline Library Assembly Hall, Northern Arizona University

WHEN: Monday, November 17, 2008 at 7-9 pm

WHAT: Power Paths Documentary (55 minute), followed by a panel discussion.

Can America truly achieve energy independence?

Power Paths will reveal this story through the eyes of Native Americans who have
made a firm decision to protect ancestral lands and resources for future
generations. The production follows leaders of the Navajo, Hopi and Sioux as they
struggle to convert their Tribes dependence on coal toward use of renewable energy.

Sponsored by NAU Campus Climate Challenge and Black Mesa Water Coalition

Now I don’t believe in anything!

I watched The Dark Knight a few evenings ago and enjoyed it, especially the creepy performance by Heath Ledger. But did anyone else catch the wiretapping propaganda? Bush’s illegal and unconstitutional wiretapping bill is promoted by batman in the new film. Like Bush’s bill, the gross suspension of civil liberties is appropriate under extreme circumstances. This plays out in the film when a citizen stands and says “things have never been worse!”

The character Morgan Freeman plays further legitimizes the bill when he agrees to use it “just this one time.” The message here is, “don’t worry, we’ll spy on you only when we have to…and by the way, we get to decide when it is important.” Still most Americans are against this bill. So Batman, by violating the law (like the Bush admin), is the hero we deserve–even if we “have to chase him.”

This blogger writes more about this issue and even compares Bush’s–oops I mean Batman’s– law-bending-behavior with the failed attempt of fighting lawlessness with lawlessness, employed by character Harvey Dent.

the Story of Stuff!