Screen Education is essential reading for those with an interest in media literacy. Produced by educators, scholars and critics, the magazines content is tailored to the primary and secondary classroom, as well as some tertiary-level material, offering a unique and engaging perspective on screen education.

Screen EDUCATION

Hidden Treasures ADOLESCENT ADVENTURES IN DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD • A live-action reboot of the popular children’s TV series Dora the Explorer, James Bobin’s film ages up its protagonists and places them within a high-stakes adventure narrative. By pairing familiar characters with high school dramas and issues surrounding exploration and cultural sensitivity, the film provides plenty of conversation starters for an upper primary and junior secondary audience who may have enjoyed the show in younger years, writes CAROLYN LESLIE.

A Revisionist History of Violence THE NOSTALGIA AND FANTASY OF ONCE UPON A TIME … IN HOLLYWOOD • Nostalgically evoking a long-gone Los Angeles and its golden-age movie industry, Quentin Tarantino once more uses cinema to fantastically avert a grim real-life tragedy: in this case, the Manson Family murders. As MEL CAMPBELL argues, the relative restraint of the film – broken by a darkly comical explosion of violence near its conclusion – only serves to mask the various off-screen horrors hinted at in its narrative, both real and fictional.

Cinema Science PLANETARY PROPULSION IN THE WANDERING EARTH • In this Chinese sci-fi blockbuster, our planet is threatened by the rapid expansion of the Sun, necessitating an ambitious response: to fit the Earth with giant engines in order for it to escape the solar system and travel to a new home. There are plenty of legitimate scientific topics lurking underneath this preposterous premise, including the Roche limit, fusion physics and the cataclysmic consequences of stopping the Earth’s rotation, as DAVE CREWE finds.

The Mark of the Beast CIVILISATION AND MORALITY IN LORD OF THE FLIES • Peter Brook’s adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel faithfully represents its tale of a group of English schoolboys’ descent into savagery after being left to fend for themselves on an unpopulated island. As ANTHONY CAREW finds, the film’s deceptively complex allegory raises as many questions – including about free will, responsibility, masculinity and human nature – as it answers.

Light, Darkness VISUALISING LOSS IN SECRET SUNSHINE • In Lee Chang-dong’s bracing drama, a mother’s grief over the murder of her son becomes a stage upon which to explore the roles of place and Christianity in a region of South Korea left behind by economic development. As DANICA VAN DE VELDE argues, the visual simplicity of the film is where its thematic and aesthetic powers ultimately lie.

Selling Virtue ‘WOKE’ ADVERTISING AND CORPORATE ETHICS • Signalling a shift away from the relationship between brands’ identities and the products or services they provide, the practice of businesses using advertising to align themselves with progressive social causes has increased markedly in recent years. Speaking to marketing experts Abas Mirzaei and Ben Neville, BENJAMIN RILEY examines the motivations behind this phenomenon, as well as its consequences – for companies and society alike.

Resting Place SUBVERTING THE PLUNDERER’S GAZE IN ETCHED IN BONE • Years in the making, Martin Thomas’ document of the efforts to retrieve and properly bury stolen Indigenous remains from an American museum is a sensitive and contemplative portrayal of Arnhem Land cultural practices. As WILL COX finds, the film’s narrative of remedying colonial wrongs is mirrored in its eschewal of a traditional documentary approach in favour of careful collaboration.

Andrei Tarkovsky

SYNC OR SWIM A Content-pedagogy Manifesto

Play It Again THE REFERENTIAL...