Ch 10: Comparing Mediums in Literature: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.7
About This Chapter
Standard: Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film). (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.7)
About This Chapter
Help your students get an idea of how to analyze the differences between a literary text and its performance on stage, radio, or video. They should be able to identify where the performance diverges from the text and where it holds true, and potential reasons why the producers of the former made the decisions they did. The lessons in this chapter describe:
- Techniques for comparing various literary media
- Analyzing the differences and similarities between film and lie productions and texts
- How fiction incorporates themes from other works
As your students develop mastery of these concepts they should exhibit a measurable increase in appreciation of the creative process involved in translating written works into film, radio, and theater productions. Their analysis can grow from the basic description of how the story differs across the media and their feelings about the changes into a thorough analysis of author and producer intent. They could also show an understanding of how audio and visual techniques and acting can highlight or detract from certain elements in a story.
How to Use These Lessons in Your Classroom
Following are a few suggestions that you could include in your regular curriculum to help you meet the standards for the Common Core.
Book and movie comparison project
Review the lesson on comparing techniques across media and comparing/contrasting film with text in class. Have your students conduct an analysis of their favorite book(s) with its movie production. There are, of course, many options to choose from in the last decade or so from teen literature alone. Make sure students understand that this analysis isn't a book/film review, but an exploration of the relationship between the presentations of the story across different media.
Recycling universal themes
First watch the video 'How Fiction Draws on Themes from Other Works' with your students. Discuss as a class several modern adaptations of earlier texts in video media with students describing such films and television shows they have seen themselves. Are there some stories the students have seen in more than one adaptation? How did those adaptations differ?
1. Comparing Techniques Used in Different Literary Mediums
Literature can take many varying forms, each providing a different experience for the reader, viewer, or listener. This lesson will explore some of the strategies used that make each medium unique. Additionally, the lesson will cover comparative techniques for various literary mediums.
2. Film or Live Production vs. Text: Differences, Similarities & Analysis
When someone takes a text or script and turns it into a play or film, it can change a great deal or only slightly. In this lesson, we'll analyze a few examples, evaluating the choices that were made.
3. How Fiction Draws on Themes from Other Works
How do classic characters like Cinderella translate for our times? In this lesson, we'll discuss theme in literature, and you'll read about an example of how authors sometimes draw on themes from already existing works to appeal to contemporary audiences.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the Common Core ELA Grade 7 - Literature: Standards course
- Citing Textual Evidence: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.1
- Central Theme or Idea: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.2
- Literary Elements: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.3
- Literary Devices: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4
- Structure in Literature: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.5
- Poetry Analysis: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.5
- Fiction Analysis: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.5
- Drama Analysis: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.5
- Point of View in Literature: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.6
- Portrayal of Time, Place & Character in Literature: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.9
- Literature Comprehension & Practice: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.10
