Hi gang!
I’m making a kind of study guide for some Norwegian college students (approx. 15–18 years old) about a film and the issues it raises. It’s called The Hate U Give and is based on a novel of the same name (wiki link to follow). I haven’t actually seen the film as they didn’t have a screener (lol), but it’s about an African American teenage girl witnessing a friend being shot by white police. I’m making questions and discussion points for a few different subjects, so any suggestions you might have can be related to e.g. history, English, social studies, politics, etc.
I am a white Norwegian who has never been to the US, and even though I try to stay up to date on this kind of thing through social media etc. I thought I’d check in with my pals on DiS to see if you have any input. Obviously most of you will also have no first-hand experience of US police brutality and the like, but if I can just get suggestions from a range of different people I figured it’ll be more likely to be as relevant and objective as I personally can possibly get.
They’ll want some background information to research before watching the film, so I want to have them read about Trayvon Martin and Black Lives Matter (just need to find some good and informative articles in Norwegian) for a start. Afterwards they can read up more on the history of the Civil Rights movement in the US, maybe look at the first few cases of black students in previously all-white schools in the States as that was pretty harrowing at times. They could also discuss the differences to our own police force who are normally not armed, and look at the pros and cons of both approaches and look at what the different alternatives really mean (not making it out as if our police are perfect, btw).
What else? Feel free to link me to good articles in English that might be good for teenagers as well, as they can use that in English class.
I also need to get some more technical film questions in there even though I’ve not seen the film, but I’m sure I can manage that part on my own (unless someone here has actually seen it, in which case I’d be grateful for any pointers).