Over the weekend I got to spend time with my 10 year old sister. She is really into the Disney Channel and its media. She had been wanting me to watch Camp Rock for a few weeks. I was finally able to watch it with her and was pleasantly surprised at what I saw.
It was everything I could have expected from a Disney Channel Original Movie. It had songs, young celebrities, and a definite moral. It reminded me a lot of the Prince and the Pauper and Cinderella. It's about a young girl, Mitchie, who really wants to go to Camp Rock that has produced famous kid artists like Connect 3 (played by the Jonas Brothers). The only way Mitchie is able to go to this camp is if her mom works in the kitchen. She is of course ashamed of what her mom does since everyone else comes from wealthy families or they are children of huge stars. This movie is basically about Mitchie's journey to fit in at camp while accepting her true self.
This movie had some pretty blunt themes. Toward the end of the movie the mom gives Mitchie a talk about how she needs to accept herself and stop trying to "fit in." She tells Mitchie that she is special and important because she is unique. If others don't accept her for her true self then they aren't worth spending time with: Moral #1.
Moral #2 comes from the bully Tess. She is mean to everyone throughout the entire camp. As an older critical thinker I could see that Tess was mean mean to compensate for the lack of attention from her mom. She held her popular status anyway she could. Putting down others made her feel better (until the little people stood up to her). In the end, Tess got what she deserved and had to apologize to the people she hurt. This shows kids that being mean and lying will get you into more trouble later and you won't have any friends.
I think the blunt morals/themes were great for kids because they like it right up front. They don't know exactly how to find deeper meanings in media texts through critical analysis. This movie works great because it presents real-life situations that the kids can relate to. The dialogue and parental guidance helps guide the kids right into the morals.
Interaction with this media can be used as a teaching example because it addresses issues kids see in school everyday. This is the world kids live in. The situations in this movie are taken right out of every local school in the nation. I think after watching this movie kids can engage in discussions about their school experiences. I talked to my sister about this movie. I think she can relate and that is why she likes it so much (not to mention the songs are extremely catchy). I think bluntly stated morals and themes can help younger kids know what to look for in other forms of media. This movie can help kids know what to do in specific situations at school and help them be problem solvers.
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