Very Young Girls (DVD)

Schisgall, David (2007).  Very young girls [motion picture]. New York: Showtime.  

Summary:  Very Young Girls exposes the realities of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking that happens right here in American neighborhoods.  This documentary interviews about a dozen young women aged 12 -21 who have been victims of sexual exploitation and then criminalized. Their tragic stories challenge general public perceptions of prostitution as a choice between consenting adults.  The film shows that the average age of a prostitute is 13 years old and the children, most of whom are already under the care of social services or the justice system, enter the sex industry by being lured or kidnapped or sold and then raped by pimps often twice their age.  The documentary follows the counseling work and advocacy done by GEMS, Girls Education and Mentoring Services of New York. 

Additional comments:  Viewers of this documentary will never again dress up for a "Pimps and Hoes" party and will be so moved to talk anyone from knowingly glamorizing an industry that enslaves young girls.  One of the most poignant moments of the film was the acceptance speech by Rachel Lloyd, the founder and Executive Director of GEMS, of the Reebok Human Rights Award. She scolded the Academy Awards for the performance of "It's hard out here for a pimp", which glamorizes prostitution and the debasement and violence against women.  This film will profoundly move young adults and force them to question the lyrics of hip hop and other projections by the media.

Edgar Allen Poe (Audio CD)

Price, Vincent and Rathbone, Basil (2000). Edgar Allen Poe Audio Collection. Caedmon; Unabridged edition 
ISBN: 0694524190 / 978-0694524198  

Summary:  Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone, two masters of classic horror, read poems and short stories by Edgar Allen Poe.  

Additional Comments:  Poe's rhythmic and haunting gothic poetry may confuse readers with the antiquated and formal language of the 1800's.  Yet, when read aloud, the poetry turns into music and the meaning is more accessible. 

Vincent Price, whose voice teens might recognize as the deep, spooky narrator in Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, and Basil Rathbone both have bass voices that convey the sinister, dark mood of Poe's writing.  Yet, they also both use a range of pitches and cadences, which is particularly effective in Basil Rathbone's reading of  "The Bells" because it describes the sound and the mood of bells in various contexts, some light and happy and some full of terror. Click on the links below to view YouTube videos that complement the readings.

Vincent Price reading "The Raven"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FID1CiB4bcU

Basil Rathbone reading "The Bells"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0889pnbURtY

Basil Rathbone reading "Annabel Lee"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJhvKEMhn20

Basil Rathbone reading "The Tell-Tale-Heart"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvHUNY_NXsU

Habibi, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Nye, Naomi Shihab (1997, 1999). Habibi. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.

Summary:  14-year-old Liyana is just going into high school—and just experienced her first kiss—when her parents break the news that the family, consisting of her younger brother, Rafik, and her American-born mother, Barbara, and her Palestinian “poppy”, Dr. Abboud, will be moving from their home in Missouri to her father’s homeland, Palestine. Liyana must let go of her American home and adopt a place where she has never been. When she arrives in Israel / Palestine, she is confused by the religious and political tensions, and she is torn between her American ways and the Palestinian values that are being thrust on her. Liyana is introduced to an enormous family in Palestine with whom she cannot communicate at all, and she enrolls in the Armenian school in the Old City of Jerusalem where she is the only “outsider” (non-Armenian). Liyana and Rafik become friends with two children who live in the Palestinian refugee camp down the road from their new home. During weekly visits to her grandmother’s village in the West Bank, they learn about the mistreatment and oppression that Palestinians face under Israeli occupation.  But, when Liyana sparks a romance with a Jewish boy, her family has the opportunity to take a personal step towards peace.

Additional comments:  Habibi takes a very controversial and heated topic and breaks it down into a way that creates optimism and hope.  The Palestinian perspective is more heavily conveyed through the events of the story, such as the Israeli destruction of Liyana's grandmother's house, the unprovoked shooting of their young Palestinian friend, and the infuriating arrest of her father.  However, the negative depiction is balanced a bit by Ome, who represents Jews who strive for peace, reconciliation, and cross-cultural understanding.

Romeo and Juliet (DVD)

Luhrmann, Baz (1996).  Romeo and Juliet [Motion picture]. United States:  Bazmark Films.   

Summary:  An innovative rendering of Shakespeare's classic tragedy of two "star-cross'd lovers". While maintaining the original text and dialogue, the setting is vastly different from Shakespeare's as it takes place in a modern Verona Beach (that looks quite like Venice Beach, California).  The Capulet and Montegue families have names on billboards and skyscrapers and clearly are the leading economic powerhouses in Verona.  The younger generation of the two families engage in drive-by shootings and bring violence to the streets of Verona.  Romeo, of the Montegue House, and Juliet, of the Capulet House, fall in love at first sight at a costume party and so begins their doomed love affair.

Additional comments:  This highly visual and surreal film is fast-paced, action-packed, and accompanied by contemporary music, such as Radiohead and a cover of "When Doves Cry", which helps the viewer to forget that the dialogue is actually difficult to understand. The end result is a unique interpretation of a classic love story whose timeless theme is accessible to modern teens who, presumably, can relate more easily with the film than the original play.

What is the What, by Dave Eggers (Audio)

Graham, Dion (Speaker) (2007).  What is the what (Audio recording).  Eggers, Dave.  Muze, Inc.

Summary: Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee, is assaulted when he allows a stranger to enter his apartment to use the phone.  As he is tied up, he has flashbacks to his escape as a "Lost Boy", walking from Sudan to Ethiopia and eventually to Kenya before resettling in America 

Additional Comments:  Dion Graham's deep voice and various impersonations for the different characters breathe life into Eggers' deeply moving story that is loosely based on the true-life experiences of Valentino Achak Deng.  Eggers presents a graphic rendering of the violence of the Sudanese Civil War and also presents a realistic portrayal of challenges that refugees as they adjust to a new life in America. What is the What is a shocking, eye-opening story about the first genocide of the 21st-century.

 

The Outsiders (DVD)

Coppola, Francis Ford (1983). The Outsiders.  United States: Zoetrope Studios.

Summary:  Ponyboy and Johnny are sensitive and kind teens growing up in the 50's, but they are also "greasers" with long hair, unhappy home lives, and few opportunities in the small town in which they live on the wrong side while the privileged "soc" have all the advantages.  Life takes a turn for the worse when Johnny kills a "soc" who was attacking Ponyboy, and the two boys decide to run away to the countryside to escape the law.

Additional Comments:  Based on the classic novel by S. E. Hinton, Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film features an all-star cast in their youth, including Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Cruise. Though the dialogue may strike teens as a bit sappy and outdated today (and particularly the tacky opening song!), the "us vs. them" theme is timeless and as true today as ever.   The ultimate tragedy speaks to the senselessness of violence 

Suckerpunch by David Hernandez

Hernandez, David (2008). Suckerpunch. New York: Harperteen. 

Summary: 17-year-old Marcus harbors deep hatred for his father who used to beat up his younger brother, Enrique, before eventually leaving the family.  Upon hearing that their father intends to return to the family, Marcus and Enrique, accompanied by friends, drive from Southern California to Monterey with a gun, planning to scare their father.  

Additional comments: Suckerpunch, the first novel by poet David Hernandez of Long Beach, California, strikes the reader with realistically harsh dialogue, detailed drug and alcohol experiences, explicit sexual fantasies, and violent physical abuse.  A few of the main characters are Latino, but Suckerpunch will appeal to any teen who enjoys a fast-moving plot with a lot of dialogue, who has wrestled with the morality of retribution, and who has suffered from depression, boredom, and anger.