Windows and Mirrors

Now have half the class access the student chapter Windows and Mirrors? Diversity in Video Games and have the other half access the student chapter Video Games Encourage Indigenous Cultural Expression. Have students read the articles and answer the questions using the interactive tools. (Students can do this individually or in pairs, as you prefer. You may wish to assign this as homework.)

Take up the questions using the Article Answers.

Make sure students understand that media influence how we see the world: what we think is important, normal, or desirable. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the creator of a media product intended those messages, because they can also come from the creator’s assumptions and choices about what to include, what to leave out, and how to present what’s included.

How different groups are portrayed in media – or not portrayed at all – can influence our attitudes towards those groups, which may affect how we behave towards them. As well, these impressions may come from more than just one media product: a single video game with a straight, White, abled main character may not mean anything, but if every main character in video games has those characteristics it probably does.