Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Class Activities
Part VII: Still Watching Television in the Digital Age
Activity 1
Question of the Day
The question of the day is a fun and easy way to draw students into the topic of the
day’s class, get to know one another, take roll, or use as a discussion question for
an online class. Here are the questions for use in Part VII.
1. How are characters that come from lower-class backgrounds portrayed differently
compared to their upper-class counterparts in media?
Activity 2
Critical Viewing in Action: Class Dismissed
1. Obtain a copy of Class Dismissed from your campus library or from the Media
Education Foundation.
2. Depending on time and instructor preference, show the entire film or selected
sections to the class.
Activity 3
South African Wedding Shows
1. Episodes and excerpts of South African reality program Our Favourite Wedding
and Top Billing Weddings are available on YouTube; Some can be found here
4. Ask students to compare both the format and subtle racism in these programs to
American reality wedding shows such as Say Yes to the Dress; My Big Fat Gypsy
Wedding; Bridezillas or others.
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Activity 4
Celebrity Trans Visibility
1. This activity calls on students to view the manufactured trans visibility of Caitlyn
Jenner’s celebrity lifestyle and place of privilege and what life is really like for
members of the trans community. There are several clips from I Am Cait on
YouTube. Watch several of them with your students. (They range from 3 to 5 min in
length.)
2. Then view the following short documentaries which are available on YouTube:
a. A Trans Sex Worker at Brazil’s Carnival:
3. Discuss with students the dubious nature of a figure like Jenner acting as a
representative of the trans community with both her wealth and conservative views.
4. Ask students to name figures who might be a better spokesperson for the trans