The 7th graders at the International School of Brussels had an entire day of technology- and Internet-suffused awesomeness yesterday. I was asked to send them a short kickoff video for their day since they had previously watched my TEDxDesMoines talk. Here’s what I sent them…
Ultraman! Way cool.
But here’s the thing…when we were growing up watching Ultraman or it’s equivalent, we did so as media consumers. We would consume those programs critically (saying, “that’s not right– that contradicts what they said in episode 4” or “if he has laser eyes, why didn’t he use that in episode 11?” or whatever.) We’d think, ‘if I were writing/filming that episode, I would have done it differently.’ But we knew, as a certainty as fixed as gravity, that people did not make Ultraman movies, only TV/movie studios made films. When we were watching Ultraman, it never occurred to us that the next generation, that our current kids, would have access to the tools make their own shows. My 11 year old could today make a movie with the same quality production values–the same special effects but better resolution and in colour–as Ultraman on her cell phone. You know? Just look at some of the fan films out there (e.g., http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,589287877001_2012690,00.html) It’s mindboggling the creative potential that has been put into our kids’ hands…but instead of being excited by this potential, schools have either ignored these developments or are frightened by them….
Why isn’t making the next episode of Ultraman a project in every English class?
Just saying!