Group: 4
Evaluate this film: The pros and cons. Is the message relevant for us, too? Explain!

• Black Policeman:
  Racist against black people.
  Scene:
  1. A burglar gets into the house of Tre and there the policeman said: to bad that you don’t get him.
  2. Tre and Riccy drive home from the party. Suddenly the police stop them and one of the policeman hold a gun at Tre’s face.
  Today: That’s also like the situation here. ….?
• Mother:
  Mother is different, because she earns more money. She lives different and she also doesn’t want to use slang. She wants to be integrated and be like white people. (The way she lives and the restaurant she chooses.)
  Today: A white woman from the middle class who wants to belong to the rich people.
• Education:
  It’s not usually that a black person gets a good job and a good education.
  The education is biased for white people not for black ones. For example: Riccy’s wife. Riccy is dead and so she has nothing now.
  It is very important to get people educated otherwise it could be that they have nothing.Today: Turkish people in Austria aren’t as good educated as Austrians.
• Drugs, alcohol, guns came from white people. It’s them making profits.
• Black people are interested in keeping their family together. Family, friendship, community --> Brotherhood.
• A real man is not someone who kills and gets women pregnant.
• Today: We don’t have a gun problem but the drugs and alcohol come from rich white people and are consumed by poor Austrians or Immigrants.
• Today: Turkish people are interested in keeping their family. They don’t talk with white people, they don’t have a white community and they count themselves out.

Application

Jack White
Abbey road 1
7896 Röthis
Austria

Mr. Jack Black
blab Company
101 Manchester Road
Somerset, KY 78458

January 31st, 2008

Dear Mr. Black,

Application for the dentist assistant job

I am writing to apply for the dentist assistant job, which you advertised in the New York Times. Although I haven’t very much experience in this job, I am technically very talented and I am able to handle stress very well. The list below shows you my education, strengths and my talents:

o I have successfully completed the dentist apprenticeship in Austria
o I have worked in a hospital as a assistant for two years
o I have the Cambridge certificate in English
o I am very patient
o I can handle stress

If you have questions or requests, you can reach my anytime by cell phone, 256 002 562.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hear from you.

Sincerely
George Martin

letter of complaint

Ronald McDonald
Kutzen 3
6842 Koblach

December 5^th, 2008

BBC Complaints
PO Box 1922
Glasgow
G2 3WT

Dear BBC-Team!

Letter of complaint

I’m writing you, because I’m really horrified about some advertisements on your television channel. Yesterday I saw one of those women deprecatingly advertisements, and I want to complain about that, because I think it’s really discriminating for women.

Yesterday, it was about 7 o’clock in the evening, I watched BBC and I saw an advertisement, which shocked me. It was about a detergent, named “Clean“. There was a woman, who stood in the bathroom while her husband and her two children came home from work and school.
Their clothes were full of stains and the woman began to rub the clothes, trying to clean them.
Then she said: “cleaning clothes is such a hard think to do”, her husband came in and threw some other dirty clothes in front of her. At the end of the advertisement a scripture appeared: “with this detergent, housework is like holidays - Clean”.
It really shocked me to see this advertisement. The woman is presented as her husband’s slave. Do you know how many people watch BBC and how many people are easy to convince? Women shouldn’t get repressed by their husbands, but it’s exactly what this advertisement is doing. In TV we should show the people how we can change this conservative lifestyle. Nowadays women also go to work and there are also men who do the household. You should consider that in your advertisements.

What I have to say is that you should not support discriminative advertisements in any way. If you want things to change, than you have to change your advertisements.

yours sincerely,
Ronald MCDonald

Social pressure and beauty for teens

Pro:

• Fashion labels concerns get rich (good for business)
• Everybody is looking for themselves (hygiene, fashion…)
• Boots self- confidence
• Beauty is success in our society, so why shouldn’t people make them beauty?
• Because of the high demand, there is more work for people
• We live in a free country, so everyone should be allowed to do with his/her body whatever he/she likes

Con:

• Social pressure because it’s not their own wish
• It’s a big risk to undergo surgery
• Addiction
• Teens haven’t finish their growth, so their body still changes
• You don’t get addicted, if you don’t look good
• A lot of teens buy more clothes than they have money
• Maybe they change their opinion, when they’re older, so it’s not good to change your body in this age
• Teenagers get influenced by advertisements

Additional thoughts:

• Personality is changing
• Will there always be the same beauty ideal?
• Will the surgery age go down?
• Will beauty be the most important thing in life?
• Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?
• If you want to do that you do it, no matter if your mother also had a plastic surgery or not.
• Teenagers exaggerate with the beauty ideals

youth group

I do not really have a special style and I do not belong to any youth group. I’m just the way I am. I love listening to music, it’s one of the most important things in live to me. I love going to different concerts but I don’t have a specific music type. I listen to hardcore and deathcore, indie, electronic, hip hop, Balkan music and a lot of other music styles. I almost like every type of music. I the last few years I got influenced on music a lot. The most influence I get is by my friends and by going out. I’m very happy about that because I discovered some new music styles.

My clothing style isn’t very special, I wear what I like and brands aren’t important for me at all. I like clothes which are comfortable and simple. I’d never wear high heels, because they hurt and I don’t want to wear things just because they look good but hurt.

I think there’s nothing bad about youth groups, but if you aren’t accepted in a group the way you are and if you change your lifestyle because of some people, I think it’s really not good. The problem about youth groups is that people who don’t have friends think they get some if they adapt and do what the others do. I think that’s very sad. the individual gets lost and if everybody looks and behaves the same the world would be very boring. Everybody should be able to be an individual and nobody should adapt. There is just one youth group I don’t agree with: the skinheads. In my opinion they even aren’t a youth group, they are criminals. If somebody has the opinion to kick people out of our country and if somebody hangs nationalistic posters onto the wall, I think they should go to jail and get to a psychiatrist. I don’t have a problem with left orientated youth groups, because they normally do not harm anybody and there ideology is much better. That sound like I am intolerant, I’m not, but I think there really shouldn’t be tolerance for skinheads.

All in all I think It’s very important to have good friends. But for me good friends don’t have to be the same like you. Isn’t it much funnier to have different meanings in some points so that you can discuss a little bit?

403 words

Conflict Map

What conflicts do you notice?

Charlie/Sister:

His sister got beaten up by her boyfriend and Charlie had to keep the secret.

The sister’s pregnancy:

She got pregnant and told it Charlie. She didn’t want Charlie to tell anybody.

Brad/Patrick:

Brad called Patrick a faggot. It ended up in a fight.

How do the characters try to solve the conflict?

Charlie/sister:

The sister didn’t do anything about it, she just avoid it. Charlie told it Bill and he told it his parents. His sister was very mad because of that.

The sister’s pregnancy:

The sister aborted the child. Charlie kept the secret and helped her to get to the hospital.

Brad/Patrick:

They started to fight. Charlie helped Patrick.

Solutions:

Charlie/Sister:

It was good what Charlie did, but I think he should have talked to his sister about it first.

The sister’s pregnancy:

I think the sister should have thought about the abortion better, but it’s ok what she did, I would have done the same probably. That Charlie kept the secret was also ok. He isn’t responsible for her sister and it’s ok when she doesn’t want anybody to know.

Brad/Patrick:

I think they shouldn’t have fight. Brad isn’t worth fighting. But I think it’s good that Charlie helped Patrick winning the fight.

Character map - Charlie

What does he look like?

It’s not mentioned what Charlie looks like in the whole book. Probably he looks like a typical teenager, because he’s not a individual. He does what other do and never does anything on his own, e.g. the drugs

How does he act?

He cries a lot:

o about the sister, when she got hit of her boyfriend and he told it Bill and his parents

o because of his dead aunt Helen

o after the conflict with Mary Elizabeth, Sam and the others

o when Bill said goodbye

o after the fight with the bully

He has low self-confidence and he does what other people want him to do:

o drugs, he never thinks about the consequences

o he said nothing when Mary Elizabeth wanted to fuck him

o he showed no reaction when Patrick kissed him

o Sam told him how to behave in front of Mary Elizabeth

o he never told Mary Elizabeth to stop talking that much

How do other people react to him?

Sister:

o At first, their relationship isn’t good. They don’t talk about private and personal things. When she got pregnant, Charlie was the only one, except her boyfriend, she told. Since then their relationship got better.

Parents:

o Their relationship to Charlie is ok, but not really intensive. They often watch TV together and they like each other a lot, but Charlie would never talk about his teenager problems with them.

Sam and Patrick:

o Sam likes Charlie very much. She gives him more self-confidence. Patrick cheers him up and they like each other a lot. In the hospital Patrick is always there for Charlie.