Movies for Citizenship in the Community

[pinkflame]

I showed Hoot last night and it went over great. It came out in 2006, done by the same people who produced Holes and several other kid and teen friendly movies. It is about a boy who team up with two other early teens to save a colony of burrowing owls from being bulldozed for a restaurant. Without being preachy it compared organizing and using knowledge and persuasion to destructive tactics. There is just enough boy-girl and school issue action as well as comedy to engage the kids but no bad language or anything else in poor taste. The guys from our troop who are taking the badge are mainly younger Scouts but there was one 15 year old there and he liked the movie as well. The college aged clerk at Blockbuster recommended it when I came in thinking my best choice was Pay It Forward. Preview, Hoot, I think you'll love it

[ustbeeowl]

How can you NOT like a movie about OWL's?

[Lisabob]

I know this is an older thread but I am counseling this badge and have been asked to come up with some G-rated options that do not include Disney-type films about cutesy animal characters. Practically all of the options mentioned on this thread (and elsewhere) and that I can think of are rated PG at the least, or in the case of older movies, are not rated at all. Please Help!

 

 

 

 

[FireKat]

Try "Fly away home" (I think that is the title)

It's about a girl who raises and teaches a flock of geese to migrate. I think Disney made it.

[EagleBeagle]

Gridiron Gang (2006, Columbia Pictures, Run time 2:00, Rated PG-13)

 

From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421206/usercomments

 

The movie is based on a true story of a juvenile detention camp probation officer Sean Porter (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson), who is frustrated by the 75% recidivism rate of the teenage felons that he is responsible for at Camp Kilpatrick. Sean Porter, a former college football star, comes up with an idea to form a football team. Porter believes that football will teach the teenage inmates what it takes to be responsible, teammates, and be winners for the first time, not losers. Porter and probation officer, Malcolm Moore (Xzibit) become the coaches, and they only have 4 weeks to get a team together before their first game. The juveniles must give up their gang rivalries on the gridiron to unite as a team.

 

You may think that this is just another football movie, but you would be wrong. This is one intense movie that gives you a realistic look into the lives and attitudes of teenage gang members, and their mindset that life means nothing to them when it comes to being disrespected by other gang members. Coach Porter was able to change their ways and give the young men a second chance, and they were better for it. You may be surprised that the Rock actually did a fine job of acting as Coach Porter. You must stay to the very end during the credits, because they show scenes from the documentary of the actual people.

[packsaddle]

Welcome to the forums, EagleBeagle. Good to have you with us.

[msnowman]

I don't know any G options that haven't already been given, but for older boys "Braveheart" is the one Nephew watched with his Counselor's approval.

 

YiS

Michelle

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Isn't Xzibit the guy who used to host "Pimp my Ride"?

[fgoodwin]

The requirement states: "With the approval of your counselor and a parent, watch a movie that shows how the actions of one individual or group of individuals can have a positive effect on a community."

 

Now, if the counselor selects the movie, why would the Scout need the counselor's "approval"? To me, needing the counselor's approval implies that, first the boy picks out the movie, then obtains approval from his counselor & parent. Is that adding to the requirements? I don't think so.

 

Everytime this thread pops up (and it does like clockwork, every year or so either here or on SCOUTS-L), some well-meaning counselor asks the group for suggestions for a movie.

 

Color me the MB curmudgeon if you want, but ISTM its the Scout who should be making that selection; the MBC's job is to approve it (or not).

 

Of course, if the Scout comes to you for suggestions, I suppose it would be nice to have a few titles in mind, still, ISTM its the Scout who s/b thinking this through and coming up with ideas, not the MBC.

 

Whose MB is it, anyway?

[Lisabob]

Interesting point there fgoodwin, and one I'll think some about. Not being a real movie buff I am tempted to breathe a sigh of relief and say ah, this gets me off the hook! But I have found that boys, esp. those 12-13 year olds who I am now working with, tend to offer up some rather weak choices here and go for movies with a lot of action/blood/gore/loud noises than movies with anything much in terms of plot lines. Tokyo Drift, for example, was suggested by one fellow. So having a list of some options, with the caveat that the list is NOT the definitive word on the subject, might help boys to think a little more carefully about what they want to watch and why they are watching it.

 

Actually I recently had a boy who asked whether "The Majestic" would be acceptable - I was thrilled that he had thought of it (and I had not), and it is now on "the list." THat same boy, though, was delighted to find that I had several suggestions for him too, because he had never watched most of the movies on my list, and he likes movies. He ended up choosing a movie that he hadn't seen before, although I told him he could re-watch The Majestic if he wanted to. Seems to me this is a good thing (he can see additional examples of the role of individuals in the community, from another perspective), and it might not have happened if I hadn't had a list of sorts.

 

And then...the boy whose parent won't let him watch PG movies...now that's a real challenge. I'm tempted to say he probably ought to wait a couple of years to do the MB in this case, but then I also know a few parents in the troop who won't allow their 15-17 year olds to watch PG movies yet either.

 

 

 

 

[ASM162]

Since we have just past this great day this year; one in which we are told to expect six more weeks of winter, I will gladly suggest "Groundhog Day"!

As for the boys choosing the movie and getting approval from the MB counselor, I believe that it is wise to have a list of movies to provide suggestions to the lad. It seems like the boys want to "Loosely" relate an action movie that they just saw, or was just released, to the requirement of the MB.

[oldsm]

The requirement states: "With the approval of your counselor and a parent, watch a movie that shows how the actions of one individual or group of individuals can have a positive effect on a community."

 

The requirement DOES NOT state "Pick a movie...and have your counselor and a parent approve it."

 

Until and unless a boy has watched a given movie, he will have no idea whether or not it would meet the intent of the requirement. So it is entirely reasonable for the counselor to offer some suggestions to give the boy some latitude as to what is available and what his parents will approve. I think this fits right in with the ADULT GUIDANCE and ASSOCIATION WITH ADULTS part of scouting.

 

Incidentally, the Citizenship in the Community entry on meritbadge.org has a sizable list of suggested movies for this MB, although it doesn't have the ratings. It does, however, provide links to the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) where you can see plot synopses and find the MPAA rating (scroll down to "Additional Details").

 

[Edited to correct typos.](This message has been edited by oldsm)

[jierad]

Here's a few others I didn't see mentioned that would probably be good candidates

 

*** Stand and Deliver (PG) Story of LA math teacher Jaime Escalante

*** Lean on Me (PG-13) Story of Paterson NJ principal Joe Clark

 

both involve troubled youth and the story of someone who game them a chance to succeed

not necessarily always by conventional means

 

*** Coach Carter (PG-13) about a coach who tries to instill merits of scholarship and ethics

by benching his undefeated basketball team because of poor academic performance

*** Radio (PG) based on the true story of a small town HS football coach who befriended a

developmentally disabled man which ultimately inspires the local townfolk

 

Of the ones previously mentioned, I like

*** Mr Holland's Opus

*** Follow Me Boys

*** 12 Angry Men

[fgoodwin]

oldsm, with all due respect, I'm going to disagree with you.

 

I think the intent of the requirement is to get the boy to use HIS brain (not yours) to think about what movie he wants to use to satisfy the requirement. If you simply hand him a list that meets the requirement, how much thinking has the boy done?

 

Its like the old saying, "Give a man a fish, and you've fed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for life". Making the boys choice(s) for him isn't exactly teaching him to think.

 

Just my 2

[oldsm]

Requirement 5 states:

 

"With the approval of your counselor and a parent, watch a movie that shows how the actions of one individual or group of individuals can have a positive effect on a community. Discuss with your counselor what you learned from the movie about what it means to be a valuable and concerned member of the community."

 

I understand this to mean that the counselor and the parent have to approve the movie. The boy has to watch it, then discuss what he learned with the counselor. The requirement does not state that the boy has to research movies before proposing one to watch. In my opinion, requiring that would be adding to the requirement. Perhaps the issue of who chooses the movie was left unstated intentionally to provide flexibility for the counselors?

 

Given the hundreds and thousands of movies that are available, I think it is unreasonable to expect a boy to locate and read synopses of (potentially) dozens of movies in an attempt to find one that his counselor and parents approve for purposes of this MB. I can conceive of this becoming nearly as onerous as identifying and proposing an Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project.

 

A compromise method might be for the counselor to propose a "short list" of movies for the scout to choose from.

 

Perhaps we should agree to disagree on this. One of the great things about the scouting program is the wide latitude provided for individual units and counselors to implement the program in the way that works best for them.