Undermine Censorship

It is likely that you all take many of your basic internet freedoms for granted...saying what you like in chat rooms (even if sometimes you know you shouldn't), being confident that your blog won't be deleted overnight by a government who disagrees with your views (good excuse for not doing homework though), and being sure that you won't be imprisoned for sending an email to someone that is critical of those in power.

But in many countries these freedoms are not available so you are urged to join the Amnesty International campaign - irrepressible.info - to fight for the simple human right of freedom of expression.

So take a short break from your revision and do something that will help others in real need...

Sign the pledge and post up the link on your blog that automatically publishes censored material that some governments don't want their people to see.

And let us know if and when you've signed the pledge in the comments section below...

Remember This?

Best Media Essay 2006

Congratulations to Aanchal who receives the accolade of having written the best Media Studies essay this year. This is a prestigious award that goes to the Year 13 student who produces a 3000-word coursework submission with the highest score...she got 59 out of 60!!

Her self-titled study is called - “You have to be twice as good as the English to get anywhere” How are Asians represented in the film 'Anita and Me'? - and you can read her introduction below...

Since migrating to the UK, mostly in the 1970’s, ‘Asians now make up just over 3.5% of the total UK population’ and ‘Asians like steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal regularly enter Britain’s Rich List’. Yet despite their ever-growing success and stature in this country, up until recently the lack of Asian presence in the UK media has been a major cause for concern, arguably due to the long-term white hegemonic hold over media industries. However, the recent introduction of more Asian-orientated entertainment, such as the BBC’s groundbreaking sketch show 'Goodness Gracious Me' (1998) and the recent hit 'Bend it Like Beckham' (Gurinder Chadha, 2002), has contributed to a growth in awareness of Asian culture and also acted as a catalyst for the increase in multicultural entertainment that is now much more firmly entrenched in the UK’s mainstream media. 'Anita and Me' (Metin Huseyin, 2002) is one of the many recent films that can be categorised under the newly formed genre: British Asian. Meera Syal who, over recent years, has contributed a great deal to the newfound popularity of Asian culture scripts this relatively low budget film. 'Anita and Me' tells the story of Meena, a young Asian girl living with her family in the small mining town of Tollington. Set in the 1970’s, the audience is encouraged to understand and appreciate how Meena and her family live in an era where racist views are the dominant ideology, and gaining in currency in some quarters what with the rise of the National Front.

To read the rest of the essay go to Aanchal's blog and find the post dated May 3rd 2006. Also, check out some of the other finished essays on the Year 13 page.

DVD - Coming Soon!

What you see here is the first exclusive screen shot from the forthcoming DVD containing all the Year 12 AS Practical Productions.

As you would expect, the documentaries and film trailers on offer here are of the usual high standard that GHS students seem ever capable of producing.

Both Year 12 and Year 13 classes will get the chance to see the work in special premieres in their last lessons before study leave. (Providing a great opportunity to carry out some textual analysis practice for the Module 1 and Module 6 exam papers).

And every Year 12 student will get a free copy of the DVD to keep as a memento of their achievements and (for those wanting to do Film/Media at university) to put in their portfolio for when they are called for interviews.

If anyone else would like a copy they are available - for a short time only - at the special rate of only £1. See Macguffin or Mr Babu to order one.

Comics Competition

Well done to the Year 11s who were prizewinners in the school comics competition. Students had to design a comic strip for a 7-11 year old target audience in preparation for the forthcoming Controlled Test on Children's Comics. Out of 150 entries we selected the fifteen that were the very best and you can read all of these of the Year 11 blog.

What you see here is one of the winners - 'Terrible Trio' by Angeli Patel - that is absolutely superb, as you will doubtless agree.

A number of the others also reached this very high standard and the general quality (even amongst those who didn't win) was most impressive which suggests that students will do very well in the exam.

Congratulations, especially though, go to the following...Chintan Barot, Sonia Kapoor, Tanya Loi, Radhika Sorathia, Samira Seini, Manpreet Matharu, Manveer Bedi, Lakhvinder Sandhu, Nishank Dhirajlal, Baldip Atwal, Sepand Bastani, Dipika Tripathi, Natasha Kumari, Latika Pallan

Do check out the site and post up some comments (even if you're not Year 11), saying what you like about them.