Since then, there have been a series of stand-out productions which have significantly influenced the culture of LGBTQ+ cinema and societal attitudes more broadly. Take, for instance, the 1970 classic The Boys in the Band, one of America’s first depictions of openly gay life, or the powerful documentary of New York City’s drag culture, Paris is Burning (1990).

Fast forward to the 21st century, and groundbreaking movies like Brokeback Mountain (2005) form an integral part of mainstream cinema, bringing queer experiences into popular focus.

These are just a few of the many iconic filmmakers whose landmark productions have educated, inspired, and expanded the horizons of LGBTQ+ representation in film.

Unapologetic productions like Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures, both from 1963, exemplify the freedom underground film had to explore queer identity at that time.

But the 80s and 90s saw an increasing societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ themes, and influential independent cinema like My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991) and Go Fish (Rose Troche, 1994) successfully brought queer narratives to a broader audience.

Modern cinema is increasingly aware of these issues. Several notable films of the past decade have opened doors for more nuanced, respectful explorations of LGBTQ+ identify. For example, The Danish Girl (2015) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) both received important critical and commercial success for their sensitive portrayals of transgender and lesbian characters.

The enormous difference between films like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and Moonlight (2016) are testament not only to the creativity of LGBTQ+ filmmakers, but to the diversity of experience within queer culture, too.

Rafiki (2018), A Fantastic Woman (2017), Paris is Burning (1990), and Disclosure (2020) are just a few examples of cinema which amplifies marginalized voices and brings unique stories to fore. Films like these help to highlight queer contributions to culture and move towards a more inclusive future.

Celebratory films about love and identity – think Love, Simon (2018) and Carol (2015) – offer an opportunity for LGBTQ+ individuals to see themselves represented on screen and feel a sense of hope about the future.

But investigative documentary-filmmaking also has a part to play. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) underscores the history of transformative activism and the need for individuals to address difficult realities.

It might not come as a surprise that youth media consumption has evolved fairly dramatically with the rise of digital technologies -it doesn’t take a genius to see that traditional media like television and print have been supplemented (at best), if not supplanted, by digital platforms.

Because of this kind of shift, people of all ages – but particularly the youth as older generations still consume those traditional media outlets we mentioned earlier primarily – now need a more evolved approach to media literacy that addresses all of the nuances of digital media consumption.

Exposure to media, but more so social media where certain communities can be cesspits for hateful and radicalizing content, can naturally have a major impact on the mental health and emotional resilience of whoever consumes it.

Now that you’ve got a better understanding of what media literacy is and the importance of it for using the internet let’s take a closer look at how it can actually be taught in a way that reaches the most people.

Generally speaking, integrating some kind of media literacy class into school curricula is essential in this day and age for a comprehensive education. Rather than teaching it as a standalone topic, the better way to go about this is to incorporate media literacy into a few of the already existing subjects, like:

Let’s explore some of the more effective ways that you’re able to learn about media literacy that isn’t just reading a quick article on the internet.

Again, instead of giving a student a quick note or announcement, interactive activities that get the students engaging in practical media literacy exercises are definitely the way to go if you want them to remember the stuff they’ve learned. Naturally, this can come in quite a few forms, but this can include things like:

This way, the students can actively participate in the exercises you’re trying to teach them, and they’ll have a far better understanding of the media production and consumption processes.

Back when I was at school, you’d be lucky if you got to use a computer to help with your learning – not only because they were so expensive and poorly stocked but because of how limited they were in terms of their application.

Furthermore, it’s worth looking into using social media platforms and digital tools that are a bit more familiar to the students who are receiving the lessons. Again, back to the topic of social media, using examples on sites like Twitter means they’ll be receiving practical, real-world applications of the media literacy concepts they need to know about.

Whether it’s a group project, peer review, or simply something like a classroom discussion, you’re getting the students involved with each other and forcing them to think a bit more critically than if you were to simply just hand them a document to read.

Following on from the previous point, we’re lucky to have quite a lot of different resources to help keep up with media literacy – naturally, this is something that’s especially important given how fast this space is developing and how advanced some of the methods that are used to spread disinformation are getting (as mentioned earlier, this encompasses things like deep fakes).

In order to actually provide effective media literacy education, those who are teaching it are, of course, going to need access to a variety of resources that’ll help them teach and reinforce these skills, including:

Moving forward, here are some other books and articles we reckon you should check out if you want a few more insights and strategies for teaching media literacy:

We’ve talked a lot here about the various range of resources and workshops that are available to you, and while it’s all well and good there being so much variety, you might be wondering if these are actually worth integrating into your lesson plans or curriculum.

As we’ve talked about throughout this article already, the concept of integrating media literacy strategies within schools and universities is still kind of a new project, but even in that short time, there have been quite a few different case studies we can look at from across the world and here within the United States.

It’s nice to know that this sort of thing is working well in Scandinavia and other parts of the world like Australia, but are there actually any examples of media literacy being taught here in the United States?

The short answer is yes, and it’s actually becoming more and more common, too, even though media literacy initiatives tend to vary by state and school district.

Going back to the previous example we made earlier about the Digital Citizenship Curriculum by Common Sense Education, this is yet another initiative that provides lessons on things like:

All of which demonstrate that there’s definitely a fairly diverse approach to how media literacy education is being taught throughout the country.

We’ve given you enough resources now to put a few different media literacy initiatives into place, but in order to actually see how effective they are being, there’s still a few different measures you should consider – not least because you’ll need to adapt to new trends and challenges as they come along (which they definitely will in the coming years).

Generally speaking, you’re going to need to collect and subsequently analyze some data if you want to properly determine how effective your new media literacy programs are performing.

As touched on numerous times throughout this article, the media landscape is something that’s constantly evolving. This naturally brings new challenges and opportunities for media literacy education.

To wrap things up, it goes without saying that media literacy education is absolutely paramount in preparing the youth for an increasingly complex digital world, and it’s only going to become more important over time. As touched on, this is one of the best ways you can equip them with the critical thinking skills needed to properly discern credible information – but perhaps more importantly, protect their well-being and mental health.

If all goes well, we’ll be able to nurture a generation of media-literate individuals who are actually capable of thriving in the digital age and aren’t bogged down by misinformation.