Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. reflective
    • ex. Lucy's successful career is reflective of her hard work and intelligence.
  2. a moviegoer
    • ex. The moviegoers clapped and cheered during the exciting action scenes.
  3. fall short
    • ex. Ben trained hard for the marathon, but he fell short and didn't finish.
  4. out of touch
    • ex. I can't work in advertising. I'm out of touch with what people want because I don't use social media.
  5. on screen
    • ex. The actress always looks beautiful and confident when she appears on screen.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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A new study revealed that most Hollywood movies are not reflective of the current climate crisis. Researchers analyzed 250 movies from 2013 to 2022, and most of them didn’t pass the researchers’ test. The study also found that moviegoers are concerned about these issues and would like to see them in films.

How did researchers analyze the films? They did a simple test: They checked if climate change exists in the movie’s story, and whether a character knows it does. But most movies fell short. Less than 10% of the 250 films passed. In addition, only less than 4% of the films mentioned climate change. Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, the lead researcher, said that the movies are out of touch with moviegoers who want to see their reality on screen.

Some results were surprising. Movies that don’t seem to be about the environment passed the test. For example, Marriage Story, a 2019 drama, passed because a character is conscious about energy.  The 2019 horror movie Midsommar also passed. However, San Andreas (2015), a movie about an earthquake disaster, and The Meg (2018), an action movie set in the ocean, did not.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Climate Change in Films

  • Most Hollywood movies are not reflective of the climate crisis. Do you believe it is important for movies to do so? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Less than 10% of the 250 films passed the researchers’ test, and only less than 4% of the films mentioned climate change. Why do you think most movies are not reflective of the current climate crisis? Discuss.
  • What movie do you know of is reflective of the climate change issue? Discuss.

Reality in Films

  • Why do you think moviegoers want movies to be reflective of their reality (ex. because they want to relate with the characters)? Discuss.
  • Which do you prefer, movies that reflect reality or movies that don’t reflect reality (ex. fantasy, horror)? Why? Discuss.
  • Imagine that your life will be turned into a movie. What kind of movie would it be (ex. adventure, drama)? Discuss.