Sunday, November 14, 2010

Drake and Josh

Network:  TeenNick
Running Time:  30 minutes

Episode Name:  Blues Brothers

Targeted Age Group:  Tween (8-13)

Plot:
Drake signs up for the talent show which he's won two years in a row. Meanwhile, his step-brother Josh is invited to be the Junior Weather Announcer on their father's show. While announcing the weather though, Josh gets a sudden wave of stage fright which sets off his nervous twitch for the whole town (and world thanks to his sister and the internet) to see. While at the talent show, Drake's song is stolen and sung by his rival. It is up to Josh to overcome his fear of stage fright and help Drake so they can win the talent show.

Personal thoughts:
No one likes to be embarrassed and the pressure to be perfect or unnoticed is the main survival instinct for every tween and teen.  Normally at odds with each other, Drake reminds Josh that "Brothers help Brothers".  Josh learns that it is important to face his fear or risk his brother facing the same humiliation and losing to the group that stole his song. The moral is everyone has fears, and everyone should be shown respect and support, not ridiculed and humiliation. As the golden rule states "Treat others as you want to be treated".

Educational tie-ins/Learning Activity:
Teachers can have students research famous people (movie stars, athletes, President of the U.S., etc) that have overcome certain fears to accomplish their goals. An example is Maria Carey (http://www.vh1.com/news/editorial/?page=1&contentId=1583255) according to Vh1.
Libraries can offer seminars inviting people to speak on how they overcame fears to accomplish their dreams. They can also offer tips for things like public speaking.