HEALTHY/UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS:
LESSON: Relationships In The Media
Overview
Teens may assume they "know" a great deal about the lives of celebrities and the types
of relationships they have with their significant others. As only one example among
many, consider a couple such as Rihanna and Chris Brown. Both were well known stars
who received a great deal of media coverage appearing in many happy-looking photos
together.
So here’s the happy couple, but what else might be going
on behind the scenes? -
DISCLAIMER
Yet behind all the media hype, their relationship was a very troubled one. Your students
will be able to cite many other examples of celebrity relationships that they later
discovered were unhealthy.
Since many teens do not consider an unhealthy relationship to be such a big deal, it’s
important to focus on what happened AFTER the abuse in celebrity cases such as
the Brown case were reported. Generally there was public outcry by the mainstream
media; advocacy groups for abused women (or men) also often speak out. The
public’s response as depicted by mainstream media’s coverage of both emotional and
physical abuse indicates that unhealthy behavior is generally not considered acceptable
in our country.
Level:
Middle / High School
Objectives:
- Taking a second critical look at media reports about the relationships of celebrity
couples
- Brainstorming and discussing indicators of both healthy and unhealthy
relationships
Time:
1 class period
Preparation and Materials:
Procedures
Celebrity Couple Relationships (10 minutes)
Ask the students to divide up into teams of 2-4. Appoint one person as the recorder for
the group:
- Divide a paper into four columns: a) name of a famous couple b) “healthy
relationship,”, c) unhealthy” relationship and d) unsure
- Brainstorm and list famous couples.
- Based on what you’ve read or heard about these couples, now choose what
kind of relationship you think that these couples had/have and why (e.g. if you
choose healthy, list characteristics you’ve heard about that make you come to
that conclusion; if “unhealthy,” again tell why)
Now ask for volunteers to discuss some of the couples on their lists.
- Ask them to name one couple that according to all the media hype has a good
relationship. Write down their answers on a white board.
- Ask them to name the indicators they have read or heard about in the media to
indicate that this couple has a healthy relationship. (Allow students to debate
what they’ve read or heard about these couples, citing contradictory indicators
that they may have heard about.)
- Name a couple that seems to have an unhealthy relationship? Why do you think
it’s unhealthy? Write their answers on a white board for the class to consider.
Discuss what happens when the media discover that the relationship seems to be an
unhealthy one? Does the public generally support the abusive party in the relationship?
(Stress the negative reaction.) Do any of these couples break up after the unhealthy
relationship is discovered?
Activity
Part One: Real Life Relationships (5 minutes)
Celebrities live in a kind of fantasy world. There is a great deal that we don’t know
about their real lives based on all the media hype surrounding them. Sometimes we
are surprised to learn “the rest of the story” such as in the case of Rihanna and Chris
Brown.
Discuss with the class what constitutes a healthy versus unhealthy relationship in the
real world. Have them respond to the following True or False statements:
Tell the students to continue working in their teams. Give all the teams 5 minutes to list
indicators for both a healthy and an unhealthy relationship as they observe it in real life
around them.
Part Two: Write an article about a celebrity couple (20 minutes)
Tell students to assume each of them is a reporter and their assignment is to write
about the health of a relationship of a celebrity couple of their choice. There are
some things that they know about this couple based on current reports. But they also
should have questions that make them want to know more before they can confidently
conclude that this is a healthy or unhealthy relationship.
Instructions: Write your article to address what you know as well as the unanswered
questions that you have about this couple.
- What indicators does the media tend to focus on to prove that this is a healthy or
unhealthy relationship?
- What’s missing from these reports? What hasn’t the media chosen to cover?
- What else would you like to know before drawing any firm conclusions?
Before they start writing, ask students to check the two different lists they have
constructed as a team in Parts One and Two to review the indicators they have
identified.
Encourage volunteers to share their articles with the class.
Assessment
Pinpointing indicators of healthy and unhealthy relationships, verbal explanation of
ideas their team has recorded; student articles including indicators of a healthy or
unhealthy relationship, and analysis and evaluation of current media reports to justify
their conclusions.