Sky High

Producer: Disney
Year: 2005
Length: 1hr 40mins
Rating: PG

Film Description:

This movie follows Will Stronghold, the son of two very famous super heroes, as he enters a High School for students with super natural abilities. Will has high expectations from his parents to be the best super hero, but unknown to them, Will has not developed any super powers. This lands him in the Sidekick track where he meets friends with unremarkable super powers. When the bullies of the school become villains plotting to take down all the heroes, the sidekicks must band together to stop the destruction of the high school and the world. This movie covers bullying in a fantastical way that allows students to detach from narrative so that it isn’t so emotional. Doing this, I believe, allows the students to see bullying from multiple perspectives before the students can feel like they are in the characters’ shoes. This movie is also age appropriate for middle schoolers in its rating and it content given that it gives some insight into High School, even if it is a fictional school.

Film Review:
This movie covers bullying fairly well as it clearly addresses the effect bullying can have on a single student, their peer group, their home life, and the school at large. I feel that with the different ways Will and his friends react to the bullying, students can gain an understanding of why being a bystander can be dangerous if they don’t stand up to bullies. For example, when Will starts to hang out with the popular hero group, they pick on his friends still in the sidekick track, and yet he does nothing to respond to their harassment.

National Health Education Standards:

• HBO 3. Avoid bullying, being a bystander to bullying, or being a victim of bullying.
• V1.12.10 Analyze the negative consequences of violence to perpetrators, victims, and bystanders.
• V1.12.11 Explain how bystanders can help prevent violence by reporting dangerous situations or actions.
• NHES Standard 2: Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.
  S2.8.3    Describe how peers influence healthy and unhealthy behaviors.
  S2.8.4    Analyze how the school and community can affect personal health practices and behaviors.
• WaHES Standards H1.So5.6a Describe different types of harassment, intimidation, and bullying.
• WaHES Standards H1.So5.6b Analyze harmful effects of harassment, intimidation, and bullying.

Core Integration:
A particular scene in the movie shows various characters displaying their super powers. One student, deemed to be a “nerd” because of his scrawny body and glasses, does not impress the teacher, but when tested for his ability becomes a large, muscular man that can lift up cars over his head. Likewise, at the climax of the movie, Will’s friends display how their average super powers can be useful in situations that save the world, i.e. turning into a guinea pig means Magenta can fit into small tunnels that lead to the power source. The students would write a short story that has them reflect on their super powers. They would need to brainstorm ways in which things they do in regular life can be super powers and write a short essay about it. Then they could do a drawing that reflects their average abilities as super powers.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3.a Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3.b Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3.c Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3.d Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to convey experiences and events.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3.e Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.