How can I tie in Star Trek XI with my high school Economics class?

[spaceoddity]

I need an excuse for us to watch Star Trek XI in class, that ties in with economics, so I could convince my teacher we could watch it. And one that could perhaps also get other high school kids interested, too, cause I'm sure many of them would flinch at the thought of watching Star Trek, without knowing how awesome this film is. We're all seniors, by the way

Thanks!

 

[Greg Cox]

I need an excuse for us to watch Star Trek XI in class, that ties in with economics, so I could convince my teacher we could watch it. And one that could perhaps also get other high school kids interested, too, cause I'm sure many of them would flinch at the thought of watching Star Trek, without knowing how awesome this film is. We're all seniors, by the way

Thanks!

Maybe something about "branding" or marketing an old product to a new audience or something?

 

[Psion]

I recommend consulting this list and saving Star Trek 2009 for an after-school special.

 

[spaceoddity]

Great responses! Greg Cox, I'll say what you said to watch Star Trek XI now, but I'll consult the list you gave, Psion, for future movie ideas. That website is A+, I can't stop laughing

 

[Trekkie2]

I need an excuse for us to watch Star Trek XI in class, that ties in with economics, so I could convince my teacher we could watch it. And one that could perhaps also get other high school kids interested, too, cause I'm sure many of them would flinch at the thought of watching Star Trek, without knowing how awesome this film is. We're all seniors, by the way

Thanks!

Maybe something about "branding" or marketing an old product to a new audience or something?

That's not a bad idea. The audience for Star Trek has always been there, but it really wasn't until the new movie came out that the fandom skyrocketed all over the word. It amazes me how popular the Trek is, in the third world countries. Because of ST XI, there are fans who are TOS to start with and moving on to all the other series. All this from a show that got canceled after the third season.

 

[-Brett-]

I would go ahead and say don't.

I think that's one of the reasons people look down on Star Trek fans. The inability of some to grasp the concept that not everything needs to be about Star Trek.

 

[Finn]

I need an excuse for us to watch Star Trek XI in class, that ties in with economics, so I could convince my teacher we could watch it. And one that could perhaps also get other high school kids interested, too, cause I'm sure many of them would flinch at the thought of watching Star Trek, without knowing how awesome this film is. We're all seniors, by the way

Thanks!

Maybe something about "branding" or marketing an old product to a new audience or something?

That might work. However, as a teacher, I would not have my students watch a movie with just one reason that would only fit one single objective as part of the curriculum in my area. It may take me 3 days to finish a movie. That's a lot of instructional time. I'm not crazy about showing films that would take up more than one periods, even those geared toward education. Plus, the class may not actually learn anything from it. The girls may woo over Chris Pine. Something like that. Nearly a year ago, I showed Apollo 13 as part of my Moon unit. They enjoyed it. But they didn't learn anything about the moon.


To the OP, check your syllabus, whiteboard/flyers in the classroom or your teacher's website if possible. If your economics teacher is doing it right, there should be a set of goals/objectives listed for your current unit. If you are able to tie in several of them and fit it to the movie, and have the teacher show it on Fridays. But that would be pushing it.

I would go ahead and say don't.

I think that's one of the reasons people look down on Star Trek fans. The inability of some to grasp the concept that not everything needs to be about Star Trek.

True. I remember some posters getting upset about the idea of not making trek references for every situation for every single thing they do daily in my six years here.

 

[Set Harth]

Nearly a year ago, I showed Apollo 13 as part of my Moon unit.

Moon unit heh heh

 

[Finn]

I'm not Squiggy. Ok?

 

[Therin of Andor]

The audience for Star Trek has always been there, but it really wasn't until the new movie came out that the fandom skyrocketed all over the word.

You must be quite young?

TMP and ST IV.

 

[Finn]

Be nice. He never grew up with a trek show on the air. I did with THREE

 

[Therin of Andor]

Be nice.

Who's being not nice?

 

[Finn]

Be nice.

Who's being not nice?

It was just a tongue in cheek comment

 

[Temis the Vorta]

You could compare gross across all the movies. Here's a handy cheat sheet.

Interestingly, the domestic audience was larger as a proportion of overall audience for Trek XI compared with any of the TNG movies and of course made a lot more money as well. So the news there isn't that Star Trek has gained an international following so much as it's re-building a domestic audience. I'm sure if you adjusted for inflation, the older TOS movies are right in line with Trek XI's box office.

One topic for your students to ponder: why doesn't Trek XI have the standard domestic/international box office split of the Hollywood blockbuster type movie, which usually hits 50/50? Captain America was 48%/52% domestic/foreign compared with Trek XI's 67%/33%.

You'd think Star Trek's "internationalist" philosophy would have more foreign appeal compared with all-American Cap - but is it actually off-putting? Is it just the notion that Star Trek has a ton of complicated backstory that foreign audiences may not be familiar with? Or maybe it had nothing to do with the content - did someone blow the marketing overseas? Or was the domestic marketing just so insanely great, it resulted in unusually high domestic box office?

Box Office Mojo also has country-by-country totals so the students can dig down into the numbers and see if there were particular markets where Star Trek did not do as well (as a proportion of the total) as summer blockbusters generally should.

 

[Trekkie2]

Be nice. He never grew up with a trek show on the air. I did with THREE

Nope, he grew with all four on the air, so he's not quite young, but he does appreciate the comment.

Whoops! Make that six. I always forget about TAS, even though I watched it, and night school had me catching half of ENT on tapes.

 

[Finn]

^ TNG ended before he was born. He was little when DS9 and VOY ended. Since he's a high school senior. Besides, his attitude about ST09 seems to suggest he didn't really follow Trek prior to ST09.

 

[Therin of Andor]

^ TNG ended before he was born. He was little when DS9 and VOY ended. Since he's a high school senior. Besides, his attitude about ST09 seems to suggest he didn't really follow Trek prior to ST09.

Quite obviously, but his statement "it really wasn't until the new movie came out that the fandom skyrocketed all over the word (sic)..." needed correcting.

 

[spaceoddity]

You could compare gross across all the movies. Here's a handy cheat sheet.

Interestingly, the domestic audience was larger as a proportion of overall audience for Trek XI compared with any of the TNG movies and of course made a lot more money as well. So the news there isn't that Star Trek has gained an international following so much as it's re-building a domestic audience. I'm sure if you adjusted for inflation, the older TOS movies are right in line with Trek XI's box office.

One topic for your students to ponder: why doesn't Trek XI have the standard domestic/international box office split of the Hollywood blockbuster type movie, which usually hits 50/50? Captain America was 48%/52% domestic/foreign compared with Trek XI's 67%/33%.

You'd think Star Trek's "internationalist" philosophy would have more foreign appeal compared with all-American Cap - but is it actually off-putting? Is it just the notion that Star Trek has a ton of complicated backstory that foreign audiences may not be familiar with? Or maybe it had nothing to do with the content - did someone blow the marketing overseas? Or was the domestic marketing just so insanely great, it resulted in unusually high domestic box office?

Box Office Mojo also has country-by-country totals so the students can dig down into the numbers and see if there were particular markets where Star Trek did not do as well (as a proportion of the total) as summer blockbusters generally should.

Wow, thank you! I'll definitely use that in my argument. I'm a student, by the way! I'm in college level economics, but my teacher is a pretty lax, and spontaneous. my class is actually throwing a random surprise party (everyone but the teacher knows) this Friday (we have block scheduling, so there's plenty of time to watch one movie in one day), and nobody's bringing a movie, so, naturally, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to bring in Star Trek.

I wouldn't call myself a big Trekkie, though, as I've only seen a few TOS episodes, but I've been pretty obsessed with the 2009 film lately. It's too good! And when I love something, I feel like I must share it with others, so that they can also share my sentiments

 

[Finn]

Dude... Don't.

You say the party is for the teacher (sounds like it), yet you wanted an excuse to watch a movie you loved. I'll take the safe route and have a basic party with drinks and chips, and chat with everybody. Save the movie for a different time, and pass it by him first.

Besides, you don't want to appear like a fool among your peers. Just play it cool and avoid bringing something if you don't know for sure if it would be a success. Just bring Dr. Pepper

 

[spaceoddity]

Dude... Don't.

You say the party is for the teacher (sounds like it), yet you wanted an excuse to watch a movie you loved. I'll take the safe route and have a basic party with drinks and chips, and chat with everybody. Save the movie for a different time, and pass it by him first.

Besides, you don't want to appear like a fool among your peers. Just play it cool and avoid bringing something if you don't know for sure if it would be a success. Just bring Dr. Pepper

It's not a party for my teacher. A couple of kids in my class just thought of the idea to have a party, for no reason at all. If we were to ask my teacher to have a random party he would probably shut it down, but if we all were to bring snacks and drinks, he's the type of teacher that would just roll with it. It's not like we haven't had movie days before, that had nothing to do with my class's subject. At least I'm trying to relate this to economics! If he shuts the party down before it starts, which I very much doubt, there's not even a loss.. people would just share whatever snacks they brought at lunch or w/e.

My classmates who planned the party actually planned for us to watch a movie during it, but no specific film choice has been set in stone. I'm not going to force Star Trek on people, if they don't want to watch it, but if they become interested, because we don't have any better alternatives, then I don't see a downside to that. I've never been one to cater to other people's perceptions of what's "cool", so the last thing I could care about is if someone thinks I'm weird for wanting to watch the movie. It's not like my eccentricity would be anything new for my classmates. I'm not ashamed of my interests