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Double Dutch–Double Jeopardy
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Audience:
Elementary School Children (Multi-Racial)
Year:
1991
Speech Rate:
144 words/min
Large Words
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The primary focus of this video is a classroom presentation by David Kamens, a White, 20-year old AIDS educator and a person with AIDS. Throughout his question-and-answer session, clips are interspersed of a multiracial group of elementary school children on a playground chanting an AIDS rap and dancing to it. The video's principal message is that children and teenagers should refrain from using drugs, wait until they are adults to have sex (and then should have protected sex), and avoid unhealthy practices generally.
Kamens describes his own experiences with AIDS, including the reactions of his family and friends to his diagnosis. He attributes his infection with HIV to his early sexual activity, his lack of knowledge regarding protected sex, and his inability to overcome peer pressure. He discusses how drugs and alcohol impair good judgment and lead to sexual risk taking. Condoms are briefly mentioned in the context of sexual responsibility, but no explicit discussion of safer sex is included. A visual postscript notes that Kamens died one year after making the video. This video is appropriate primarily for elementary school children as a supplement to other information about AIDS. The video's principal strength is David Kamens' first-person account of what it is like to be a young person with AIDS. He discusses his experiences frankly and answers the children's questions truthfully and without patronizing his audience. Seeing him – coupled with learning that he died a year after making the video – will probably have an emotional impact for many young viewers. Other information contained in the video (e.g., concerning transmission routes) is not presented in a way that will be readily comprehensible to elementary school-age children; terms are not explained or repeated and graphics are not used. The video does not explicitly discuss sexual behavior apart from encouraging children to abstain from all sexual activity. A similar approach is urged to drugs and alcohol. Consequently, the video may not be relevant to audiences that include sexually-active or drug-using adolescents. The playground scenes are marked by an incongruity between the serious lyrics of the AIDS rap and the joyful affect displayed by the children who are singing it. They appear to be very happy about the experience of being filmed. Some viewers will wonder whether the children understand the words that they are rapping. |
Go to video listings for:
African Americans
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