Module 2B A World of Mystery The late 19th century and early 20th century marked the time of two inventions that had great impact on society: cinema and television These developments soon became sources of entertainment and news They facilitated communication and brought the world together These industries gave rise to and had a strong effect on a mass audience At first, performers attracted great public interest with their accomplishments and gained fame as a result of their outstanding work However, this perception changed with the expansion of cinema and television Stars became products of the mass media and were called celebrities They did not need to possess great skills to be part of the industry In fact, the media changed its format and invented celebrities These individuals became products that the audience bought People got more interested in the lives of film and television personalities than in their abilities Undoubtedly, cinema and television are creators of celebrities and myths Sometimes, they build a reality parallel to daily life – reality shows are obvious examples Some series and characters have become cult figures followed by millions of fanatics For example, Elvis Presley became a kind of demigod for the American culture Series like Star Trek and The X-Files are studied in congresses There are even books published on Star Trek Science Actually, cinema and television blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction in such a way that could not be established again Activities 1 Answer the following questions a What were the advantages of the invention of the cinema and TV? b How did a star gain fame? c What abilities did celebrities have to show? d Give examples of films which illustrate reality shows English Toolkit - Communication Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 Did you know ? Module 2B 2 Write the words in the box under the correct heading accomplishments products reality shows work Stars no remarkable skills great abilities Celebrities a buy: e can: b become: f give: c bring: g get: Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 3 Write the past form of these irregular verbs and underline them in the text d have: 4 Look at the picture and answer these questions a What movie is this image from? b Who are the main actors / actresses? c Do you know the story? What is it about? d What genre does it belong to? (detective, horror, adventure, western, romance, humorous, science fiction, biographical story) e Can you tell a story from this image? 5 In groups of four students write a movie, television or comic script with four characters, showing some changes in space, time and action English Toolkit - Communication Robin Hood / Universal Pictures