Five Animated Short Films for Teaching Theme
Why Animated Shorts?
Using animated short films to teach literary themes is a great way to engage students and help them understand literary devices. Exploring universal literary themes through short films can help students recognize how these themes are present across different texts. Students develop a deeper appreciation for these themes and can apply their knowledge to more complex texts.
1. Foxed: Building the Foundation for Understanding Theme
I often find my students need help identifying a theme in a text because they need help understanding the essential elements of a plot and writing a summary. These foundational skills are necessary to identify a theme. The film lesson for FOXED! focuses on these skills. It’s a cautionary tale about a little girl kidnapped by foxes and forced to work in their underground mines. It has a very Coraline-esque feel when she attempts to escape and sees her mother in a mirror. Her mother is taking her new and improved daughter to school and doesn’t realize her daughter is a fox. You can view this film for free online: www.foxedmovie.com/theshortfilm/
Mirror Poetry: Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then with a Twist
This activity guides students through the summary writing process while also including elements of poetry. Students write a summary poem with an AABB rhyme scheme in the style of “Mirror, Mirror on the wall…”
This lesson includes activities revolving around identifying the elements of a cautionary tale. Because Foxed! is a cautionary tale, it is easy to identify a theme.
2. “Lifted” Life Lessons through Theme
In this animated short, Stu is a young alien trying to pass his abduction test. Students will practice crafting a thematic statement after identifying a topic. They will learn that texts can have multiple themes and will practice explaining how a theme has been implied in this film. As a bonus, the theme in this film relates to mindset, resilience, and perseverance, which are good life lessons for students. If a theme is the author’s critical belief about life, why not choose texts with themes that include character lessons that will also benefit students?
Theme Anticipation Guides
The Theme Anticipation Guide is a two-part activity done before and after viewing the film. First, students mark their opinions about four statements related to thematic topics in the movie and explain their reasoning. Then, after watching the film, they reflect on their opinions and note what happened in the movie that changed or confirmed their thinking.
Survey Says: students of all ages enjoy movement breaks. Have students fill in their opinions with reasoning on the theme anticipation guide and then tell them to select the statement about which they have the strongest opinion. Set a 5-10 min timer and ask them to go around the room sharing their opinion with as many other students as possible. When the time is up, have each student summarize what they heard during their movement break. Students can do this before or after watching the film. After the movie, instead of asking students to share an opinion, ask them to share their “I used to think— but now I think—” statements. Then, have students report to the class about what scenes from the film lead to changes in thinking.
Extension Activities Related to the Theme
Disney Pixar’s “Lifted” lesson is also included in a Back to School Bundle of short films for teaching character education. This bundle includes lessons for three Pixar films: “Lifted,” “LOU,” and “Boundin.” The fourth film in this bundle, “Wire Cutters,” is free on YouTube. These films are bundled together because they all include character extension activities on bullying, empathy, collaboration, mindset, and resilience. Read more about the activities in this post: Four Short Films for Character Education.
3. The Teaching of Theme Begins to Come of Age
La Luna is the story of a young boy discovering his own identity. He is taken out in his grandfather’s boat and introduced to the family business. He is encouraged to do things the way his father and grandfather do but finds his own way. In this lesson, the activities are more complex as students look at the role dynamic characters and conflict play in developing the author’s message. In most English Language Arts curriculums, there is a theme early in the year that centers on texts related to growing up, coming of age, or identity. This film is an excellent introduction to these thematic units of study.
Differentiated Lessons
The “La Luna” lessons are slightly different from my other products. This is one of the most comprehensive short film lessons I have created because there are three task variations within each focus area (plot, character, conflict, theme). Teacher feedback has been really positive, so I have created more lessons like this. These lessons would work well in learning centers, station rotations, and small group instruction.
4. Getting “Lost” in Multiple Themes
After students have begun to develop a basic understanding of the theme, share “The Lost Thing.” In this film lesson, students will explore the role of the setting in developing a story’s theme. The film shifts from gray to colorful scenes as the parallel worlds help to make the author’s point that being overly focused on putting things in their place rather than simply enjoying the wonder and amusement of the unexpected can lead to a bland and unimaginative society.
Students begin to examine the universal nature of themes by analyzing well-known texts that share similar themes in which contrasting settings play an important role in the story’s message. “The Lost Thing” pairs well with “The Polar Express,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Giver,” “Peter Pan,” and “Alice in Wonderland.” The Lost Thing is also available in picture book format, and if you use both the movie and the book, students can work on mastering the common core standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.7
Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.
Freebie Alert
The lesson on symbolism, setting, and mood is free in my TpT store.
Get access to the extension projects on the free resources page of this website. This password-protected page is available to email subscribers only. Click HERE to become a subscriber and get your password.
The purchased lessons include a digital interactive notebook and printable versions of everything. Check out the preview HERE.
5. Feral: A more advanced study of theme with a focus on conflict, character arc, motif, and symbolism
“Feral” is an Academy Award-nominated short film about a boy found in the wilderness and taken to a civilized society.
The conflict and themes in this film would work well with “Tarzan of the Apes,” “Lord of the Flies,” “My Side of the Mountain,” “The Jungle Book,” and “Into the Wild.” I focused mostly on Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book,” as it is a short text that my students have most likely seen the film version of and the text is free online, eliminating the need for purchasing a class set of books. The original text is challenging, and a basic knowledge of the story from the Disney movies would help students comprehend the excerpt I selected for a close reading lesson.
Motif: a recurring feature in a text that relates to the theme
When a writer chooses to repeat something in a story, it signals an important idea or message, whether a repetition of words, images, or a situation. Repetition is a way to emphasize the importance of an idea or message. The writer wants to ensure the audience doesn’t miss the point.
Get the theme lessons from this post:
- Get all five short film lessons on theme at a discounted price HERE.
- Get the back-to-school character education bundle that includes “Lifted” HERE.
Related Posts About Using Animated Short Films for Teaching Theme:
- Related Post: Learn more about teaching with animated short films HERE.
- Related Post: Themes in “The Lost Thing”
