3. Texts
Depending on which FNF event was attended
there were different texts. The film Les
Miserables was one option. Sean Bott was
the other option, and he utilized texts such
as posters, playing cards, and other written
word mediums.
4. Participants and Setting
These are UW students who chose to view the film Les Miserables.
They are in the Family Room in the Union.
Activity and Literacy Event: Viewing, interpreting, and understanding the film as
well as discussing it afterwards. This includes musical and cinematic literacy as
well as literacy in written and spoken English.
5. Participants and Setting
These are UW students who chose to see the Mentalist Sean Bott,
in the Ballroom of the Union.
Activity and Literacy Events: Viewing and sometimes participating in Sean Bott’s show.
This included reading posters and notes he had written as well as playing cards and
other props. This largely depended on being able to read the English language and
understand numbers and symbols.
6. Activity
In this picture (sorry for the poor quality) a student,
who had correctly guessed the number Mr. Bott had
Been thinking of, is reading a note Mr. Bott wrote
earlier that day describing the person he predicted
would guess the number 55. The audience was
impressed by his accuracy.
7. Activity
Another activity involved four different students working
together to determine what card was placed face-up in a
face-down deck. They guessed the 7 of clubs.
A girl rifled through the deck and recognized the face-up
card as the 7 of clubs. Again, the audience was impressed.
8. Literacy Practices
The first Literacy Practice UW students participated in was determining
which even they wanted to attend. Information on both events was available on
FNF’s webpage as well as on posters around campus. This choice would have
been between the “higher” and more cultured option of Les Miserables and
the “lower” more sensational option of the Mentalist Sean Bott. Student’s
would have weighed their personal preferences and chosen accordingly.
9. Literacy Practices
The students who chose to see Les Miserables participated in a cultural phenomena.
As the longest running musical in history Les Mis is an iconic piece of pop culture.
By viewing the film, UW students were participating in the tradition of the musical
as well as gaining pop culture knowledge that may be useful in the future.
10. Literacy Practices
The students who chose to go to Sean Bott’s show followed a tradition of being
impressed by the sensational and the impossible. “Mentalist” is a fairly new term,
and those who fall under that category follow in the footsteps of magicians, who
also use deception and misdirection to amaze an audience.
They also applied logic and reason. Many students expressed surprise and disbelief
at Sean Bott’s “abilities” and “tricks”, such as correctly guessing what someone would
look like without ever having seen them and knowing which card a group of people
would choose hours before they did it. Just as with magicians, the audience
wondered how he was able to do it and mentally walked themselves through the
process to see if they could do it themselves.
11. What Else?
While walking by the Wyoming Family Room before the film Les Miserables
began, I heard a girl say, in a very surprised tone, “You’ve never seen Les Mis?”
Her tone and the question itself is evidence of the cultural importance she places
on the musical and the film as well as the importance she places on participating
in the event.
Many exclamations of “No way!” and “How did he do that?” during Sean Bott’s
performance informed me of critical thinking and critiquing that was occurring in
the minds of the audience.
Among other cultural practices, students at both events were participating in the
cultural practice of having fun with friends on a Friday night, which traditionally
includes partying. The purpose of Friday Night Fever is to provide students with
good, clean fun, allowing them to participate in the cultural practice without
endangering themselves or others.
