Friday, September 2, 2011

The Queen & Paparazzi: Paparazzi

The Queen is a wonderful movie which deals with Lady Diana's death and the Royalty's reaction to the press in a unique manner. Paparazzi is another interesting movie about Paparazzi, and these shocking scenes are food for thought. I used it to talk about paparazzi.





I. Match the vocabulary and its definition:


1. Footage

2. Inquest

3. be swarmed

4. Tip off

5. Onlookers


( ) an official process to discover the cause of someone's death

( ) a secret warning or piece of secret information

( ) large numbers of people moving around someone

( ) people who watch something that is happening in a public place but is not involved in it

( ) (a piece of) film especially one showing an event


Answer Key: 2, 4, 3, 5, 1


II. Now read the latest developments about Lady Diana's death and complete the paragraph with the words from exercise I.


Jurors at a London court have been shown previously unreleased video ___________ of the last moments of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her partner Dodi Al Fayed. The couple were seen rushing into the hotel on the evening they both died in a tragic car crash in a Paris tunnel. They _____________ by paparazzi and __________and dived into the hotel to avoid the photographers’ flashes. The new pictures reveal Diana and Dodi sharing intimate moments in the hotel’s elevator on the way to their fateful car journey. The focus of the ___________ is now on the actions of Henri Paul, the head of security at the Paris Ritz. There is speculation that he _____________ the paparazzi to exactly when and from where Diana would leave the hotel the evening she died. 

Answer key: footage, were swarmed, onlookers, inquest, tipped off


III. Watch the movie segment from them movie The Queen and discuss the questions that follow:



1. Describe the scene.

2. What were some of the moments that Lady Diana was caught by the paparazzi's cameras, according to the segment?

3. How did her death happen?

4. Was it an accident or murder? Explain it?

5. How responsible were the paparazzi?

6. Were the paparazzi important in Lady Di's life? Or were they only harmful to her? Why?

7. How could the accident be prevented from happening?

8. What are the celebrities that are mostly chased by paparazzi nowadays?

9. What would you do if you were a celebrity chased by restless paparazzi?

10. What are the limits for paparazzi?

11. Can paparazzi film famous people children and publish their photos/videos without the celebrities' permission? Why (not)?

12. Do celebrities depend on paparazzi? What are some celebrities you believe profit from the paparazzi's news?

13. What are the recent news you have seen that were published by paparazzi?


IV. Watch the segment from the movie Paparazzi and discuss the questions.




1. Describe the scene.

2. How would you describe the fans and their idol's (Bo's) contact?

3. What do you think about the picture in the newspaper? Do you think it is a worth-reading piece of news?

4. How would you describe the paparazzi?

5. What do you think about Bo's reaction?

6. Who's right? 7


. What would you do if you were in Bo's shoes?

8. What would you do if you were in the photographer's shoes?


V. Now watch the second scene from the movie Paparazzi and discuss these questions.


1. Describe the scene.

2. How do you compare this scene with the first one from the movie The Queen.

3. Was it an accident or murder?

4. How would you describe the actions of the paparazzi before, during and after the accident?

5. What should happen to the paparazzi?

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