From Owls to Humanities: Good Values in “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”

This paper reports the activity of using a movie to provide students with artistic and emotional experiences in recognizing good values of humanities. The activity is a part of Australian Studies course delivered at the Study Program of English, Universitas Brawijaya, and the movie being reviewed is an Australian box office “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole”. During the movie appreciation, the students are instructed to focus on (1) the indigenous value and culture found in the movie, (2) the most impressive aspects of the movie, and (3) the character’s inspiring line(s). The result of the activity shows that most students recognized the Australian value of “mateship” which was shown by the main characters. Australian indigenous culture such as telling stories of legends and myths and about the Dreamtime is well addressed by most of the students. The students are also seen to disclose their understanding of universal values of good and bad. The students’ most favourite line, which is uttered by one of the main characters, “Mend the broken, make strong the weak, and vanquish all evil” reflects the students’ awareness on the importance of adopting good values and suppressing the bad ones.