Model UN in Movies and Series by İnci BAKIRLI

Model UN is a great way to socialize, learn, and improve ourselves. But when we leave our circle and look at other classmates or adults we can see that there is a lot of things that they are not familiar with our lives. And that’s because of the lack of representation it has on media. So, let’s admire shows or films that have included Model UN in their topic:

Winning London (2001)

 

This was the first new film I watched for this article and instead of talking about how it could be better, I’ll talk about the differences between our Model UN that we have in Turkey and the Model UN concept this movie presents us.

Firstly, there were delegations which were representing the same country in the same committee. And we see them in a conference room together. It is not usual in the Harvard General Assembly but from what I understand it is the “Plenary Session” in THIMUN, so from this we can learn that they are doing THIMUN procedure.

The crisis committee part was exciting not only because a film actually acknowledging the existence of crisis committees but also due to the fact that they truly encouraged taking actions instead of just negotiating, it was not even with directives but in real life.

 

The first crisis in the crisis committee

And there was a part that they were asked to speak about a certain topic in front of the audience without learning the topic beforehand so they could prepare. I find that quite impossible to implement in here because delegates usually only need information about the topic or some basic information about their country and not every single issue in their country. I still know that the procedure can be different in every country or even city so if you have any information you know what you can do.

Lastly, this film was hard to find and when I did find it there were no subtitles and had low quality. Basically -except the different concept- there is no reason to actually try to find a website to watch the show so I suggest you to finish reading the article before trying to.

Community “Geography of Global Conflict”

This was one of the reasons that I decided to write this article. Community is a show that takes a concept and brilliantly follows through with it. And I think this is one of the episodes you should watch even if you do not watch the whole series.

The episode starts with telling about the ambition that the reason most of the students start participating in conferences because they think it is extracurricular that can help their resume. That is true and usually, it is the reason most of the students start participating in conferences. The fight that they have about founding it is something we can see in real life too and the solution is really interesting. We know that something like this would not happen but it is still really interesting to watch.

In conclusion, the point that they make at the end of the episode and the show itself is quite entertaining so you should definitely see it.

Two Model UNs trying to be better than the other, as known as “the solution”.

Parks and Recreation “The Treaty”

In this episode, the concept was very similar to our conferences except for the fact that they overlooked the big age-gap between delegates such as a man and a woman in their 30s attending a conference that targets an audience of high schoolers which would not work as we see in the ending.

But generally, they make points emphasizing that you shouldn’t be biased in Model UN based on your personal issues because it affects other delegates and the conference badly, and it would be great if everyone thought of that.

It was generally fun, I am definitely going to watch the whole series after this episode.

Never Have I Ever (2020)

This is a film that you probably have seen before reading this article. It does attach Model UN with success but also shows us it is a way to make friendships.

The scene where they go out of the procedure and declare war in a seemingly General Assembly committee is a common theme in the movies or episodes that I have watched for this article.

And I want to end this film’s review by telling that the social scenes were fun and accurate enough.

 

The Goldbergs “The Other Smother”

This episode is not, particularly about Model UN. The reason that I want to mention this one because it reflects another side of extracurricular activities like Model UN which is that they are really exhausting and stressful sometimes.

This episode tells us about the pressure that we have to deal with during these activities, whether it is caused by parents or our own ambitions.
The part where one of the main characters finally stopped lying and joined Model UN where she was being herself was really nice.

 

The Simpsons “Das Bus”, “Lisa The Drama Queen”

The Simpsons always have an extraordinary way of telling stories, they’re fun but when you think about them you can tell a lot of things, but I suggest you go watch them for yourselves instead of only reading my review.

Das Bus is an episode where they get stuck on an abandoned island which they will eventually try to enforce laws and form their own citizens when they are on a bus on their way to Model UN.

Lisa the Drama Queen is an episode where the main characters run away, hoping to create an equal utopia while the chance of making the real world their utopia -which is Model UN in this situation- gets forgotten about.

So, these episodes are not about the procedure or anything like that but they are about criticizing the idea behind the actual UN in a way that is hidden behind comedy. That makes this the best one so far in my opinion. But feel free to tell me about your opinions!

 

 

 

İnci BAKIRLI

Member of the Content Producer Team