Charlie Brooker - Screen Burn 

- Socratic Questions 
Socratic Seminar Questions  
 

1.  Close-Ended Questions (questions about the facts): Write a question that 
comes directly out of the text and has one clear and “correct” answer. 
  
For example: when was this article published? What is Charlie Brooker known for?  
 
1  What is Screen Burn? 

2  In which documentary is ABT celebrated? 

3  What is the text type? 

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5  Who is the target audience for this piece of Brooker’s writing? 

6  What is Brooker trying to “call for action” for? What is his intention or message? 

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8  What is the first thing that popped up in Google after searching “ABT”? What 
does this suggest about the significance of this group? 

9  How has Charlie Brooker used absurdity to convey his point? 

10  What are the drawbacks of white skin in the article? 

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12  When was the article published? 

13  What is the abbreviation of “Inside The Aryan Brotherhood”?  

14  What were the two multi-million-dollar industry for white skin described in the 
article? 

15  What is the fantasy that Charlie Brooker illustrate if there was a club to 
celebrate his whiteness? 

16  What did Charlie Brooker say to ignore during looking at the member doing 
Charlie Brooker - Screen Burn 
- Socratic Questions 
push-ups? 

17  What colour of Smarties are the best in the article? 

18  What type of march did Charlie Brooker reference for the green smarties? 

19  What was the excuse that Brooker made for Lucky’s choice of no sleeves? 

20  What was the ABT ‘hammering home the notion’ of? 

 
 
 
  

2. Open-Ended Questions (questions about inference and opinion): Write 

an insightful question about the text that will require lots of inference to answer. 
This is a question that has no definite “correct” answer but is more about opinion, 
evidence, and proof.   
Suggested Stem: What do you think about…? 
Suggested Stem: Why…? 
Suggested Stem: How effective is …? 
 
  
1  How do you feel about the tone that Brooker uses in this text? 

2  Comment on the aspects of the article which would cause offence to some 
readers. 

3  What is your opinion on the use of humour in this article? Do you think it is 
important? 

4  What do you think about the ending paragraph of this extract?  

5  How could this be offensive to someone?  

6  What is the purpose of the photograph? 

7  What conclusion can you make of this article? How does it relate to Brooker’s 
Charlie Brooker - Screen Burn 
- Socratic Questions 
statement ”​My motive is to entertain, it's not like I change anyone's mind.” 

8  How does Charlie Brooker's initial satirization of the white supremacist 

life/perception contrast with the reality of ABT members’ life? 

9  How effective is the satire in the text? 

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3. Literary Analysis Questions: Write a question about the author’s style 

and the way in which the text was written. This is a question about how or why 
the text was written in the way that it was. 
Suggested Stem: Why did the author…? 
Suggested Stem: What is the effect of the use of ….. in this extract? 
 
1  What is the role of smarties in this article and why do you think Brooker uses 
this metaphor? 

2  How effective is the irony that Brooker uses to describe the physical qualities of 
being white? 

3  Comment on the effectiveness of the opening paragraph. What techniques 

does Brooker use to grab the attention of the reader? 

4  What effect does Brooker’s colloquialism have on the reader especially in 
regards to their role as everyday citizens? 

5  What is the effect of the use of metaphors in the text? 

6  What is the effect on the use of referencing tattoos as a means of ‘clothing’ to 
hide one’s identity?   

7  What adjectives would you use to describe the tone of the opening paragraph? 

8  How is the aspect of satire brought into this article? 

9  What is the use of a mixture of short and complex sentences? 

10  Where, how and why has Brooker used opposition?  

11  Comment on the aspects of self-deprecation in this article. 

Charlie Brooker - Screen Burn 
- Socratic Questions 
12  What is the effect of the use of “A cell of cells” in this extract? 

13  What adjectives or stylistic devices Charlie Brooker uses to describe his white 
skin? 

14  How does Brooker use metaphor to support the purpose of his writing? 

15  In the paragraph beginning line 29, how does Brooker use irony to comment 
on the film-makers’ techniques? 

16  Line 10 - “To think anything else is just madness” - what technique is Brooker 
using here? 

   

   

   

4. Connection Questions: Write a question connecting the text to the 

world. You can do this in three ways: text-to-world, text-to-self, and 
text-to-text. Examples of these include asking questions that connect the text to 
modern society or current world events, asking questions that relate the text to 
us and our lives today, and asking questions that relate the text to another book, 
movie, or TV show.   
Suggested Stem: How is [something from the text] like? 
Suggested Stem: Does this remind you of anything else you have read/seen (give 
details)... 
Suggested Stem: How is [something from the text] similar/different to other texts you 
have read by this author?  
  
1  Do the stereotypes that Charlie Brooker references about being white seem as 
offensive as stereotypes usually aligned to the blacks? If so, how and why?   

2  What does Brooker have to say about the responsibility of the 

programme-makers to their audience? How is he critical? 
Charlie Brooker - Screen Burn 
- Socratic Questions 
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4  How does this edition of Screen Burn compare to the one on “The Genius of 
Darwin” in terms of its final message? 

5  This text is from 2010 - how do you feel that Donald Trump’s ascendancy is 
linked to the “desperate tragedy” and “wasted lives” of people like those in the 
ABT? 

6  Based on this article and other Brooker texts you have read, how would you 
describe the structure of a Brooker article (in 3 or 4 stages …). 

7  What comment do you have on the ethical responsibility of documentary 

film-makers in this case? 

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5. Universal Theme/Global Issue Question: Write a question dealing with 

a theme of the text that will encourage a group discussion about the universality 
of the text. These questions go for the deeper meaning of the text and try to 
help us understand what the text has to say about how we should live our lives 
and what's real for us as human beings. 
Suggested Stem: What does this article have to say about… (power, race, media) 
 
1  Is Brooker’s commentary on racial supremacy applicable to all social contexts? 

2  Does Brooker’s commentary on race apply to only Nazism, or to racial 

supremacy as a whole? 

3  What does Brooker have to say about the glorification of hate groups, gangs 
and violence in popular media? 

4  Brooker describes the lives of the prisoners - what critique does he make of 
the penal system in the USA? 

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Charlie Brooker - Screen Burn 
- Socratic Questions 
6  Comment on sentence structure in this article. Give examples of long/short/ 
telegraphic/complex/compound/fragmentary sentences and explain the effect 
of varied sentence structure within the article. 

7  Comment on the pun at the end of the article. 

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Charlie Brooker - Screen Burn 
- Socratic Questions