“To have fear in your stomach”, here is an expression which perfectly defines the psychological state of Mr. Crocodile in the dentist’s waiting room. A crazy relationship between a client and his dentist.
Who is most afraid? The patient crocodile or the rabbit dentist who seems not to appreciate his client's sharp teeth?
To laugh at the fear of the dentist, an emotion felt by many children...and adults.
The film allows us to address the complexity of relationships between living beings, particularly in how others interpret our attitudes and expressions, essential to the development of our personality.
Thus, emotional empathy, which is the first form of empathy, is already present a few hours after birth; then comes cognitive empathy which manifests itself around 4 years of age in children or perhaps even before; it is what allows us to decipher the feelings of others.
However, as we can see in the film, our own emotions can take precedence over our capacity for analysis and prevent us from correctly reading the feelings of those around us.
The short film “You look scary” was selected at the Takorama 2020 festival organized by the Films pour enfants association.
Questions about the film
Understand the story and themes, express your feelings and develop critical thinking.
1Who are the main characters in the film? A crocodile going to the dentist and a rabbit dentist.
2Why is the crocodile afraid of the rabbit? He is afraid that the dentist will remove a tooth and that it will be painful.
3Why is the rabbit afraid of the crocodile? He is afraid that the crocodile will eat him.
4Who is more afraid of the other? Both are also afraid.
5The fear is mutual; has the rabbit understood that the crocodile is afraid of him and vice versa? No, they haven't understood that the fear is mutual: they are too afraid to realize it.
6Do you sometimes think you don't understand another person's feelings? Open response/debate.
7What do the very colorful images and bubbles next to the characters represent? This represents what the characters imagine. For example, at 1:55, the rabbit imagines that the crocodile's teeth are huge and sharp when in reality they seem harmless. The students will be able to write this story first time based on what the characters see in reality and then a second time based on what the characters imagine.
8What are the customers in the waiting room in the final scene thinking (from the colored bubbles)? Students will describe each of the characters’ thoughts.
Download the film's educational activities as a PDF
Created with the support of the French Ministry of Education and the French National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC).
Watching the film with the family, educational activities with parents at home and with teachers in class.
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