IN THE 1995 ACTION FILM "TRUE LIES," good guy Arnold Schwarzenegger is fighting Arab terrorists. Although young movie goers may be entertained by the film’s action, they may be unaware that the movie uses stereotypes to enhance the movie’s plot.

"I hope that talking about these issues makes them (students) more aware of the effect that the media has on them," said Marina Kavenagh, an English teacher at Robert Lewis High School in North Hollywood. "The media has a tremendous influence on everyone and particularly on their age group."

Kavenagh, other teachers and about 600 students from six Los Angeles-area high schools discussed the use of stereotypes in films and other ways the media influences their lives at a two-day Media Literacy seminar last week at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Educational Partnership’s Humanitas program, the Media Literacy seminar attempts to educate students on the role and effect of the media in their lives. Topics included the media's social role, the effects the media has on behavior and how stereotypes may be perpetuated by the media.

"Things aren’t always as they seem," said Herman Ramirez, 18, a senior at Earhart High School in North Hollywood. "I’m going to look at movies differently now and pay attention to these things."

Students sampled film clips from the films Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, Cocoon, Dangerous Minds, Philadelphia, The Truman Show, Airforce One, The Nutty Professor, True Lies and various documentary footage. Afterwards, students answered questions about how they see themselves represented in movies and television and discussed how they might go about creating their own film or TV show. They also discussed the media’s entertainment, commercial, educational, political, informational and socializing roles.

"A lot of the things we see reflect things in society," said Jackie, 16, a sophomore at Lewis High School. "But sometimes people aren’t shown in an accurate way."

For one week prior to the seminar, students were required to keep "media logs" in which they logged their observations of what they watch and read in various forms of the media.

The Media Literacy seminar was developed with the support of the Los Angeles Educational Partnership’s Humanitas program, which promotes the professional growth and effectiveness of teachers to improve instruction for urban students. Humanitas focuses on a thematic interdisciplinary writing-based approach to teaching. Humanitas involves nearly 400 teachers and 9,000 students in 42 high schools.