Gender and Communication
Paper #2: Visual Rhetoric – 100 pts.
Your Task: Compare and Contrast a mainstream media story with an independent/marginal media story about the same instance/event/phenomenon.
Produce a critique focused on how a media text conveys gender and contributes to certain narratives/discourses.
-Discuss how the circumstances and situation are portrayed in each and analyze how gender is being framed through each narrative.
-What rhetorical tone is conveyed in each?
-How is the narrative a product of our culture, and what does it contribute to shaping/maintaining the status quo, or questioning/pushing-back against our culture?
-Where do you see dominant narratives being confirmed or counterpublics being addressed?
-Incorporate the course material (examples, vocabulary, specific studies, key take-aways from
the readings) into your analysis.
Try to reference the more recent readings on our calendar:
-Boylorn (135-143)
-Phillips (149-160)
-Wood (165-177)
-McKinnon (183-193)
-Squires & Brouwer (201-216): Indiscernible Bodies: The Politics of Passing in Dominant and Marginal Media
-Tracy & Rivera (221-240)
A thoughtful and worthwhile discussion should offer a critical analysis that links to approximately 10 concepts (placed in bold), and a variety of the readings from the course.
Minimum requirement: 5 pages (double-spaced) and at least 5 sources from course material.
(Tip: In academic writing, the # of pages should typically match the # of sources.)
-A key difference between mainstream media and alternative media is mainstream media reaches much larger audiences and has much greater funding. Mainstream media sources are very easy to find, and
typically are most prominent in an internet search or in everyday life (billboards, commercials, magazines, bus ads, etc.), while alternative media outlets are more difficult to access, or take a bit more
searching.
-Mainstream Media: Media that is available to the widest audience, including television, radio, print and online publications (newspapers, magazines, books).
-Recognizable name brands. TV Networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, Websites like MSNBC, New York Times, USA Today.
Film companies include: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, United Artists, Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios
-Independent Media: Media that is alternative to the mainstream, it is not corporate owned, and is therefore not immediately recognizable by name. This can also include non-domestic sources that originate outside of the United States that are not mainstream in American culture.
-The Root, Al Jazeera, Peace News, Democracy Now!, Alt-Press Watch,
Advocate: The National Gay and Lesbian News Magazine, Atlantis: A Womens Studies Journal
Visit The Alternative Press Center to search for additional alternative media sources: www.altpress.org.
Film companies include: Focus Features, Anonymous Content, Gilbert Films, Red Crown Productions, EFO Films, BCDF Pictures, Annapurna Pictures, Mandate Pictures, The Independent Film Channel Productions, Killer Films, Frenesy Film Company, Memento Films International
Pointers for Writing a Paper
-A good rule to follow as you write essays is to strive to quote the readings from the textbook, rather than the Power Point slides or lectures. Most of the information on the PPs are found in
the readings, so its always best to get closer to the primary source of information by citing the reading itself whenever possible.
-IN-TEXT CITATIONS (note the punctuation):
Heres my sentence if Im paraphrasing what someone else said (Lorber, 1993, pp. 218-220). Heres my sentence if Im including a direct quote from one of the readings (Lorber, 1993, p. 218).
REFERENCE LIST
Lorber, J. (1993). Believing is seeing: Biology as ideology. In J. A. Linde & B. A. Edson (Eds.),
The process of gender (pp. 27-33). Kendall Hunt.
POWER POINTS
In-text citation: (Fisher, 2020b, slide 9)
Reference List: Fisher, R. (2020a). Title of presentation [Power Point slides]. Retrieved from www.asu.edu
Fisher, R. (2020b). Visual rhetoric [Power Point slides]. Retrieved from www.asu.edu
For more information about APA citations, visit the Purdue Owl website:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
