How to Choose your Shows
Choose a television show to write about that will give you plenty of isms to analyze.
Start by reviewing the example papers. Watch a child’s show made for preschool children. Choose a show (animated or real-life) that includes plenty to analyze.
**Each show should be at least 20-minutes long (excluding commercials). If your show includes mini-episodes that are less than 20 minutes in length, please include both shows in the episode- if you are watching on YouTube, find another episode of the show to meet the 20-minute requirement.
How to complete your Media Midterm Report.
First, review the sample papers in this module. They are a good model for your analysis. Remember you can’t choose to watch the shows from the examples, since they do the work of analyzing the show for you. In order to do the depth of analysis required for this paper, your paper should be approximately 2000- 2500 This is meant to be a very detailed analysis that includes a clear enough episode description that I can follow along.
Steps for Completing the Media Report (Complete these steps for each show)
Set it Up: Once you have chosen a show (be sure to review the requirements above), name the show, the date, and time that you watched and the episode name.
Give a summary of the Show: Share a general overview of the show and provide a detailed analysis of the characters and their home life. Describe the show so that someone who has never seen it can understand what it is about.
Summarize the episode: Provide a detailed summary of the episode. This does not need to be a play-by-play of everything that happened but you should give an overview of the episode. See the examples.
Analyze the show: Describes the incidences of ageism, racism, sexism, ableism, classism, heterosexism, genderism, anti-Semitism, lookism, and colorism, etc. Be sure to include stereotypical behaviors, actions, or comments and microaggressions. Review the sample to see how detailed this should be. Talk about what isms are being perpetuated and countered. Watch the video in this module for information on how to do this and use the definitions list if you need help with the terms.
Analyze for Aggression: Did you notice any relational aggression, verbal aggression and/or physical aggression? Describe specifically what you saw and name the type of aggression that it was?
Analyze for Intentional vs. Unintentional Values: What intentional (planned) values does the show convey? What unintentional (unplanned) values did the show convey? How might these values impact children’s conscious and unconscious beliefs?
Analyze the Impact of the Show on Children’s enculturation. How might this show may influence/impact a child’s social identity? Talk about two children and the different messages they might receive based on their identities. Examples: a white child vs. a child of color, a girl vs. boy, a Muslim child vs. a Christian child, a disabled child vs. an able-bodies child, a rich child vs. a low-income child, etc. This should be a thoughtful analysis.
Give your Recommendation: Based on your analysis, would you recommend this show for children? Why or why not? Share three ideas that the writer could have used to improve the show from a Diversity Education Perspective.
Turn your paper in as a PDF or Word Document. Be sure that it is double spaced, formatted correctly, and that you have edited it for spelling and grammatical correctness.
