In recent weeks, we have explored the cultural politics of different phenomena in popular culture and media cultures, i.e., how these phenomena and examples offer broader lessons about struggles related to race, gender, class, sexuality, and power within our societies. Some of the themes we explored include: the debates and fallout that ensued after Janet Jacksons Super Bowl performance; the entertainment industrys treatment of Jackson, Britney Spears, and other women icons; how Hip-Hop artists have utilized the Internet to find new avenues for building audiences and challenging the inequities of the music industry; how media platforms and news channels profit from debates and images/narratives of anti-Black violence. All of these were examples of CULTURAL ANALYSIS.
In a 4-6-page paper (double spaced, 12-point Times Font, 1-inch margins), you are to offer a cultural analysis. This entails selecting ONE (1) RECENT (must have occurred or been produced within the past decade 2012-2022) MEDIA ARTIFACT/PRODUCTION (film, television show, web series, advertisement/ad campaign, current event, music song or album, art, website, social media post, theatrical production, sports-related media event, exhibition, etc.). Then you are to analyze how race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, nationality and/or religion (at least 2 of 7) are articulated and mediated in the artifact/production (you dont have to analyze all of these; explore one or two).
Below are questions/themes you can explore in your analysis and answer (you dont have to answer all these questions; they are simply a guide):
How are the above social categories represented/depicted in the media artifact and or debates surrounding it?
What kinds of meanings/ideas are communicated via the media artifact/production?
Does this representation reinforce certain ideologies and power dynamics? Does it contest them?
In what ways is this media artifact reflective of historical and/or current-day political and social struggles, ideologies, dynamics, or shifts?
What can it teach us about the role that media/art/culture plays in the maintenance and/or subversion of certain social categories/identities or power dynamics (that is within efforts to either dominate or resist domination)?
In your answer, you MUST utilize at minimum 2 (two) readings from class in your argument. Outside of these readings, you can also incorporate other sources into your argument (include them in your bibliography). Keep in mind that the objective of this paper is not simply to summarize what the media artifact/production is about, but rather what lessons we can take from it and how it ties into broader debates, struggles, inequities, resistance.
In writing your essay, be sure to clearly state your thesis and to develop your argument. Remember, it is important that you work to paraphrase other authors arguments and statements rather than be dependent on simply quoting the authorexpress your argument in your voice rather than constantly through the voices of other writers. And when you do cite an author, explain the citation (What is it saying? What is important? How does it relate or tie into your thesis or argument?).
