According to our text there are four stages to completing a popular culture analysis: selecting a text, selecting a rhetorical/critical approach, examining the text, and evaluating potential implications. A mediated text is any form of media you consume – i.e. – films, television shows, movies, music, etc.
You will pick a piece of media of your choice. I recommend picking something you enjoy and have spent time with – i.e. – your favorite TV show or movie. You will then analyze that media from a critical lens. Each chapter in your text describes a different critical lens. For example, a student looked at Buffy the Vampire Slayer from a Feminist perspective. Each chapter has an example student essay as well. This will help you when writing your paper and proposal. Pick the media you would like to analyze and then pick the critical lens you would like to analyze that media from. Use your textbook to learn more about each lens.
**NOTE – This is a critical critique.
You should be analyzing the media of your choice from one of the perspectives in your text:
A Narrative Perspective
A Dramatic Perspective
A Symbolic Convergence Perspective
A Neo-Marxist Perspective
A Feminist Perspective
A Music Perspective: The Illusion of Life
Visual Perspectives
Media-Centered Perspectives
This walks you through the steps to take beforehand and how to put together the paper. Then utilize each chapter to see student essay examples.
You select the media to analyze.
You should provide history / background of the media you selected. You should explain why you selected it. Why is it relevant? Include viewership statistics or sales statistics. Does this media reach a large audience? Is it geared towards a certain audience? Is its creator significant in some way? Think about why this media is relevant today and to which audience. Why did you select it? You could discuss how many sales the book received and also that it was created into a movie. You could include how much the movie made during it’s showing or how many people purchased the movie.
Then you select a rhetorical perspective to analyze the book from.
Think about research questions. What do you think the media conveys? How can you think about the question and answer it with arguments from the particular rhetorical lens you selected from the text? You also should provide history / background of the rhetorical lens you selected to analyze the media. You need to make a case for selecting this rhetorical lens to analyze the media / answer your research questions. You will also look at the literature currently around this particular lens. You could look at academic articles that analyze similar media through this lens. This part is adding to the body of research that is already out there and implications for future research / analysis.
A Popular Culture Rhetorical Essay always includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
You are being critical of the media of your choice from a rhetorical lens of your choice. Be sure to use your critical thinking skills.
You can use each chapter to walk through the process of putting together a Popular Culture Rhetorical Essay from that particular rhetorical lens. There are also student essay examples in each chapter.
In your final paper, you will accomplish all four stages.
- Selecting a text
- Selecting a rhetorical/critical approach
- Examining the text
- Evaluating potential implications
Each section will be graded, according to its individual point value, on their own separate rubric. A brief description of each graded section follows below:
Proposal:
In your brief proposal you will be asked to draft the beginnings of a rhetorical argument. You must first select a text to critique, offer a working thesis/rhetorical argument statement, and briefly outline your plan for proving your thesis. In a 1-2 page typed document please identify the mediated popular culture text you selected and explain why you chose the particular text. Next, you will provide a preliminary rationale for your chosen rhetorical/critical approach. What sort of questions are you asking about your selected text, or what sort of messages does your selected text send? Your proposal will include a thesis/rhetorical argument statement, and a brief description/outline of how you intend to prove/persuade the reader to agree with your thesis/rhetorical argument.
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