[Assignment Sheet: Essay #1–Cultural Analysis]
As we’ve seen, looking at pop culture can help us not only better understand the interests and trends of a particular culture, but it also allows us to probe deeper and ask ourselves, “Why are these things important to this group of people?” For this essay, you will analyze 1-3 cultural “texts” from American popular culture, focusing on what it reveals, reflects, or comments on about American culture at large.
When considering pop culture texts, you can focus on things such as:
Films
Television shows
Folk tales, urban legends, fairy tales, or poems
Music videos, songs
Art (paintings, photographs, etc.)
Other cultural texts (such as video games, memes, podcasts, conspiracy theories)
Your texts need to be concrete, tangible objects that you can interact with, as this interaction will be how you analyze it. You also need to be specific with your selections – don’t just try to analyze ALL of rap music (there’s too much!) – narrow it to a single artist or handful or artists/songs.
You can mix and match different kinds of texts, making sure that they are connected in some way (by artist, by region, by genre, by message, etc). For example, you can choose a specific urban legend and a horror film that both explore our culture’s value on virginity. Or, you could explore 2-3 rap artists’ songs and discuss how they portray the Black American experience.
Alternatively, you can focus on a single “text” – perhaps an analysis of WWE/Professional Wrestling and how it’s a form of modern drama for a male audience? Or how the popularity of the true crime podcast, My Favorite Murder, is a larger reflection of our culture’s anxieties.
More topic suggestions are available here: Topic Suggestions for Essay #1
Once you’ve chosen your “texts”, begin your analysis of them.You will need to do a close “reading” of them, meaning that you’re viewing/listening, taking notes, and analyzing their content and components. You’ll need to provide plenty of evidence from the texts in your essay in order to support your interpretations and claims you make about their meaning and importance, so make sure you’ve chosen ones that give enough to work with in terms of details and depth.
As you work to explore and better understand the topic itself, start considering those interpretive questions:
What is the larger message of this text? How does this text(s) relate to or reflect certain American values or beliefs?
Is this text a response to or commentary on certain cultural events or issues?
What similarities or patterns do you notice between this and other texts that deal with a similar issues, message, storyline or character?
How has this text/genre/artist evolved? What are other texts that influenced or shaped this one? How has this text shaped others?
How will it continue to evolve? What might the future hold for this (artist/genre/discussion/issue)? Is this something that can/will stand the test of time, or is it simply a trend?
Why has this text become popular? And with whom? Why do people relate to this text?
While you don’t need to answer all of these questions, use them to help you keep your focus on interpretation – YOUR ideas and understanding about the text. You are not simply summarizing the text’s message or giving me an overview of the artist or genre. You are discussing its larger connection to and importance for American culture at large.
Although the goal of this essay is to provide your own interpretation and analysis, you are allowed to use up to 2 outside/secondary sources. These can be used as providing you with necessary contextual or background information as you see fit, or to bring in a critical interpretation of another author. Again though, we want to see what YOU think, so don’t let other people’s ideas, research, or background info overtake your own ideas.
This essay will be 3-4 pages, double spaced, and following MLA formatting conventions (Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1 inch margins, etc.). A Works Cited page will be included as a part of the page count, and will need to cite your pop culture texts as well as any secondary sources you used (if any). I will also need a thesis statement
Rough Draft Due: Friday, June 21
Final Draft Due: Monday, June 24
