Death, Dying, Bereavement, & The Media (25 points)
Numerous psychological studies have explored the link between media and behavior. In this case, students (you) are going to examine the possible relationship between popular/mainstream stories and grieving phenotypes. To do this, and to encourage your engagement with the material and understanding, all undergraduate students are required to submit a review & reflect paper. The papers will be double-spaced, 1”margins, and should have a cover page and a reference section, and should be at least 8 pages in content length. Spelling and grammar do count, and citations should be in APA 7th. Please see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ for a helpful formatting resource. You MUST use peer-reviewed, a.k.a. journal, references (roughly two per page, so for an 8 page paper, I expect to see at LEAST 16 scholarly references), incorporating the research and ideas explored in this class.
Paper topics: You will select one of the following:
Select one book (popular fact or fiction, such as something from a main-stream Best Sellers list, or Book Club list—New York, Oprah, etc.), which has either a thematic component of grief, or the protagonist (principal character) has been bereaved (or is dying).
OR
Select a popular movie (something non-independent and that is/was mainstream) OR 2 one-hour episodes of the same show (such as two episodes of such as Go On, or two episodes of Law & Order, etc.), which has either a thematic component of grief, or the principal character has been bereaved (or is dying).
Your purpose is to evaluate one book, or one of the movie/television programs, to examine the “media” portrayal of the grievers of that particular type of loss/grief. You will evaluate the one you select on the following:
Review:
How accurately did the book/show demonstrate the profile of that type of griever?
How did the griever respond?
How did others respond to the griever before, during, and after the event?
What, if any, was the outcome for the griever?
Did the griever receive help/demonstrate healing?
Compare and contrast it with what we have learned in class about that “type” or profile of griever( e.g. a child who lost their parent, etc.)/type of loss.
You must include grief research to support your statements.
Further details on what kind, and how much research you need to include will be addressed in class.
Reflect:
Put yourself into that character…do you think you (based on your personal experiences) would have responded differently? Why or why not?
If you were a real-life griever of that type of loss, how do you think you would feel watching/reading this?
How do you think your family/friends would respond?
Do you think that the way in which it was handled/portrayed would help, or hinder, your healing process?
If you were the director/author/screen-writer, knowing what you know about death, dying, and grief, what would you change?
