Essay #2 Instructions: Music Video Analysis
Basic details:
1000-1200 words
MLA manuscript formatting
See syllabus and/or Brightspace for guided due date
You have to complete all drafting on your own; submit your FINAL draft to Brightspace
Objective:
Select a music video from our available list of videos (see the end of this doc). Then, in 1000-1200 words, analyze the video in order to determine what claim the musician is making about identity in relation to gender, race, LGBTQ+ selfhood, economic status, or nationality. Your thesis will be a statement that identifies the artist’s claim, and you will spend the rest of the essay proving and explaining how the artist supports their claim. Remember that the artist’s claim may be implied, as opposed to explicitly stated in the lyrics.
Find one additional online source that discusses either the video or the artist and use that to support your analysis of the artist’s claim. Although you won’t be discussing the CRAAP Test in the essay, the article should successfully pass the CRAAP Test by being a high quality and insightful source.
Thesis Statement Instructions:
Your thesis statement should be no more than 1 sentence for this short essay.
Place your thesis statement at the very end of your introductory paragraph
Make sure that your thesis can stand on its own. If someone cut your thesis sentence out of the paper and gave it to a stranger to read, would that stranger understand the main idea of your essay?
Your thesis must clearly state the claim that the artist is making about identity
Your thesis will be strongest if it is followed up with a forecasting statement that explains how the paper will be laid out.
The rest of the essay is spent defending the thesis.
Here are some example thesis statements about videos that are not on our options for this paper. In other words, these thesis statements are strong, but you can’t borrow them directly because these videos aren’t included.
Lil Nas X proudly expresses his gay identity through vivid visual imagery celebrating queer love and relationships in his music video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).”
In her music video for “Formation,” Beyoncé uses African American cultural references and imagery as a celebration of black identity, femininity, and empowerment.
In her 1964 music video for “You Don’t Own Me,” Lesley Gore visually and lyrically argues for female autonomy and empowerment by defiantly singing directly into the camera in a series of close-ups, rejecting male control over women’s lives and bodies.
Essay must include:
At least one short quotation from the lyrics of the video
1-2 quotations from the additional source
MLA in-text citations for each quote
MLA Works Cited page that includes each source
A template from They Say/I Say for at least one of the quotes. Highlight this template in yellow so that your professor knows which one is from TS/IS.
Note on citations:
In the first part of this class, you learned about the Works Cited page and MLA manuscript formatting. You will need to include both a Works Cited page and MLA manuscript formatting for this paper, too.
You will also start using properly formatted MLA in-text citations, with appropriate quotation marks, parenthetical citations, and other punctuation.
Do not include:
Any additional sources
First person (“I” or “we” statements)
Content made by generative AI (ChatGPT or other platforms)
Example Outline
This is a useful outline to follow if you’re not sure how to approach this essay! You are not required to follow this outline, but it will likely be helpful to you!
Introduction
First sentences: introduce the video and the artist
Mention the video by name and the author by name
Consider adding when it was produced
End with your thesis, which is a 1-sentence statement about what the artist was saying about identity in relation to gender, race, class, LGBTQ+ selfhood, economic status, or nationality.
Consider adding a forecasting statement, where you explain how the essay will be laid out. Here are some example forecast statements:
“She does this through her lyrics, costuming, and set design.”
“This is all accomplished through the plot of the video and the lyrics.”
Body Paragraph A: First piece of evidence
Have a topic sentence that introduces the first way that you can prove that you know what you’re talking about. This should be the first way that the artist makes whatever claim you said they’re making.
A quote in this section would be great!
If your additional source helps to prove this point, include it here.
Body Paragraph C, D, E, F and so on: Other pieces of evidence
Repeat the previous section’s guidance with a new piece of evidence for your claim
Continue to use quotes and citations
Conclusion
Don’t just restate the thesis, and definitely don’t repeat the same language. In this topic sentence, make it clear that the reader is getting close to the end.
Answer the question “So what?” about this topic and this source: Why does it matter?
Works Cited Page
Include your source in correct MLA style on a properly formatted Works Cited page
