In order to complete this assignment, you will first choose ONE episode of TV/streaming series (no longer than 25-60 minutes long) that represents someone from your ethnicity, race, gender, class, or sexual identity that you will watch (multiple times) and analyze using textual analysis. Second, do Steps 1-4 of the Your Turn exercise at the end of the Dunn & Young methods chapter you will read (by “do” I mean actually watching the episode, taking the observation notes, and write notes for the subsequent steps). These notes will be turned in as a Reading/Viewing Review assignment and I will give you feedback on them. Third, using your analysis notes from the steps, you will write an approximately 4-6 page paper presenting the results of your analysis. When the final draft of your paper is completed, be sure it is typed and submitted under this assignment by the deadline.
Use your textual analysis notes, material from Chapters 6 and 7 of Croteau, Hoynes, & Childress textbook, and evidence (in the form of examples from the episode to write an approximately 4-6 page essay which should include the following sections:
1) Introduction – Gain the audience’s attention, briefly introduce the text (TV/streaming episode), and explain the purpose of your analysis (what did you hope to find?). The introduction overall should not be more than about 1-2 paragraphs. Make sure the introduction of the episode includes just enough detail about the series so that a reader who does not know your show will understand what it is about and the storyline(s) of the particular episode you are analyzing. (No need to include too many details from the episode here as there should be many details included in the analysis section.)
2) Summary of your method of analysis. In approximately 1-2 paragraphs, explain the process you went through, including the four steps for doing textual analysis, to analyze your text. As I already know these four steps, operationalize how you went about doing to complete the steps. In other words, anyone will be able to say they “took notes on the episode, then interpreted what they saw, and then found repeated patterns and themes that helped them to discover their thesis.” Only you know what your process involved. For example, I might say that I took notes on an episode of Friends noting the characters interactions, their dialogue, etc., and found through my interpretations the repeated pattern of going to each other for help and support rather than their parents. The final sentence(s) of this section should complete the following: “As a result of my textual analysis, I found….” This will be your thesis that the body of your paper will support and demonstrate. I will expect citations of the Dunn & Young chapter in this section.
3) Results – An explanation of what you found as a result of your textual analysis. DO NOT SUMMARIZE STEPS 1-4 OF THE “YOUR TURN EXERCISE”. You should go through these steps, including taking many notes, BEFORE you write the paper. What you should report here is what you found as a result of that analysis. Present the repeated themes and/or patterns that support the thesis you wrote for Step 4 of your analysis as your main points. Be sure that all main points in this section, a) have a topic sentence that articulates what the point is about, b) include evidence, in the form of examples (descriptions of scenes and/or characters, quotes, etc.) from the episode that support and demonstrate the point, and c) connections to the thesis so that it is clear how the point supports it. Part three should be the longest part of this paper as it is where you present your results.
1) description of the text (including the title of the series and episode)
2) Interpretations of your descriptions of the text
3) Identification of repeated themes, patterns, and/or intense depictions
4) Preliminary thesis and supporting statements
4) Conclusion – An explanation of what you learned about the show and textual analysis as result of doing this project that you did not know before. This explanation should be connected to what you learned about media, ideology, and inequalities from the Croteau, Hoynes, and Childress textbook.
