This project involves the analysis of cultural patterns from TV, film, or literature. Make sure that your choice addresses cultural or anthropological themes that have been discussed in class. These themes include but are not limited to cross-cultural treatment of family, marriage, religion, subsistence patterns, gender, etc.
One television program that regularly dealt with cultural themes is Stargate SG1, especially some of the early episodes. StarTrek (all of the various incarnations) also have had episodes that would be suitable. When using television, be very careful. There is a strong tendency for television producers to over sensationalize. If you decide to go with a TV program, make sure that it has material that would allow you to analyze it critically.
Some good films include:
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
Monsoon Wedding (2002)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
The Story of the Weeping Camel (2004)
The Saltmen of Tibet (1998)
The Fast Runner (2002)
Fight Club (1999)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
Walkabout (1971)
Brooklyn (2015)
Avatar (2009)
The Help (2011)
Books that would be suitable:
The Spirits Catch You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman, 1997. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Indian Summer, Thomas Jefferson Mayfield, 1993. Heyday Books
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin, 1813
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin, 1969
probably any of Le Guin’s novels (Earthsea, The Lathe of Heaven, etc.) would be acceptable… the Left Hand of Darkness is particularly good in its dealings of sex and gender, but because Le Guin’s parents were anthropologists (A.L. and Theodora Krober), her use of anthropological themes is evident in anything she wrote.
You are not limited to these options, but if you wish to use something not on my list you might want to either talk to me about it in advance, or submit a brief description of the program, film or book and why you think it would be appropriate. It’s not mandatory that you do so, but if you’re uncertain about the suitability of your choice, feel free to run it past me.
View the film or read the book carefully. You may want to watch a film or television program several times. Analyze the story for cultural issues and write a roughly 1000-1,250 word (that’s about about 4- to 5-pages) essay analyzing the film or book and its treatment of the themes we’re discussing in class. You want to address which cultural themes are present, how they are handled, and if the program, film, or book depicts the cultural issues from an anthropologically sound perspective. Make sure that you use clear examples to illustrate your interpretation. Note that the focus is on the analysis. I don’t want 4 pages of summary with a single paragraph of analysis. The point of the assignment is the analysis… use examples from the film or book to support the analysis; don’t treat the analysis as an afterthought to a summary of the storyline.
Format:
The essay should be 1000-1250 words, double-spaced, with 1” margins and in a 10 or 12 size font- Times, Palatino, or Ariel are preferred, but any plain, standard fonts are acceptable. No fancy, “handwritten” looking fonts, please. Clearly identify the book or film according to the Chicago
, APA
or MLA
stylesheets. Submit the file to Canvas as a PDF (other formats can create problems when I’m trying to grade them). Upload the file, then wait for the originality report to be generated. Check the report for any sections that are insufficiently paraphrased, and revise your submission accordingly. You can resubmit as many times as necessary. I only grade the most recent submission.
This assignment is worth 50 points.
