Description
We are constantly being bombarded with images that portray particular kinds of people: in print media, in film, and online. Many of these images present us with mainstream conceptions of American culture and values, but the world of mainstream media doesn’t necessarily reflect everyday experience. How do these representations shape our own knowledge about who and what we see? How can we analyze what we see to interrogate our own assumptions about popular culture? You will have two options for this paper. In both, you will be analyzing images and formulating an argument about what they represent.
Option #1: Advertisements
Find 3 or 4 advertisements that are either for the same company/brand or the same type of product. You can look at magazines, billboards, commercials, or ads you see on the web/YouTube. Using your skills of analysis, formulate an argument about what the advertisements are trying to do as a group. Some questions you may ask of your advertisements: what kinds of people are in them? Who are the ads selling their wares to? What do the images endorse, and what do they condemn? What assumptions do the ads make about their potential customers? What about the images tell you these things? How do the images interact with the words on the ad? You do not have to answer all of these questions, but your composite answer to some of them will be the basis of you thesis statement.
Option #2: News Coverage
Choose a news outlet and pick one or two televised broadcasts to focus on (for this assignment, we won’t be looking at print coverage). You may write on Patriot Act and/or Last Week Tonight, or you could choose something else entirely. For this option, you will be answering the following question: how does the news outlet present information to make an argument? The answer to this question will be the basis of your thesis. This will involve thinking about images, headlines, who is saying what, etc. Some questions that can help your thinking: who is the audience for this broadcast? Do they use humor to get across their point, and why? What kinds of evidence do they use? Are there any evident biases in the presentation of the “facts”? How do you know? You do not have to answer all of these questions; they are jumping off points to spur your thinking.
Mechanics:
- 5 pages long
- MLA Format
- Include a works cited page of your advertisements or news outlet
A note on Audience:
When you write about images, you need to make sure you can summarize what is going on without going into excessive description. Write as though your reader has not seen the ads or news coverage you are describing. Give sufficient detail to support your argument, but don’t overload your paper with summary.