The purpose of this activity is to discover
possible focuses for writing your paper.
This activity asks you to choose a particular TV show for analysis and
generate some possible cultural contexts, exigencies, and audiences for
writing.
Part 1: This
part is to be completed by Sunday. Post
your prewriting focus assignment to the designated forum using the following
guidelines.
Focus on the particular show that you’ve
chosen. You should have a couple of
episodes to choose from that you’ve recorded earlier to complete this
activity. Using your notes and memory
from viewing the show earlier, write detailed responses to the following questions.
(If you haven’t been videotaping your show, make sure that you begin taping it
now so you can view it again to find more ideas and details for developing your
analysis.):
1.
Identify
the show you watched and briefly explain the premise of the episode or episodes
you’ll be writing about. (Assume that
your audience includes readers who haven’t seen the show, so you’ll need to
provide some detail.)
2.
Then,
list 3 different cultural contexts the show might be responding to, based on
your viewing. That is, what shared
cultural beliefs does the show address?
A.
B.
C.
3.
What
aspects or moments of the show seem to be communicating mixed or competing
messages? That is, where is the show
reinforcing and challenging each of the 3 cultural beliefs you identified in
#2? List the competing messages it
offers or suggests about each belief.
A.
B.
C.
4.
What
might be your exigence for writing about each of those 3 contexts (beliefs) you
identified in #2? Why might writing
about these messages be important to other Americans?
A.
B.
C.
5.
Identify
a potential audience for each exigence.
Who might benefit from learning more about this message?
A.
B.
C.
6.
Write
a tentative claim that addresses what you see the show “doing” with each of the
3 cultural beliefs you’ve identified.
A.
B.
C.
7.
What
evidence would you need to support each of those 3 claims you identified in #6
above? For each of those 3 claims, list any evidence that could support each
claim. Refer to the strategies for analysis in pages 8-11 of Reading Culture and our discussion from
last meeting. For instance, how might
the dominant images, set design, attire of the characters, spatial arrangement,
camera space, dialogue and/or character interactions, (even sponsor commercials),
etc. help illustrate your claim?
A.
B.
C.
Part 2: This
part is to be completed before class Tuesday.
After you’ve posted your own prewriting focus assignment to the forum,
read and provide some initial feedback to 2 other students’ responses. Respond to those postings that appear above
or below yours on the forum. (If your
own posting is at the top or bottom of the forum list, respond to the 2 that
are nearest to yours.) Post your response to each as a REPLY. Provide the writer responses to these
questions:
1)
Which
of the 3 options the writer has identified do you think would work best and
why? That is, why do you think this
shared cultural belief, exigence, audience, and claim make sense together?
2) For the option you identified above, what else might the writer consider if he or she decides to develop an analysis using that cultural belief, exigence, audience and claim? For instance, how could the writer make the purpose more appropriate to the audience? How could she/he narrow or make the claim more appropriate to the audience? Does the writer have any evidence that could support the claim? What other evidence can you think of that might work?