Paper — Applied Theory Concepts

In this writing assignment, you will practice using the concepts studied in class to analyze a film or a television show. Choose two concepts from the following list:

1

racial triangulation

base/superstructure

white feminism

commodity fetishism

the wondrous trope

labor/capital

whitewashing

the culture industry

intertextuality

the oppositional gaze

Choose one film or tv show from this list:

· Girlboss Season 01 (Kay Cannon, 2017)

· Gook (Justin Chon, 2017)

· Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)

· Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936) [library]

· Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976) [library]

· Okja (Bong Joon-ho, 2017)

· Salt of the Earth (Herbert J. Biberman, 1954) [YouTube]

· Silicon Valley Season 01 (Mike Judge, 2015)

· Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho, 2013) [library]

· Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2005) [library]

· 30 Rock Season 02 (Tina Fey et al, 2007)

· Two Days, One Night (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, 2014)

· The Queen of Versailles (Lauren Greenfield, 2012)

· Quiz Show (Robert Redford, 1994)

Your Essay: Develop an argument about how the two concepts you have chosen can help us understand the film or television show you have selected.

Important:

· Your paper should explain the two concepts you have selected in a clear and succinct manner. You may refer to the primary texts assigned for reading and discussed in class when appropriate but do not quote them at length. The aim of the paper is for you to tackle complex concepts in your own words. How would you explain them to a friend who has never taken a media criticism class?

· Your paper must have a thesis statement that you support in your paper with specific scenes from the media text and which you have analyzed for their form and content in detail. In other words, analyze what are the ideas being conveyed in the film or show and how these ideas are presented. This includes a close reading of select sequences/scenes and analyzing the content, form, aesthetics, and social context to support your argument. If relevant, you should also consider the media’s context of production: is it an indie feature or part of the legacy industries?

· Finally, illustrate how the messages conveyed in the film or tv show relate to the concepts you previously explained. Do they exemplify the concepts or challenge them? How does understanding these concepts help us better critique the messages of the media you have chosen?

Formatting and length requirements:

· Double-spaced

· 12-point font

· Minimum 1,500 to max 2,200 words

· MLA format