Media Object Analysis Assignment

Media Object Analysis Assignment

Media Object Analysis Assignment

For your media object analysis assignment, choose a specific media object (this could be an image, a post, a tweet, a meme, a hashtag,a video, a .gif, a livestream,tiktok video, tv show, film etc.) and write a paper [Length: 1,000 words] in which you make a specific argumentative claim regarding your chosen media object.

In order to craft a compelling argument, choose eithera Rhetorical, Semiotic, Marxist, or Psychoanalyticapproach to think through your chosen media object. Throughout the next few weeks, we will be going over each approach via assigned readings,powerpoints, and video lectures. I will ask you to write a short, approx. 250-word discussion post response relating to each mode in these discussion posts.  You can choose to expand on one of your discussion posts as part of this assignment.

Depending on what approach you are interested in choosing as a focus, here are some questions to consider for each approach. (You do not need to answer all of these questions, but use them as a way to help guide your argument):

Rhetorical Approach:

  • Provide some background regarding your media object in the introduction (It’s history, how it was created (if known), “where” it’s located or proliferated, etc.)
  • How might you identifythe genre conventions of your specific media object? Does your chosen media object “break” genre conventions in an interesting way? Why or why not?
  • How might the creator (if known), the context, or the audience reception of your chosen media object inform the way we view or interact with it in an interesting way?
  • What seems to be the purposeof your chosen media object? Is it meant to entertain, persuade, or inform?  (Or maybe it’s meant to do a mix of those things, or perhaps something else altogether?)

Semiotic Approach:

  • Using a semiotic framework, how should the media object be classified in terms of its genre? In other words, what patterns exist within the media object that make it a part of other works like it?
  • Using a specific structuralist framework…analyze the text’s narrative operations…can you speculate about the relationship between the…media object… and the culture from which the media object emerged? In other words, what patterns exist within the media object that make it a product of a larger culture?
  • What rules or codes of interpretation must be internalized in order to ‘make sense’ of the media object?  What particular elements or “signs” (text, images, sounds) in your media object stand out to you?  What might they mean in a broader cultural context?

Marxist Approach:

What is the social class of the creator of the media?

Which class does the work claim to represent?

What values does it reinforce?

What values does it subvert?

What conflict can be seen between the values the work champions and those it portrays?

What social classes do the people or entities in the media object represent?

How do these people or entities from different classes interact or conflict?

Psychoanalytic Approach:

In your media object, how can characters’ or peoples’ behavior, narrative events, and/or images be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind (for example, fear or fascination with death, sexuality – which includes love and romance as well as sexual behavior – as a primary indicator of psychological identity or the operations of ego-id-superego)?

What does the media object suggest about the psychological being of its creator?

What might a given interpretation of a literary work suggest about the psychological motives of the reader?

Are there prominent words, images, or sounds in this media object that could have different or hidden meanings? Could there be a subconscious reason for the author using these elements that stand out to you?

Include a link or screenshot of your media object as a primary source in your paper.  The paper should be approximately 1,000 words (approx. 4 pages double-spaced).

PEER REVIEW DRAFT DUE:  Tuesday, April28th[at least 750 words complete] including a one paragraph long Process Memo.  A “process memo” is a brief, one paragraph long description answering the following questions: What exactly is working well in your draft currently?  What specifically might need more revision work in your draft?  What would you like your peers to focus on in providing you comments?  You will be turning this draft in on Google Docs by sharing it with me and you’ll also share a link with your peers so that you can provide each other feedback during peer review.

CONFERENCE:  If you would like to, sign up for an individual conference with me during the week ofMay 4th, or “Week 6” (time slots tbd) for feedback. Please be prepared to share a revised draft with me. Your individual conference time is:

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Media Object Analysis Assignment 

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