Media Violence

Cultural critics perennially blame violent content in television, film, video games, and music for violent behavior in young people. But how much evidence exists to support the claim that violent media contribute to violent behavior? Does the complex nature of human behavior limit the extent to which we can identify causes of that behavior? What about John Davidson's assertion in "Menace to Society" that the viewing of aggressive behavior before the age of eight (in shows like the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers) contributes more to adult violent behavior than later, more extreme violent viewing (such as films like Saw or Hostel)?

Video Essay Project: Helpful Hints

As you define and refine your topic and work to articulate your claim, focus on how best to communicate your message to your audience. The techniques employed by documentarians effectively manipulate images and music to enhance the emotional appeals of their arguments. What images and music will make your claim more convincing? Moreover, how can you weave the different media together to create a coherent, compelling argument? Many websites offer tips on all aspects of documentary making, but you should work with your group to limit the scope of your project to what you can reasonably accomplish before Nov. 14.

Midterm Essay: Gender or Advertising

Using the pieces in Mirror on America as models, compose an essay that focuses on the way gender roles or advertising informs your daily life. You may choose something serious (impact of Barbie or unrealistic female body images on girls' self-esteem; impact of excessive commercialization on mental and physical health) or something lighter (differences between boys and girls; why funny commercials are so successful). Develop your discussion using specific details from your own personal experience/observations and at least one outside source (an article, research study, etc.). Use the following guidelines as you develop your paper:

• 500 - 1000 words (roughly 2 - 4 pages)


• clear, controlling thesis (refer to the 'Thesis Statement Basics' handout) in the introduction


• body paragraphs that support the thesis, develop the discussion with specific, supporting details, and link logically to the thesis


• engages at least one outside source (either supporting or refuting your claim)


• demonstrates mature diction and sentence structure


• demonstrates control over grammar, usage, and mechanics
  

Have a complete first draft completed by Monday, Oct. 27.

A final, revised version of the paper is due Friday, Oct. 31.

What We've Got Here...Is Two Similar Characters

Lucas Jackson and Randall Patrick McMurphy serve as iconic American heroes, brazenly defying authority, helping a group of emasculated men recover some semblence of their manhoods in the face of an oppressive authority. Moreover, each takes on a Christ-like role, leading his respective disciples (prisoners or mental patients) toward dignity, suffering and deteriorating under the burden of leadership, and eventually sacrificing himself in a selfless defiance of the demand for conformity. Discuss some of the more interesting parallels between the characters. How do Kesey and the director/screenwriter of Cool Hand Luke cast their main characters as a religious figures? What significant differences exist between the two

Fast Food Frenzy

Morgan Spurlock's extreme diet demonstrates the hazards of consuming too much fast food. Since so much of the American diet contains processed, fatty items, obesity has become a significant, widespread epidemic. Does Spurlock's documentary effectively identify the problem and offer a solution? Is his experiment a valid one, and does he treat the issue fairly? How do his film-making techniques compare to Michael Moore's? Which part of Supersize Me did you find most effective?

Analyze an Ad; Identify "Reptilian Hot Buttons"

In The Persuaders, Clotaire Rapaille claims that consumers respond to unconscious cues that push "reptilian hot buttons" in our brain and bypass rational decision-making. Select an ad (from TV, print, radio, or the internet) and analyze its subrational content. What does the ad tell you about American culture in general and the target consumers in particular? What "reptilian hot buttons" does the ad push? Develop a short, well-reasoned essay that discusses your insights and present your findings to the class (you can either print or post on your group blog). You can find clips to many television commercials at advertisementave.com.

Rage Against the Machine: Kesey's Cuckoo's Nest

As you read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, consider the targets of Ken Kesey's narrative: the hospital, with its emasculating nurse and sadistic orderlies, stifles individual expression (read male urges) and renders the patients both figuratively and literally impotent. The novel's "Combine," an allegorical representation of the oppressive forces of conformity in Kesey's world, and its main enforcer, Nurse Ratched, systematically prey on the men's neuroses and alienate them from their own free-spirited natures.

The book has received much criticism (and been banned in many schools) for its apparent misogyny (the female characters are either castrating nurses or prostitutes) and racism (the African American orderlies are charicatured as cartoonishly sadistic "black boys"). Do you think such criticisms are fair? What challenges does having a narrator who is a paranoid schizophrenic, often divorced from reality, present for the reader?

After the novel won wide acclaim, Kesey became a cultural icon, traveling around the country in a bus with a group called the Merry Pranksters. How did the novel help usher in the cultural changes that defined the 1960's?