Blog Post 4 - Video Project Option: Reinventing a Piece of Pop Culture

The format of the project needs to be a video (a slide show set to music would also work...but you'll need to be able to upload it in a format that is compatible with YouTube (.mp4 .wmv. etc.) Each group member will then post the project to his/her individual blogs using the instructions from YouTube (it's just a copy and paste maneuver).  

You will need to narrow your scope of popular culture and choose a media format/genre (below are some examples):
* TV Program
* Radio Show
* Film
* Music Video
* Magazine
* Video Game
* (Aspect of) Athletic Event
* Fashion
* Public Education & Corporation
  
Choose a subject/audience:
For example, create a satirical cartoon, cable news program, reality show, televised sporting event, parenting magazine, a game show, children’s entertainment (from Scooby Doo to High School Musical), part of the fashion world (runway modeling or the next season’s "Look Book"); if corporate-edu-consumer-training is your interest, think of a revised Chanel One, corporate sponsored events, curriculum, or major capital project-funding , such as the construction of stadiums and theaters, perhaps target one of these areas in a Colbert-Styled "The WØrd" or a set of segments from The Soup.

If you choose to work within movies/films, a "trailer" would be the right length and format
for envisioning this assignment.

Based on your chosen genre/format:
* Give your production/publication a name— be original and creative!
* Identity the assumptions that underlie the messages you want to send.
* Specifically, identify the messages that you see being disseminated by an analogous/similar form of media that relate to gender, sexuality, race, class, etc. (i.e. current fashion magazines send the message that being female involves striving for ‘ideal’ physical beauty).
* Create visual images and text (whether written or spoken) that accurately work off these assumptions. (What message(s) do you want to send about, sexuality, racism, sexism, and/or classism)  * You may use images from other texts/videos/images/audio to create a commentary on a preexisting element of popular culture. However, make sure you cite these external sources in your video in the "credits" using MLA citations at the end.
* Write, enact, portray (in the format suited for the genre you’ve chosen- video, image, etc) that address existing norms, ideals, and messages about gender, either directly or indirectly. (i.e. an article about males and eating disorders addresses gender directly while an article about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who happens to be a woman addresses it indirectly)

Remember that you need to make it clear that your production is a critique of gender (and other categories and biases too, where applicable) and ensure your project is inspired by a particular author's (or multiple authors) points. For example, a video montage of reality TV show-clips with text/voice-overs illustrating Ouellette and Hay's argument about Reality TV would clearly be linkable to their piece as the basis of your critique. 


There is no write-up for this project; however, you must have a title and all group members must be cited in the credits along with all sources of information and inspiration.

Final Project Option for Summer Session B (in lieu of a written 3rd blog post assignment)

Your final project will be due by Saturday at 5pm if you choose this option.

Unlike the written assignments posted to your blogs, you'll have the option to work with as many of your classmates as you'd like.

If you choose this option, I'll need the names of the students working on each project during the final class on August 7th (due to the extended due date and the Records and Registration grade-deadline of Monday the 11th for Summer Session B, I need to know which blog posts will have written assignments so I can grade them on Friday :o).

The format will need to be in the form of a video (a slide show set to music would also work...but you'll need to be able to upload it in a format that is compatible with YouTube. Each group member will then post the project to his/her individual blogs using the instructions from YouTube (it's just a copy and paste maneuver).

You will need to narrow your scope of popular culture:

Choose a media format/genre (some examples):

* TV Program
* Radio Show
* Film
* Music Video
* Magazine
* Video Game
* (Aspect of) Athletic Event
* Fashion
* Public Education & Corporation

Choose a subject/audience:

For example, create a satirical cartoon, cable news program, reality show, televised sporting event, parenting magazine, a game show, children’s entertainment (from Scooby Doo to High School Musical), part of the fashion world (runway modeling or the next season’s "Look Book"); if corporate-edu-consumer-training is your interest, think of a revised Chanel One, corporate sponsored events, curriculum, or major capital project-funding , such as the construction of stadiums and theaters, perhaps target one of these areas in a Colbert-Styled "The WØrd" or a set of segments from The Soup.

If you choose to work within movies/films, a "trailer" would be the right length and format
for envisioning this assignment.

Based on your chosen genre/format:

* Give your production/publication a name— be original and creative!
* Identity the assumptions that underlie the messages you want to send.
* Specifically, identify the messages that you see being disseminated by an analogous/similar form of media that relate to gender, sexuality, race, class, etc. (i.e. current fashion magazines send the message that being female involves striving for ‘ideal’ physical beauty.)
* Create visual images and text (whether written or spoken) that accurately work off these assumptions. (What message(s) do you want to send about, sexuality, racism, sexism, and/or classism?)

Use images from other texts/videos/images/audio to create a commentary on a preexisting element of popular culture. Make sure you cite these external sources in your video in the "credits" using MLA citations at the end.


* Write, enact, portray (in the format suited for the genre you’ve chosen- video, image, etc) that address existing norms, ideals, and messages about gender, either directly or indirectly. (i.e. an article about males and eating disorders addresses gender directly while an article about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who happens to be a woman addresses it indirectly.)

Remember that you need to make it clear that your production is a critique of gender (and other categories and biases too, where applicable) and ensure your project is inspired by a particular author's (or multiple authors) points. For example, a video montage of reality TV show-clips with text/voice-overs illustrating Ouellette and Hay's argument about Reality TV would clearly be linkable to their piece as the basis of your critique.

There is no write-up for this project; however, you must have a title and all group members must be cited in the credits along with all sources of information and inspiration.

The Latest from the 27 bloggers

Blog Post #5 for Friday 4/6/07 Updated

Friday (4/6/07) Blog Post #5 Now with more options to choose from!

- How has your blog-topic made news? When it has been the subject of the news, how has it been depicted? Specifically, when your topic is the subject of the news/media, how do you see the news/media depict gender, race, class, etc in your topic in relation to the reason that it made the news? In other words, does race, class, gender, etc factor into the reason that the topic became "newsworthy?"

Use at least one class reading and read/watch at least one source of news/media that relates to your topic (when it made news) to analyze this portrayal of your topic by the news/media. Find an example of "mainstream" news for this assignment. Make sure you link to the news/media source if it can be found online or cite it w/ your citation of the course reading you used at the end of the blog post.

Another issue that at least one person brought up on the index cards* was the topics for the blog posts. I want to keep the topics linked to the course readings and class discussions; however, I also want you to pursue areas that are of interest to you (which, hopefully your topic is one already) and blog on those areas of interest as well.

Therefore, for blog post #5, in addition to the original topic of mainstream news issues/coverage of your topic, as currently listed on the SOCS welcome page, you can instead opt to pursue one of the following areas to analyze in relation to your topic:

-Motherhood (great for the topics on female celebrities- mother or not- and for topics on gender and advertising, as well as many of the TV shows chosen as topics for the blogs)
-Infamous Celebrity (as opposed to fame/famous- what constructs notoriety in pop culture?)
-The roles of violence as a technique of social control (we've covered so many- from "Hidden Politics,"
"Homophobia in Straight Men," "Wielding Masculinity Inside Abu Garib," to earlier pieces such as
"King Kong & the White Woman," "Lay theories of Media Effects," and also "The More You Subtract, The More
"You Add")
-Heterosexism (the notion that 2 sexes = 2 genders = marriage between 2 people of opposite sex/gender =
procreation)

Each of the topics above relates directly to recent readings and can (but doesn't have to) replace the topic of your blog-topic in the news.

The requirements remain the same (keep it under 5-6 paragraphs w/ one course reading cited, etc) as the original assignment.

Hope this gives everyone a bit more freedom to scrutinize popular culture :o)
-Jessie

*Yesterday in class, I handed everyone a blank index card and asked the class to alert me to ideas/issues to help me know what will benefit them the most from this class--on top of an adversion to the more technical side of the blog experiment, which I can totally understand, this issue appeared on a couple index cards...just to clarify the index cards for those who were absent yesterday or not in this course at all!

Google Co-op - Custom Search Engine

Message to students:
Look! It's a special google search for your blogs! Now you have another place to "google" yourselves...oh right, wait, I forgot! I'm sure none of you have ever "googled" yourselves :oP hehehe
Okay, so this search engine will only google search YOUR blogs! If you've changed the title and/or the URL of your blog, please email me! I can't add you to the link list with a dead or unknown URL (and the title change should be made here so it's accurate too), but for the search engine, it's really the URL that matters, so please make sure you have given me the most up-to-date info about your blogs!!!!
Google Co-op - Custom Search Engine