Final Essay Proposal
This proposal is composed of an abstract and an outline for your final paper. The assignment is
designed as an opportunity for you to prepare for your final essay and receive feedback before your write.
For more information about the final paper itself, please refer to the information sheet here.
Here are instructions for the two elements of your proposal:
The abstract should be a one-paragraph overview (200 – 300 words) of the topics you will address in
your paper. In your abstract, you should state which media object you will be analyzing, what theoretical
lenses you will be using to analyze it, and generally what main points you expect you will make through your analysis.
The outline should be a paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown of the essay that you will write. For each
paragraph, write a one-sentence topic sentence. A topic sentence is a full sentence that overviews the topic and/or point of the paragraph. When you write your outline, remember that your paper should be presented in a logical way that focuses on detailed analysis. Academic paragraphs are approximately 250 words each, so you will likely need 8 – 12 paragraphs to write 2,000 – 3,000 words for the final essay.
Final Essay
Learning goal:
A key goal of our course has been to learn about various theoretical frameworks that we can apply to individual pieces of media. These frameworks each give us a different way to interpret a media work, prompting us to pay attention to different elements of the work. In your final paper, you will be putting this into action, demonstrating how different theoretical frameworks allow you analyze a piece of media in different ways, finding complexity and multi-layered meaning in one work.
Prompt:
Pick one piece of media that we have not discussed in class. This can be a film, a TV show, a video
game, an internet phenomenon, music video, or any other kind of media. Pick something that interests
you; this will help you maintain energy and curiosity as you write. In addition to picking a media object, pick three different theoretical frameworks that we have learned about in class. A theoretical framework is a way of thinking about a piece of media, encouraging us to focus on different elements of media or interpret media in different ways. Each week of our class has been structured around a different framework, so you can choose to pick either three weekly course topics or three individual readings from our course as your frameworks. Once you have picked your media and your frameworks, write an essay that briefly describes your media object and then focuses on demonstrating three different ways of interpreting it, using your three frameworks. The more specific and detail-oriented you can be, the better. Your goal is to present a detailed analysis of the media object (drawing from specific scenes, images, shots, dialog lines, etc.) that clearly illustrates how the concepts from our course can be used to interpret it in a variety of ways.
Remember, there are no right or wrong answers for this essay. It is about how you choose to interpret this media object using the frameworks from our course. Some of your interpretations may be contradictory. That is ok. Be creative. The point is to practice using theory to gain new perspectives.
Formatting & writing:
Please submit your essay as a .doc or .docx file via Canvas. Please write in full paragraphs and proofread your essay for typos and grammar mistakes. When you reference or quote from specific texts, please use Chicago style citations; a helpful reference guide for Chicago style citations is available at this link. Please double space your essay, use 1-inch margins, and number your pages.
Here is a suggested structure for your essay. You do not need to follow this outline. It is provided as a
starting point, in case you are unsure how to order your points:
– Introduction – an overview of the ideas in the paper
– What media object are you analyzing? – a brief description
– Framework #1 – present the first framework + your analysis of the media object through it (2 – 3
paragraphs)
– Framework #2 – present the second framework + your analysis of the media object through it (2 –
3 paragraphs)
– Framework #3 – present the third framework + your analysis of the media object through it (2 – 3
paragraphs)
– Conclusion – remind readers of core ideas and discuss why this analysis matters
Solution
The Neighborhood
Introduction
Various theoretical frameworks can be used to interpret a piece of media. This paper will interpret “The Neighborhood,” a comedy series using three theoretical frameworks applicable to individual pieces of media. At first, this essay will consider Wachowskis’ view of films as an experimental genre and their belief that any piece of art is an optimistic truth to interpret this series[1]. This theoretical framework will help in understanding how this series connects reality and imagination and how it guides the audience towards this optimistic truth. Second, the paper will use Williams’s thought that the audience derives pleasures from a piece of media based on how extreme their sensation or emotion imitates what the media displays. The fundamental elements include sex, violence, and emotion[2]. Some will love violent or romantic movies, while others may prefer sad or happy movies. This essay will discuss how the Neighborhood uses humor and other elements to attract its audience. Lastly, as Nakamura suggests, pieces of media construct diversity such as race and gender as a matter of aesthetics rather than social identities and create a globalist point of view[3]. This theoretical framework helps discuss how social groups are represented and interact in the Neighborhood.
The Neighborhood
This paper focuses on “The Neighborhood,” an American sitcom television series. This series is about how the Johnsons, a white family from Michigan, moves to a predominantly African American neighborhood where it is challenging for them to fit in. However, the Johnsons try to connect with the Butlers to make a neighborhood a great place to live. With time two families become friends, and even though Calvin Butler, the head of the Butlers, is a bit reluctant, they finally help the Johnsons to adjust to their neighborhood. The Johnsons finally became part of the neighborhood, and the two families who are neighbors become really close.
First Framework
The interactions in the Neighborhood represent an optimistic truth of a world free from racism. As Keegan states, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, who are American film producers, are more interested in science fiction than fantasy because they view it as an experimental genre[4]. Therefore, for them, science fiction is like a prediction of …………for help with this assignment contact us via Email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com
[1] Keegan, Cáel M. Lana and Lilly Wachowski. University of Illinois Press, 2018.2.
[2] Williams, Linda. “Film bodies: Gender, genre, and excess.” Film quarterly 44, no. 4 (1991): 2.
[3] Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, ethnicity, and identity on the Internet. Routledge, 2013. 43.
[4] Keegan, Cáel M. Lana and Lilly Wachowski.2.