Final Paper
Due: Monday, May 16, 5 pm, my office, Vollum
312
Length and Format: 7-10 pages, double-spaced, 1 inch
margins all around, 12 point fonts. Please spellcheck and number your
pages! Essays should be well-organized, with a clear thesis or argument
that is 1) articulated in the first or second paragraphs, 2) supported
by evidence from readings, and 3) reconsidered and fleshed out in a conclusion.
Evaluation: I will evaluate and respond to papers based
on (in order of priority):
- Degree to which you respond to the assignment and incorporate ideas and issues from class materials in your discussion;
- Extent to which you demonstrate clear understanding of basic terms presented in the course;
- the creativity and originality of your ideas
- The clarity of your organization and writing
Topic: This is your final analytic paper for the semester
in which you have the chance to apply some of the theories about mass
media communication and popular culture we have read in relation to a
particular topic from the fourth unit of the course. The focus of your
paper is open to a wide range of subtopics or themes within this.
Choose a media event or phenomenon addressing one (or more) of the thematic foci from weeks 8-12 (Commercialization, Television, Internet, Subculture/Youth/Video Gaming, Gender/Sexuality, Nationalisms) and use it to
explore the role of mass media in the cultural politics of everyday life
in China. To do this, draw on theorists we have read throughout the course,
in particular, see Liu Kang, Dutton, Benjamin, Adorno and Horkheimer,
Ginsburg et al, Spitulnik, Hall, Anderson, Fitzgerald, Mazzarella,
Rawksi, Johnson, de Certeau, Williams, Barme.
You could then choose an analytic focus such as: "hegemony"
vs. popular empowerment; "popular" vs. "elite" or
"state", communication vs. miscommunication, the politics of
interpretation, public sphere vs. state, media as "culture industry", etc.
Be sure to contextualize your analysis in the political economic
context of the medium (or media) you choose, relevant Chinese cultural history, and
the orientations of theorists you draw on. In this, draw substantially
from the extra resources on the course website and from relevant further readings.