Myth Homework Help

Mini-Lesson/Lecture: Myths/the Arts/Values/Impact (30 points)

Choose one of the following 3 topics (listed below) and prepare a 15 minute mini-lesson/lecture on it.  Your lesson/lecture should be 1,500 words.  Since it is a presentation rather than an essay, make it concise and conversational.  Keep in mind, It will be the basis for Power Point presentation you will turn in Week 8 as the last part of the Final Project.  

Include an introduction that tells your audience the following: your topic, your argument (the point you want to make about your topic), and 3 main lessons you want them to get from your talk.  

The body of your paper should describe the 3 main lessons.  Your conclusion tells your audience how your 3 main points prove your argument.  

Include properly cited researched findings from your assigned Learning Resources or credible sources you find on your own.  Be certain to think critically about your sources by using cited quotes and paraphrased ideas from your research to help you explain the points you make in your lesson.  

a) Myth in Culture and the Arts

Examine how a particular myth influenced/inspired something specific in culture or the arts, including but not limited to a work of art, a poem, a religious ritual, a film, a statue, a carving, a religious symbol, a novel, a video game, or a specific TV episode. Compare the original myth with its presentation in the chosen medium. 

b) Myths and Values

Choose a specific myth and identify the specific values expressed through it. Explain how the myth functions to uphold, enforce, or reinforce a set of values within its culture/society/religion, to the detriment or benefit of that culture/society/religion.

 c) The Impact of Myth 

Briefly describe a historical event, a controversy, a world event, a current event, a military group or action, a political event or group, a religious group or action, or a similar phenomenon. Then, show how a specific myth relates to that event, group, or action, as well as examining the impact that the values, attitudes, and ideas imparted by that myth have on the people, ideologies, and points of view in play.

In choosing your phenomenon, consider historical or political events that might be said to have myths as their ideological basis, such as the creation of the state of Israel, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, the Holocaust, the reign of Hirohito, Jonestown, the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir movement, the Branch Davidians, jihadist suicide bombers, kamikaze pilots, Manifest Destiny, Heaven's Gate, the Tea Party movement, and so on.

You could also consider founders of religions and heroic culture bearers who have mythic biographies or quest stories in their histories. Think of scriptural material, such as the New Testament gospels, which tell about the life of Jesus of Nazareth; and hero myths that have inspired courageous action, such as the story of Percival and his quest for the Holy Grail.

This assignment is due by end of the seventh week of class on Sunday by 11:30PM ET. 

Grading Rubric

• Audience Awareness (2 points): Strong awareness of audience in the design of the talk. Excellent choice of vocabulary and tone to fit the target audience. Uses a conversational style throughout.
• Lecture includes responses to all prompts listed in topic choice (5 points)
• Lecture format includes intro with topic, thesis/argument, 3 main lessons; body of lecture explores 3 main lessons; conclusion describes the way the 3 lessons support the thesis/argument (10 points) 
• Lecture reads well. Ideas are clearly described. Proofread text is without typos, and grammar problems (5 points)
• Critical thinking: students use ideas from learning resources and researched sources (which are properly quoted or cited) to explain the points they seek to make in their lecture.  (5 points)
• Learning resources and researched resources are properly cited with in-text and end of essay citations (3 points)