Paper #2

1. If you are familiar with a sport, analyze various aspects of the sport such as the participants, the style of play, the playing field, the rules, the crowd, and so forth. In what ways does the sport reflect a certain culture? What specific cultural, social, and/or psychological values does that sport represent?

2. Watch a sporting event on television. Does there seem to be a culture attached to that sport? Are the commercials during the event geared to a specific audience? Consider the gender and ethnicity differences. Are they a factor in the sport or not? What function do the fans have?

3. Attend a sporting event.  Once again, consider whether there seems to be a culture attached to the sport.  Is there a different culture “live” rather than watching the sport on television?  As in the last question, consider the gender and ethnicity differences.  Are they a factor in the sport or not?  What function do the fans have?  Does the sport reflect American values in any way?

4. Provide a semiotic analysis of a fitness club or other athletic arena.  What do you notice about the layout? about the participants? about the activities that occur in that space?

5. Select a toy or game to analyze.  Discuss ways in which children are socialized through the toy or game.  What signs of the toy or game portray certain values?  How do gender, race, and/or class figure into the games? 

6. Analyze a social media site (such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc.).  You will not be analyzing one person’s page; instead, you will be analyzing the overall site itself.  What are the functions of the site?  For example, are people allowed to “poke” each other?  What does it mean to “follow” someone or have a “following”?  Consider what the various functions on the page suggest about the culture that uses it.  Are there certain tools that appeal to different age groups, genders, ethnicities, etc.?

IMPORTANT CAUTIONS

· Do not select any of the texts that were assigned in class unless you have something significantly different to add to our class discussion. 

· For the television/movie option, do NOT merely provide a plot summary.  Don't just describe what happened in the program; instead, discuss why it is important.

· For the musical genre option, do NOT merely provide a history of the genre.  Only bring in history if you are going to analyze it.

· For the musical artist option, do NOT merely provide a biography of the artist.  Only bring in the artist's life if you are going to analyze it.

OBJECTIVES

· To think critically about the signs that entertainment media uses and to provide a semiotic analysis of how those signs somehow reflect or try to subvert the culture in which the text is produced.

· To utilize other writers’ theories to help support and/or to articulate your own opinions and disagreements with those writers.

· To provide a central thesis statement and to support that thesis statement with evidence from your analysis.

LOGISTICS

· Must be typed and double-spaced with 1” margins on all sides.  Use MLA formatting.

· Standard 12 pt. font should be used. 

· The paper should include an informative and interesting title (do not use “Essay #3” or just the name of the sport, toy, game, or social media as the title).

· Papers must be a minimum of 1500 words.