K film 2

Length: 1000 (minimum) ~ 1250 words (maximum), double-spaced. (Approximately 250 words per page. Total 4~ 5 pages.)

Please respond to  ALL THREE prompts.

Please make sure you provide textual examples and analyze them in detail in your responses to the prompts. (1 paragraph = ½ ~ ¾ page. One paragraph should include roughly 2~3 examples, depending on how long your analysis of each example is.)

 

Please refer to “Composition Hints” (for citation rules etc.) and “Close Reading Techniques” under “General Materials”

 

1.Madame Freedom / Sturken & Cartwright (“the Manufacturing of Desire”) / Baudrillard (“Mass-Media Culture”) (min. 2 pages)

As Madame Oh’s character in the film, Madame Freedom, works a salesperson at an American luxury goods store, she is also exposed to the influx of American cultural commodities such as music, dance, and English words.  Discuss the ways in which the movie represents Madame Oh as becoming corrupted and liberated by American culture, which is embodied in American material and cultural commodities. Keeping in mind that material commodities have social and ideological meanings, functioning as signs and that culture also become commodities, please pay attention to the parts of the movie that deal with these two categories of commodities and their symbolic economy. In your discussion, please define and apply the Marxist term, “commodity fetishism” (cf. Sturken and Cartwright) as well as Baudrillard’s term, “culturalization.” You can also apply the relevant concepts of “commodity imperialism” and “commodity feminism.”(cf. lecture notes)

2.Lev Manovich (“How New Media Became New”) / J. Lo’s video, “If you had my love”/ Aespa’s “Whiplash”) (min. 1 page)

Lev Manovich differentiates between two layers, the cultural layer and the computer layer, in the human-computer interface and then goes on to deconstruct what he calls the “myth of interactivity.”  First, explain what he means by “myth of interactivity” and then apply his critique/concept to two music videos, J. Lo’s “If you had my love,” and Aespa’s “Whiplash.”

 

You can refer to Lisa Nakamura’s chapter where she does a close reading of J. Lo’s music video, engaging with her arguments and citing them.

 

3.Koichi Iwabuchi (Recentering Globalization) / Sun Jung (“Korean Popular Culture and Transcultural Consumption”) (min. 1 page)

Discuss Iwabuchi’s idea of  polycentric cultural globalization on the one hand and another idea that he cites from Baudrillard, who argues that American cultural hegemony has become even stronger due to the  global cultures’ internalization of the structure, grammar, form of the American cultural products, on the other hand. Please cite one example from Sun Jung’s chapter and cite another example from your own knowledge of any Asian popular cultures and  discuss whether your examples fall in line with Iwabuchi’s idea of polycentric cultural globalization, or with Baudrillard’s notion of the intensification via incorporation of the US cultural form. You can also argue that your examples illustrate both ideas simultaneously.  

Composition Hints

I. Formulating a thesis statement and writing an opening paragraph.

1. Formulate a strong thesis, the main argument of your paper. Try to state your argument in a sentence or two. Couple your thesis statement with a few sentences of relevant background/introductory statement which place the thesis in context.

2. If your thesis is vague, your whole argument is likely to be vague, too. All paper topics, no matter how specific, require further focusing. You must decide how you will approach the topic--which aspects will you emphasize?

3. Don't be afraid to "give away" your point. State your thesis as specifically as possible; in the rest of your paper, you will go through the details of your argument, giving evidence to support each statement, and making sure that each statement follows from your thesis and leads toward your conclusion.

4. The fact that introduction is the first part of your paper does not mean you have to write it first. In fact, you can come up with your thesis statement and write your introduction only after you have worked through your arguments and supporting textual evidence. Sometimes you will come up with a specific and strong thesis, only after you have written several drafts.

5. In the opening paragraph, stick closely to the question/paper topic you have chosen to answer. You don't need generalizations about "colonialism" or "the oppression of women." You are dealing only with the specific ways in which these issues are treated by the text you are asked to write about.

II. Analysis

1. Your paper is expected to be analytical rather than simply a summary(paraphrase) of the texts or lectures/discussions.

2. All the topics ask you to write about issues, i.e. the whys and hows of things. They ask you to relate different aspects of the text(and/or relate the text to the larger historical context) and propose a hypothesis, make a judgment and/or draw a conclusion about the ways in which the text deals with the issues.

3. When you make a statement or argument about the text, you have to be able to support it with textual evidence, either through quotation or citation. In other words, your analysis of the text must be backed up with evidence you can gather from the text.

4. Summary simply repeats in different language what the original work says.

5. While your essay should consist mainly of analysis, you have to summarize selected plot elements or scenes relevant to your argument. Do it briefly. It is best to indicate some reason before you give selected plot elements.

III. The Process Called Writing

In order to write a good paper, you should be prepared to go through several stages:

1. Planning--reread or look over the text, especially the parts which concern the issues or the paper topics you are writing about, and take notes.

2. Pre-writing/outlining--you don't have to use a formal outline, but you should find some method of organizing your ideas in rough form.

3. Rough drafts--you will need to go through several.

IV. Editing Your Paper

1. Do you state your thesis clearly in the opening paragraph?

2. Make sure your reasoning is sound.

3. Do you make clear the logical progression of your thought?

4. Do you support your argument(s) with specific and appropriate examples?

5. Is your organization effective? Paragraphs should flow from one to another. Are they connected with logical and smooth transitions?

6. Is each paragraph organized around a main point? Do you state the main point in the beginning of each paragraph?

7. Proofread carefully.

8. Create a title.

V. Style

1. When you cite a text, give reference to page number in parentheses within the body of your paper.

2. Stay in the present tense when analyzing a text.

3. Use of "I" should be kept to a minimum.

4. "This" is a word whose referent is often unclear. Be sure that you indicate clearly to what concept or fact in the preceding sentence your "this" refers. This indication will help your readers greatly.

5. Take out at least half your uses of "it" and "is." Make active verbs do the main work of your argument.