Pop Culture Analysis

This assignment asks you to use three skills: 1. Critically analyze a pop culture text and a scholarly source;(The pop culture is the film—Brokeback Mountain and I will upload the scholarly sources later) 2. Understand and critically summarize your sources; and 3. Synthesize your sources into a coherent argument. Whether we realize it or not, popular culture informs and influences our lives. It entertains us and intrigues us through its enlightening or controversial standpoints. This assignment asks you to select, engage with, and analyze a text from popular culture (movie, tv show, comic/manga, or videogame). The goal of this assignment is to encourage you to think critically about the text, genre-specific context, style, or content, and to write a cohesive paper synthesizing scholarly research with your own interpretation of your text. You will analyze a pop culture text and connect it to another issue or discussion. For example, as we discussed in class, your argument might center on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and discussions of the dangers in gender/race/economic stereotypes. To successfully connect your sources, you will have to identify the issues and themes explored in your popular source and research those issues and themes in academic scholarship. Academic writing relies heavily on critical summary, synthesis, and analysis. For this paper, you must provide critical summaries of your primary source and secondary sources. Rather than providing a step-by-step “and then the author…” summary, however, critical summaries actively engage with the source material’s argument. To write a critical summary, you will need to understand and internalize the author’s argument, so you can restate it in your own words and in relation to your own argument. You will need to consider both content and structure; that is, you should have a solid grasp of the main argument and how the author makes their argument. For example, you’ll consider the sources used, the academic conversation they’re engaging in, and whether or not the article contributes to the ongoing academic scholarship. (Our summary and note taking worksheet will help you here.) Once you’ve summarized your sources, see the similarities and differences; it is usually in these overlapping areas where you’ll find your argument through synthesizing your sources.