Media Assignment

Sociology is the study of social behaviors and their impact on society. The themes of sociology are found in everyday culture including films. Analysis papers are the demonstration of a studentâ€™s ability to make connections between class discussions and popular media.

For this assignment, you will write a short paper and present your work in a discussion board post. The paper will be submitted to me privately and you should summarize your key findings for the class in the discussion post. This paper does not need to be longer than 3 pages. You are not writing a complete summary or review of the media; you should spend most of your text exploring the sociological concepts we learned in this course.

Simply put, you will teach the class a basic introduction to sociology using one of the sociological theories you find most applicable to the film. For example, if you were to choose the popular movie â€œMean Girlsâ€ you would discuss the culture, norms, group dynamics, deviant behaviors, roles of agents of socialization, impact of the social institutions and whatever else you might notice (the more detail the better).

Then you will pick the sociological perspective. For example: Themes and perspectives for the movie â€œMean Girlsâ€ can include feminism, conflict theory, peer pressure and conformity, materialism and more. The choice will be yours, but I will require pre-approval of your film and theme only so I can help you find something workable.

I strongly suggest not using this movie. Sociological analyses of this movie are all over the internet and you would not likely be able to come up with something unique. Of course, this submission will be checked for plagiarism.

The goal of the analysis paper is to explain how specific sociological elements are present in an in-depth manner. Analysis papers are NOT a film summary. Examples from the film are used to provide evidence of specific sociological factors, NOT a film review. A brief synopsis of the film may be included in the introductory paragraph.

Directions

1. Select a movie or a few episodes of a television show that you have access to watch again (not something you saw a few years ago and assume you remember). Your selection must be fiction â€“ no biopics or true stories. If you choose a television show, I suggest selecting episodes that are related to each other if the show has serialized storylines but they should at least be from the same season. Limit yourself to about 3-4 hours of watch time at a maximum and 1 hour at an absolute minimum.

2. Watch the movie using the power points or textbook chapters as a guide. You are not writing a movie review, but a sociological analysis of the film for the purpose of identifying and teaching the terms and themes to others. You may use more of the text and course, but refer to chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Identify the key terms and themes that are presented in your media selection.

3. Consider the roles and portrayals of main characters, the setting (era and location), social class represented, race and ethnicity, sex and gender, and other relevant statuses and concepts.

4. Develop a thesis statement. For example, â€œMean Girls represents a clear analysis of peer pressure, achieved status, artificial elements of social standing and stigma through the conflict perspective.â€

5. Each paragraph should explore a concept from sociology. Do not worry about a sequential presentation of the film through the paper but do address if and how the presentation of your selected concepts change through the film. Similarly, you do not need to move through the chapters in order but be sure that you have a strong foundation for concepts you present.

6. A conclusion paragraph must be present. A conclusion paragraph should wrap us your ideas and reiterate your thesis and summarizing key points.

7. Summarize your key points for presentation in a discussion post. Add pictures if you wish.

8. Include a works cited page.

Media Assignment Sociology is the study of social behaviors and...