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Essay Instructions: Pop Culture Project: This assignment has been designed to allow students to understand the
process of developing, researching, and communicating a philosophical argument. For this
project each student will create their own example of popular culture and interpret it using
one of the philosophical texts that have been assigned as reading for this course (see the
scheduled reading list).
For the first part of the assignment, each student will create their own example of popular
culture
For the second part of the assignment, students are to
interpret their example of pop culture using one or more philosophical readings (from the course
syllabus) and write a two page essay describing their interpretation. As noted in the writing
guidelines, students must make and defend an argument in their essay. To make an argument,
students are to think about how their chosen reading(s) can be used to interpret their example of
popular culture. The essay must answer the following questions; what is your main argument?
How do you substantiate/prove the argument? Why are the philosophy(s) that you have chosen
the best to interpret your example of pop culture? (Make sure to explain the philosophy(s) that
you have chosen.) Why is this issue important? What other questions or interpretations might
there be to consider? Make sure to substantiate your argument with proper citation of the text(s)
you have chosen and one additional academic reference. Although useful, blogs, Wikipedia,
non-academic websites, and lecture notes are not appropriate academic resources. The
philosophical interpretations are to be two typed pages, double spaced in 12 point Times New
Roman font. All essays will follow the MLA guidelines for presentation, in-text citation and
works cited. Along with the final project, each student must submit an outline, works cited page (in MLA
style formatting),
The outline must include
the essay?s thesis statement as well as a description of the essay?s introduction, body and
conclusion where the topic of each paragraph should be noted (the outline can be completed in
point form).

The title of the essay, or thesis statement is "I am thin, therefore I am"

I am illustrating that Pop Culture's emphasis on being thin is what puts the "Die in Diet" using Descartes philosophy to back it up

refer to Ren? Descartes' Meditations
relate each of Cartesian

1. Dualism: Descartes? characterization of humans as made up to two substances: thinking substance (mind) and extended substance (body).

2. Hyperbolic Doubt: Descartes? process of putting everything that he knows into doubt in order to determine what is actually true beyond any doubt.

3. I think therefore I am (Cogito ergo Sum): Descartes? argument that he can be sure of his own existence because he is doubting.

4. Rationalism: Reason and rational thought are viewed as the source of human knowledge rather than experience
these to the topic

Essay Instructions: Pop Culture Artifact (Due 11/21): In class we often refer to ways that cultural images convey messages about gender and sexuality. For this assignment, choose 1 pop culture artifact whether it be a news story, a newspaper article, an advertisement, a magazine cover, a television show and include the link or copy of this. DO NOT go to Google, type in ?sexist ad? and then turn that in. I want you to find examples on your own, using the critical thinking skills you have developed and will grade you accordingly).

Required:
1. First, indicate where you found the ad and indicate the date of its publication.
2. Then write three page of interpretive and critical analysis about each item. Make sure that you draw upon relevant themes raised in class readings and lectures and refer explicitly to these are you write your critique.

Essay Instructions: Whether we like it or not, pop culture is a pervasive [art of our lives. Even if we don’t seek it out, we are bombarded with news of the latest celebrity meltdown, with the beat of the most popular songs, with references to TV shows and movies, with ads for anything and everything, and with images of the most famous faces. For this assignment, you will be analyzing some element of pop culture. You may be focusing on why it’s popular in the first place (for example, what is it about Jersey Shore that so many people find compelling?), how it reflects and/or shapes our values (for example, does Skins accurately reflect teen life, or does or promote dangerous and unhealthy lifestyles?), what kind of arguments is makes (for example, is The Simpsons a critique of the nuclear family?), or how it affects/influences certain groups of people (for example, does Teen Mom effectively encourage its audience to practice safe sex?)

What you choose doesn’t have to be something you like; it just has to be something that raises a question for you that you want to explore.

Pop culture isn’t just “fluff.” It’s often at the center of much broader debates. For example, in 1992, when a sitcom called Murphy Brown had its central character have a child outside of wedlock, then Vice President Dan Quayle claimed that the show was “glorifying single motherhood” and contributing to an immoral and socially dangerous attitude toward the family. A media firestorm followed ??" all prompted by one person’s analysis of a fictional character on a TV show.

For your essay, you have one of two choices:
1. you can look at a genre and analyze the genre in light of a question that interests you. For example: how and why does this genre appeal to the audience? What specific beliefs, actions, relationships, or values does this genre encourage? To support your analysis, you will need to draw on specific examples from this genre. Keep in mind, though, that these examples should all connect to your larger claims about the genre.
2. You can look at a specific TV show (or even an episode of a TV show), movie, ad, song/album, cartoon, or any other pop culture “artifact” and analyze it in terms of its relation to social issues, its capacity to influence its audience, or any of the kinds of questions listed above. For example, you could analyze how female sexuality is portrayed on Sex and the City and explore the question of whether this portrayal is progressive or not, if it offers a useful or harmful model for women, etc…
* Also you must relate the topic to current attitude. Or you may wish to advocate reversal in what you consider a dangerous trend in attitude or social behavior.

Essay Instructions: Must be written with proper grammar and punctuation. This paper is due on Tuesday, 12-14. Thanks


Popular American Culture Paper

In preparation for this paper, compile an inventory of every artifact of popular culture that you come into contact with??"such as music videos, fast food establishments, comic books, and so on??"over the course of three days.

• Prepare a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you describe the impact that popular American culture has on your personal decision making. In your paper, be sure to address the following items:

o Briefly describe popular American culture.

o Identify patterns in the list of pop culture artifacts in your inventory.

o Describe which sorts of items are more common than others, and identify which themes are prevalent.

o Describe the values that are being communicated by the items listed in your compiled inventory, such as convenience, pleasure, health, pursuit of wealth, or social responsibility.

o Determine the extent to which you feel the values of popular American culture have directly impacted your personal decision making. Do you consider yourself very aware of the influence of popular culture on your decision making? Or has the influence been more subconscious? Justify your answer.

• Attach your inventory to your paper.