Contrast Media types
Over the last 5 weeks, you have taken specific steps toward a holistic analysis of how two genres of popular
culture address specific issues. You will now present your analysis in the form of a paper for your Final Project.
The fictitious student in the Week 6 Final Project would perform the following:
Questions about this assignment? Post them in the Contact the Instructor area. That way, everyone in the class will
see and benefit from the Instructor’s response.
To prepare for this assignment:
?Review the full body of analysis that you have done for the Final Project Milestone assignments throughout the
course and the short papers that you have submitted.
?Consider the similarities and/or differences between your selected genres and how they address your chosen issues.
?Reflect on the ways in which each genre’s audience is affected by how they address the issues.
The assignment:
?Write a 4- to 7-page paper in which you respond to the following:
?Compare and/or contrast the ways in which your three chosen issues are addressed in your two selected genres.
?How consistently or differently do the genres portray certain issues?
?How do commonalities within and between each genre work together to address your chosen issues?
?Conversely, how do the differences between each genre define how they address certain issues?
?Does one text address an issue or issues in a unique way? Is it particularly representative of a way the genre
commonly addresses an issue?
?Does each genre’s handling of the issues affect its audience in a positive or negative way?
?Support your assertions by making at least 7 references, in proper APA format, to relevant academic sources.
1.Week 1 Milestone:
Choose one of these five media types: ?TV
?Movies
?Music
?Printed material (books, graphic novels, etc.)
?Original Web content (blogs, etc.)
2.Week 2 Milestone, Part One:
Within that media type, choose two genres. For example, if you chose music for your media type, you could choose
gangsta rap and new country. (It is best to choose fairly specific genres?for example, gangsta rap and new country
are better choices than simply rap and country, which are very broad.)
3.Week 2 Milestone, Part Two:
Choose three of the following five issues to analyze: ?Race
?Social class
?Sexuality
?Violence/indecency
?Gender
4.Weeks 3 and 4 Milestones:
Select two to four modern popular culture texts of each genre that you believe are reasonably representative of the
way that genre portrays the issues you selected. For the Week 3 milestone, you will begin analysis of the texts
within one genre; for the Week 4 milestone, you will analyze the texts within the other genre.
5.Week 5 Milestone and Week 6 Final Submission:
Write a 5- to 7-page paper that: ?Compares and contrasts the way each genre portrays the three issues.
?Explains roles (positive and negative) each genre has for its audience.
For the Week 5 milestone, you will begin the comparison/contrast and role analyses. As always, you must cite the
texts used to back up your points.
The following is a graphical depiction of the steps a fictitious student took each week to complete the project:
Questions about this assignment? Post them in the Contact the Instructor area. That way, everyone in the class will
see and benefit from the Instructor’s response.
To prepare for this assignment, consider the following guidelines for selecting the media type to analyze:
?You may wish to analyze a media type that you already engage with frequently. However, consider that your
familiarity may color your perception; it may be easier to analyze a media type you are not as intimately
acquainted with.
?Although you are not responsible for finalizing your choice of genres and issues in Week 1, you should give those
choices some advance consideration, as the issues you choose may be more prevalent in certain media types and
genres than others.
?Similarly, although you will finalize your choices of specific media texts later, if you have some in mind
already, that may influence your choice of media type.
The assignment:
?In a 1-page paper, write 2 or 3 paragraphs explaining the media type you plan to focus on and the factors you
considered when choosing it. Support your assertions by making at least 2 references, in proper APA format, to
relevant academic sources. Remember that the Walden University Library is available — "Ask a Librarian"
for assistance.