Social media, simulation and consumption

Science and technology (including media, transportation and other
technologies present in the film)

Use vocabulary from Chapters 7-10 and lectures. You may also draw on the
Banet-Weiser reading. You will probably want to draw on some of the vocabulary from
our work on the analysis of images and photographs as well (Barthes’ terms are
useful, for example).

1. Begin with a THESIS. Hypothetical example (note: do not use this thesis in your
own paper—this is an example):
“I aim to show how the film The World (Jia Zhang-ke, 2004)(27:15 to 30:00 minutes) are constructed as
consumer citizens.” Then you would have to mean what you mean by consumer citizens,
and cite some sources from reading about it (Banet-Weiser, the textbook), keeping in
mind her concept was written to describe North Americans not Chinese subjects. This
should take you to the end of page one or the middle of page 2.

2. Explain how the film overall functions in terms of your thesis.
Example following from above: “Throughout the film, characters engage in consumption
… . {Explain in 2 or 3 paragraphs how the film plot as a whole relates to the
thesis, and different places in the film where neoliberal consumer values are
expressed.} This should take about a page.

3. Do a close analysis of your scene to develop and support your thesis. “The scene
in which such and such happens is a useful one from which to demonstrate the film’s
expression of neoliberal consumer values. In the first shot of the sequence, we see
so and so walking in a residential area hallway surrounded by her co-workers; she is
carrying a bag…. [go forward and further describe and analyze, saying what these
elements and relationships mean}” This should take about 2-3 pages.