History 37 Final Exam Essay [HOME]
Final Exam ARTH 80P Winter 2002
Goals:
1. The exam essay is intended to give you an opportunity to synthesize primary and secondary materials you have engaged with during the quarter.
2. Focus on the construction of a coherent argument (thesis, claim) firmly grounded in (supported and illustrated by) analysis (interpretation, dissection) of textual details from primary materials.
Assignment:
1. Choose a topic/approach from the topic list below.
2. Choose one or more primary texts to develop and illustrate the argument you wish to make regarding your topic.
General Guidelines:
1. Papers are due 4 PM on Monday March 18.
1a) Turn the exam in either at my office or my drop box in Merrill Faculty Services.
1b) No late papers without a verified medical excuse and advance permission.
1c) If you want comments, make a note on your essay and provide a SASE.
2. Five to seven pages in length, typed, double-spaced, standard margins, and proofread for both spelling and grammatical mistakes. Continue to reference the (slightly revised) rubric.
3. Write your name and the name of your t.a. on your front/first page.
4. Citations for arguments, facts and direct quotations drawn from the readings can be given in the following informal format: (author's family name, page number). Either MLA or APA style is also always welcomed. If you use outside sources, provide full bibliographic information.
5. Many of the topics/approaches below overlap. This meant to serve as an opportunity, not a problem. Just be sure to construct your own coherent argument.
6. Pay careful attention to the advice/specifications appended to many of the topics.
7. Feel free to plunder the lectures for specific questions to pose and answer regarding the texts.
8. Examine your texts as objects that have been actively put together, first by the author/artist, but also by the reader/audience.
9. Drawing from course materials of a "secondary" nature for this class, be sure to provide some context for your close readings.
Topics/Approaches:
1. Politics of popular culture
1a) Develop an analysis that demonstrates/acknowledges both "conservative" and "progressive" aspects of a particular text
1b) Be sure to define what you mean by such terms as "politics, ""conservative" and "progressive"
1c) If you are interested in the specific topic of Hiroshima and representations in popular culture, I suggest looking at Barefoot Gen, several volumes of which are available in McHenry Library. Out of consideration for your fellow students, please make copies of the relevant pages and leave in the library.
2. Uses of popular culture: why do people consume popular cultural texts and artifacts?
2a) Base your argument on the applicability of a particular model or models for consumption, such as "escapism," "development of skills," "mastery of information," "(fan) community building," "social criticism" and so on.
2b) Develop the above discussion of applicable model in relation to specific text or texts
2c) Do not try to make your argument applicable to all consumers of the text: focus your argument on a specific group
3. Making and/or breaking gender categories
3a) Do not assume gendered characteristics but rather carefully track how gender roles are constructed in a particular text
3b) Keep in mind that "gender" is not the same as "sex," the former being socially/culturally constructed and the latter being a biological state
4. Making and/or breaking generational (childhood, adolescence, adulthood) categories
4a) Do not assume generational characteristics but rather carefully track how such roles are constructed in a particular text
5. Making and/or breaking national, racial or ethnic categories
5a) Do not assume national, racial or ethnic characteristics but rather carefully track how such roles are constructed in a particular text
6. Representations of relations between humans and technology
7. Representations of monstrosity
8. Cuteness as a concept
Primary Materials:
1. Fushigi yûgi, Ranma 1/2, and various excerpts in the reading packet
2. Class videos on reserve or otherwise available at the McHenry Media Center: "Akira" (on order), "Astroboy," "Borgman," "Family Game," "Ghost in the Shell," "lain," "Patlabor," "Pokemon: The First Movie," "Pokemon: Snorlax," "Ranma 1/2," "Rose of Versailles" (sorry Japanese language only), "Shall We Dance?," "Sukeban deka," Takarazuka performance: "Elizabeth" (sorry Japanese language only), "Tokyo Olympiad," "Urusei yatsura" (particularly note volumes 12 and 17), "Ultraman," "Utena" & more