OMM104 Final Exam Essay
In this course we studied films, but the what you learned can be applied to all media forms.
Write a 3-4 paged, double-spaced essay
for this prompt -
Why is it important to study media and culture? What did you learn in this course and how may it impact your media consumption of print/radio/moving image – advertising, marketing, TV, social media, news, etc?
At the start of the semester you watched The Key to Media's Hidden Codesby Ben Beaton. Watch it again and take copious notes.
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-key-to-media-s-hidden-codes(Links to an external site.)
For this essay, apply what was covered in this course across other disciplines and aspects of your life.
- How have your media analysis skills been strengthened?
- How are you more adept at recognizing when media creators are trying to influence you?
- How may these skills affect your parenting?
- How may these skills affect your reaction to political messaging? How may these skills impact your purchasing decisions?
- How has the material in the course made you more aware of how you and others are represented in media – race, class, gender, education level?
GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO THINK before writing.
You may turn in your final exam at any time before the due date, butno papers will be accepted afterthe time/date specified on the schedule.
MAKE SURE TO SUBMIT YOUR thorough and detailed NOTES onMEDIA’S HIDDEN CODES with your essay.
Things to consider --
Reference aspects of the COMM 104 worksheets for ideas/inspiration.
- Place yourstrong and guiding film thesis statementas the last sentence in the first paragraph.
- Underline your strong and guiding thesis statement.
- Make sure your strong and guiding thesis statement directly addresses the prompt.
- Support your thesis position with specific and detailed examples from the film, our textbook, and your lifetime of media consumption.
- Make social, political and/or cultural connections
- Consider time period, film theory, social movements, attitudes, censorship, artistic conventions, financial constraints, filmmaking technology, representation of race and gender, stereotyping/archetypes, setting, Classical Hollywood cinema style characteristics, and genre conventions, etc to analyze the media landscape in which we live.
- Use andBold
vocabularyfrom thetextbook. Use it appropriately and as much as possible. Show me that you read and comprehend the material.
- Use present tense.
- Be thorough. Use proper grammar and correct spelling.
- In this essay, you may use personal pronouns - “I”, “you”, and “we”.
- Do NOT summarize any media. It will read as filler.
- Do NOT provide definitions. They will read as filler.
- Paper titles are unnecessary and read as filler.
- Only your name is needed on the header. Everything else reads as filler.