Description
This assignment asks you to engage in an analysis of gender and sexuality in at least one mass media artifact.
You may either analyze a print media artifact such as an advertisement OR a visual media artifact such as a television show or movie.
You may use the prompts below to help guide your research, however your analysis may include other observations not presented in the prompts.
You must:
Choose an artifact that you feel is a rich site for gender,sex ,and sexuality analysis.
Describe the artifact
Use at least one theory from our textbook and/or class discussions
Write a 3-5 page essay that analyzes the artifact in a significant way.
Prepare a 3-5 minute speech explaining your artifact and analysis to the class
In addition to sharing your analysis, your speech should include a visual representation or short clip of the media artifact you chose
Below are some possible questions you might use to engage in your analysis:
Who is the probable intended audience(s) for your artifact? What factors contribute to your awareness of audience?
Consider not only gender but other intersectional identity categories such as age, race, ethnicity, geographic location, class, etc.
What message or product is your artifact trying to sell/spread? How does it make its appeal to its audience? What is the end goal of the artifact?
How are women, men, and/or non-binary individuals depicted in the artifact? Do these people appear different from each other?
Are the individuals in the artifact subjects or objects? Why?
If you are looking at a print ad, who are the individuals in the advertisement looking at?
How are their bodies positioned? Who is looking at them? What are they wearing? Are they at all sexualized?
If you are looking at television or a movie, what roles do the characters play? How are characters portrayed as “ugly” or “beautiful” and do these match with societal norms? How do they construct relationships between characters?
Who are the major characters and who are the minor characters? What kinds of work are ascribed to them? Are any of these representations gendered or sexed?
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