Please make sure to thoroughly read the promt/instructions before writing.
Attached are 3 (Collins- Hegemonic Masculinity.pdf, Toxic Masculinity and the Brokenness of Boyhood – The Atlantic.pdf, Lorber.pdf) sources that must be included in the writing, along with two essay examples of what the essay should look like. Make sure to use these sources and quote them as well as cite them in the body paragraphs!
I have written the introduction and main focus of the essay. You are welcome to revise it and edit it as necessary: From legal disputes with the family of Marvin Gaye for infringing copyrights to the infamous 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performance with singer Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines is arguably the most controversial song of the 2010s. The main issue with the song was Critics and listeners argued that the song and its accompanying visuals reinforced negative stereotypes and contributed to a culture that normalizes sexual harassment and assault. Thicke and his collaborators faced significant backlash and accusations of promoting rape culture. Robin Thicke’s music video for his song, ‘Blurred Lines,’ perpetuates harmful stereotypes, promotes the objectification of women, and reinforces power imbalances between genders, ultimately contributing to a negative portrayal of women in popular music culture.
Purpose: To formulate a clear, argumentative thesis statement, and develop support for it in an essay that utilizes academic research, interpretation, and a visual “text.” Practice the following research skills: evaluating sources, citing sources, effectively incorporating paraphrase and/or quotes.
– The music video will be Robin Thicke’s blurred lines, and you will focus on gender roles.
Contextual and audience information: Since the work you will undertake in this paper (textual analysis/interpretation) is most commonly found in academic writing, where readers often know something about the text under discussion, we will work with a common text – music videos. Assume that while all your readers may not be members of this class, they have seen the video and are familiar with some of the discussions around it; thus you do not need to waste time summarizing the video. Your goal in this task is to discuss ideas, themes, and rhetorical strategy, NOT to tell me if you liked or disliked the video. You may use “I” (first person) as long as it relates to your argument.
Writing Task: To what extent is gender represented in this music video? Analyze one scene, theme, idea, character, motif, image, set of images, audible effect, issue, or technique used in the video/s.
Focus on the VIDEO, not the song. This is a visual analysis; so I often tell people to watch the video many times with no sound on.
Consider how this video may have moved gender equality further, or halted it. You may need to contextualize the time/place/director/artist to accomplish this.
Ensure that your essay has a focus/thesis, and is not a collection of unconnected points about the video. While you are analyzing one aspect of the video/s, a strong paper will make connections between this one aspect and what you see as the important issues about/in the video/s.
You should use research to support YOUR thesis. Support your thesis with specific reference to and examples from the video/s, and detailed discussion of these references/examples. The research will come from our class articles. You are not required to find outside sources. Use of articles I have assigned you in class will suffice for this assignment.
This is not a report-where you collect and then report information. Instead, you will develop and argue a debatable position on your selected topic. You will not turn in a paper that pieces together other people’s ideas or a summary. Instead, you will support a thesis statement and use sources to back up your claims.
As many of these videos use adult and college-level themes, only choose those if you feel comfortable discussing, re-watching, and reading about those ideas.
Use of counterargument will be mandatory for an “A” paper.
Suggestions to steer your idea/thesis – You may choose a topic from one of the following options in relation to the writing task above or I encourage you to explore your own:
Nudity
Sexuality/ Overt Sexual Situations
Social Norms
Religion/ Religious Symbols
Gender or Gender Roles
Identity
LGBTQ representation
Race
Pop Culture theory
Consumerism
Self – Realization
Socioeconomic Relationships
Color Theory
Costumes
Remember you must have an argumentative edge. Meaning, you don’t just want to summarize what the text is about, but analyze and interpret.
Quoting from the works Carefully choose quotes from the article or video(s) to support the arguments you are making in each paragraph. I would recommend including 1 brief quote (less than 4 lines of text) in each paragraph. You many include no more than 2 long quotes (more than 4 lines). Remember to provide analysis for each quote. Do not simply summarize the quote. Ask yourself, “why is this quote important?” or “how does this quote support the ideas in this paragraph?”
Quoting from Outside Sources: You must use 2+ of the articles provided from either CG or The Atlantic (Orenstein). Wikipedia, Spark Notes, Ask.com, Yahoo Answers or any similar study guide or Q&A websites are not acceptable sources for this essay.
General Tips:
Be very specific! List your main points or reasons in your thesis statement. I may refer to this as a complex thesis statement or demonstrating the HOW, WHY, or BY WHAT MEANS within the thesis.
Your thesis is often the last 1 or 2 sentences of your introduction.
Mention the full title and author’s first and last name somewhere in the introduction.
Include at least 1 quote from the texts in each paragraph.
Come up with an interesting title “Essay 1,” “Final Draft,” or using the title of one of the texts is not adequate. Create your own title.
Format: Upload your Essay as one file (doc or PDF only) before the due date. Format is mandatory as double- spaced, MLA 9, 12 point font, one-inch margins on all four sides, Times New Roman. You must include a Works Cited Page with your essay. Don’t fluff your writing; make every word matter. You will be evaluated on your engagement with our course materials, critical thinking, grammar/ punctuation, and style.
MLA REMINDERS:
* Videos, Song Titles, TV episodes, and Podcasts are in “quotes”
* Books, Websites, TV Shows, Albums, and Films are underlined or in italics
* Articles or Chapters are in “quotes”
Review your paper for the follow and edit any of these out:
DO NOT OPEN a sentence with “So…”
“Nowadays”
“In today’s society”
“In fact”
Long “block” Quotations
If you have 4+lines of a quote, look up how to long or block quote and reformat this. The punctuation does not match the above. Be careful, you probably should not have a bunch of these in an essay of this length.
Also, Did you remember page numbers?
1” inch margins on all 4 sides?
Review your “BE” verbs. For example, “ I will be helping to edit this essay.” Revise to, “I will help to edit this essay.”
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