Nina simone essay

PURPOSE: To make an argument about how you see activists and/or activism represented in the popular culture; to practice analyzing the details of how a cultural artifact is constructed.

TASK: To make this argument, you’ll do a close reading of a song (essay #1) and a film (essay #2) which you will select from the lists below. You will study the details of how these artifacts are constructed and then write about the ideologies, behaviors, resources, aspirations, customs, or systems that they represent. In short, you will focus on the rhetorical strategies that are used to persuade the audience and defend the ideology presented.

As described by Sonja K. Foss (in the Week 3 reading page) the intended outcome of rhetorical analysis is a habit of responding more critically to the messages you encounter, becoming more engaged and active participants in shaping the nature of the worlds in which you live (Foss 9). This assignment asks you to compose two essays of about 1000 words each (word or page count is not an assessment measure, it is merely a guide). The primary sources for these essays are the song and film you select. Those sources -- and any others you choose to consult about the artifacts’ context -- must be given credit both in the text of your essay (whenever you quote or paraphrase), and in a works cited list at the end of your essay. Get MLA formatting help here.

Step One: Access a complete original version of the song (for essay #1) and the film (for essay #2) and engage with its details using your active reading strategies. Take notes. Read these questions before hand, and record an answer to each of them for possible inclusion in your essay:

How is activism framed by this artifact? How do the title, the summary, the packaging, the marketing (which includes music videos and movie trailers), and the production, help indicate what social concerns might be addressed? Is the intended audience made clear?
What claims does the artifact make and what responses does it evoke? What do its lyrics or dialogue, or its use of sound, light, and color signify? Where is there repetition in the artifact; where are there allusions; what do the names of things stand for?
What values are suggested, what beliefs are advocated, what assumptions are encouraged by the artifact’s details? Is there anything that the song or film does not want its audience to think about, what does it leave out? Is it subversive or is it straightforward?
How do the creators, performers, or producers portray themselves? What constraints are working against them? How do they transmit their expertise or their personal stake in the issue? Could the message be delivered by anyone else, or in any other format?