Assignment
Length: 1200-1500 words
For this paper, you will be carrying out a semiotic/structuralist analysis of a text of your choosing. Choose one of the following options:
1. Perform a semiotic analysis of the opening credits sequence of a television show. Begin with the assumption that everything one could ever need to know about the show is contained in these 60 to 90 (or 30, or whatever) seconds. What do the signs contained in the sequence tell us about the show that will follow? How do the images and sounds we see and hear in the opening sequence communicate the ideas and themes of the show? (Note that I said "ideas and themes," NOT "plot and character.") These images and sounds are your evidence; use them to support your claim regarding what the show is about. What is this show's comment, or its point, about the world?
2. Perform a structural analysis along the lines of Barthes's "Wine and Milk," choosing a pair of items in popular culture and illustrating the ways in which they signify structuring oppositions in American culture (or whichever national culture they come from). You may tailor this to your interests: sports, food, television, film, fashion, music, internet culture-whatever you're into and whatever you're interested in thinking about deeply and thoroughly. How do the two things you've chosen to analyze allow us to see a larger tension or opposition in the social world around us-our values, our judgments, our desires, etc.? Keep this in mind: The more seemingly similar your two objects are, the more interesting-and therefore the more successful-will be your paper exploring the differences between them. (Note that in structuralist analysis, we are not interested in literal properties of the object as an end in themselves; we are interested in what those properties mean.)
Your grades will be based on the following criteria:
1. Original, insightful thinking and exploration of non-obvious ideas, clearly supported by empirical evidence from the objects you're analyzing
2. A well-structured, unified argument that is stated in the paper's introduction and that is carried through the rest of the paper without tangents or padding
3. Thoughtful engagement with class concepts and/or readings
4. Proper grammar and syntax, correct use of class terminology and citation practices, and suitably academic language
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.