Response Paper One -- Due Jan 31

Step One: Watching TV

Watch one of the following TV shows this week:

American Idol ; airs Wednesday, Jan 24, at 7 pm, or Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 7 pm on Fox
Heroes; airs Monday, Jan. 29, at 8 pm on NBC
House; airs Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 8 pm on Fox

Please be sure to watch these particular shows. That way, we will be able to have a class discussion about the particular show that you’ve watched, rather than dealing with a ton of different episodes and plotlines. I’ve chosen these shows because they represent major TV genres—reality show, medical drama, and science fiction. If you are unfamiliar with it, you might not want to watch Heroes, as it may be somewhat confusing if you do not know the background. Both American Idol and House stand easily on their own and you will not need to know background to understand each episode.

Step Two: Analysis

As you’re watching the show, take notes, so that you can analyze it using the model developed in the reading “Popular Signs: Everything You’ve Always Known About American Culture (But Nobody Asked)”—that is, the semiotic method. Some of the questions you might ask are: What does the episode of the show you watched tell you about its cultural preoccupations, anxieties, or values? What kind of a model of society, of gender, of race, of class is being shown? What is the relationship between the signs you are seeing here and other cultural phenomena? (This is a paraphrase of the text, which asks you to consider “What is this thing like?” and “How is it different from some of the things that it resembles?”) You do not need to answer all of these questions; in fact, you will probably be more successful if you focus on just one or two of these areas, rather than trying to cover everything.

If you’re unsure how to do this, review the reading, which gives you both the theory behind this type of analysis and an example of how it’s done.

Step Three: What to Turn In

This exercise should culminate in a 1 ½ page response paper (double spaced). The reading assignment "Writing About Popular Culture" will be useful to you for this stage.

As far as formatting, put only your name at the top of the page; there is no need to put your class number, EID, or any other information, unless you're trying to make your paper look longer than it actually is - and that's not acceptable. Staple the pages together. Please bring a hard copy to class on Tuesday to turn in to me, and also make sure that you have an electronic copy (for example, stored on webspace) available for an in-class exercise.

updated 23. January 2007