Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to critically watch and review a movie with popular culture themes/symbols in terms of the sociological perspective and cultural theories.
Instructions:
1) Select a movie: For this assignment, you will need to select one movie (The Last Samurai). Even if it is a movie you have seen before, you need to re-watch the movie with a critical eye towards the social construction of reality and illustrations of other sociological/cultural concepts. If you would like to analyze a movie that is not on the list, please send me a message to clear it with me.
2) Analyze the movie: After watching the movie, you will write a 2-4 page review, consisting of:
a) introductory paragraph noting the relevance of the movie to the course
“This course is a contemporary study of popular culture in America – its development, characteristics, and the social institutions that produce and distribute it. We will consider pop culture’s role in shaping our individual lives as well as its broader effects on our world.
Pop culture studies often draw from a variety of fields and methods, including cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, communications, and history. Within the course, we will look at many facets of popular culture including sports, fashion, social media, and the influence of technology. Over the next eight weeks, we will examine the ways that popular culture is produced and how it addresses and shapes the many aspects composing human identities and experiences.”
Course Objectives
Students completing this course will:
CO1: Compare and contrast culture, popular, high culture, elite culture, mass culture, low culture, subculture and counterculture.
CO2: Describe examples of the different types of norms operative in popular culture, and how these are related to the process of social control.
CO3: Identify the research methods used to create knowledge about popular culture.
CO4: Apply key cultural theories and analytical dimensions for examining popular culture.
CO5: Explain how various elements of popular culture inform or reflect our attitudes, behavior, and society and why the popular culture becomes popular.
CO6: Illustrate diversity in popular culture and concepts of multiculturalism, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism with reference to key stratifying factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, region and sexuality.
CO7: Analyze culture within individual, social, historical, political, economic, and global contexts.
CO8: Describe the cultural and social significance of popular culture in shaping the larger contemporary American society.
CO9: Examine the roles of print media, art, music, radio, television, motion picture, the Internet, sports, fashion, and technology in the development of American popular culture.
b) one-page description/summary of the contents of the film; some questions you could address are:
-Major substantive points of the movie?
-Any secondary points made?
c) 1-2 pages in which you use at least 4 sociological/pop cultural concepts and theories covered in this course to analyze the movie (cite class materials and outside sources as you do so)
Some concepts covered in the course: (functionalism, critical theory, symbolic interactionism, instrumentalism, critical approach, popular culture vs high culture)
Some class materials to reference:
American Sociological Association. (n.d.). Charles Horton Cooley. Retrieved from http://www.asanet.org/about-asa/asa-story/asa-history/past-asa-officers/past-asa-presidents/charles-h-cooley
Gartman, D. (2012). Bourdieu and Adorno: Converging theories of culture and inequality. Theory and Society, 41, 41-72.
Grazian, D. (2010). Mix it up: Popular culture, mass media and society. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
Barnett, L.A. & Allen, M.P. (2000). Social Class, Cultural Repertoires, and Popular Culture: The Case of Film. Sociological Forum, 15(1), 145-163.
Katz-Gerro, T. (1999). Cultural Consumption and Social Stratification: Leisure Activities, Musical Tastes, and Social Location. Sociological Perspectives, 42(4), 627-646.
https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0002716208318520
https://www.proquest.com/docview/905885170?parentSessionId=1BuS5b2%2FRhvXjZHJVPrz%2BaiKjm%2F2en6DusT2KE4WK9k%3D&accountid=8289&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
General requirements:
Submissions should be typed, double-spaced, 1″ margins, times new roman 12 pt font, and saved as .doc, .docx, .pdf.
Use APA format for citations and references
View the grading rubric so you understand how you will be assessed on this Assignment.
Disclaimer- Originality of attachments will be verified by Turnitin. Both you and your instructor will receive the results.
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