For this essay, you will examine a text thoroughly (likely a portion of a text), and then write a single, thesis-driven analysis of it based on your observations, interpretations, and/or applications of the ideas that you have uncovered, thereby revealing the significance of your chosen text. By “ text ,” I mean “object of study that can be read as a text.” In other words, a text can be a printed work, image, ad/political campaign, place, television program, film, video game, public figure, and so forth (this list is not comprehensive). It is very likely that you will only be working with a portion of any longer texts (for instance, it’s best to examine a scene from a film, rather than a whole film or a single idea in an essay, rather than the whole essay). By “ thesis ,” I mean a creative, argumentative main claim that carries some cultural significance to it. By “ observations, interpretations, and applications ,” I mean the evidence that you are examining and the explicit meaning that you are drawing from it (i.e. what does your evidence prove and how does it connect with your main claim and/or subclaims?). By “ significance ,” I mean the answer to the question “So what?” or “Why does it matter that we understand your text in the way that you have argued?” or “What changes as a result of understanding your text in the way that you do?” or “Why do we care?” Objects of Study: You may examine… · any portion of the written texts on the syllabus · a “cultural, textual artifact” such as a television episode, film, sculpture, painting, place, advertisement or ad campaign, or video game Given the freedom of choice regarding your objects of study, make absolutely certain that you cite/document properly, both for the in-text (parenthetical) citations and on the required works cited page. (See the MLA guidelines sheets on Blackboard and visit Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab; I should also mention, although I hope that it is not necessary, that it could be useful to review the University’s policies regarding plagiarism). Hints and Advice: We have discussed this semester how the “lens” through which you look at an object of study focuses “how” you see and make meaning out of it. One way to analyze a text in a new way (and to have a new idea/thesis/main claim) is pick a new lens through which to examine your text. Some examples include: power relationships, hierarchies, language, class, race, gender, sexuality, age, technology, communication, public/private, spirituality, stereotypes/archetypes, materialism/idealism, consumerism, inside/outside, space … the list goes on. All of these lenses play significant roles in image-making or representation in culture and might help you in examining your chosen text. You may choose to compare or address issues of representation in two or more different texts (for instance, texts that seem to have different purposes, but communicate those purposes in similar ways; or texts that seem .