Course materials

1. Philosophy of the Arts Discussion
Philosophy of the Arts DiscussionPhilosophy of the Arts DiscussionFor this option, you are
to select two posts by you, yourself from our Discussion Forums, or the Top Hat discussion
questions. Select two that you intend to revise and elaborate on to help you with your final
paper.Begin with a short introduction about the art (the graphic novel or two films) and the
posts you have selected. Next, write a full paragraph for each of your posts explaining how
the ideas apply to the artwork you choose for your final paper. In each, take time to
elaborate on your ideas and describe the aspects of the artwork to which you are applying
them.Discussion Forums1: Ideal or Exemplary?Give one example of an experience you’ve
had with something like Plato’s Ideals and one of an experience you’ve had with Aristotle’s
concept of the exemplary. Compare and contrast them using artworks from this section as
an example.Discussion Forums2: Splendor & MimesisIs Jeff Koons art splendid? Is it
mimetic? Or, if you prefer, where would you place it on Plato’s Simile of the Line? Where
would Plato? Compare and contrast your emotional response to his art with your emotional
response to the medieval art we encountered.Contemporary Art: Your Selection for the
Final.For your final paper, select:ONE of the following graphic novels (student’s choice):
Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir by Ellen Forney;
Psychiatric Tales: Eleven Graphic Stories About Mental Illness by Darryl Cunningham;
Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell; The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon; Pride of Baghdad by
Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon; Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane
Satrapi; Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story by Ari Folman and David Polonsky.OR
TWO of the following films: Alison Klayman’s: Ai Weiwei Never Sorry; Lucy Walker and João
Jardim’s Waste Land (about Vik Muniz); Scott Willis’ The Woodmans, Banksy’s Exit Through
The Gift Shop (about Mr. Brainwash and other street artists), Freida Lee Mock’s Maya Lin: A
Strong Clear Vision, David and Albert Maysles’ The Gates or Running Fence (both about
Christos and Jeanne Claude), Jessie Deeter and Steve Brown’s Spark: A Burning Man Story,
John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.ORDER NOW FOR CUSTOMIZED,
PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPERSYou must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your
computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on
your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous
misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in
silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is
advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten
corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12

2. characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins
or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended
number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.Likewise, large type, large
margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines),
increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to
increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your
professor.The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on
the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white
paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to
follow your argument.