Popular Culture Analysis

 

Objective
For this assignment, you will analyze one popular culture example and explore how it addresses and represents diversity and/or reproduces oppression and inequity. The objective of this assignment is to develop your ability to expose taken for granted elements of everyday (or mainstream) experiences and ideas, consider how larger structural and systemic forces are at play, reflect upon the intersecting forms of oppression (‘isms’) informing popular culture examples, and consider how these elements are relevant in educational/schooling contexts.
Selecting a popular culture example
The term ‘popular culture’ is a broad umbrella term referring to many things, including the ideas, values, images, and phenomena found within the mainstream of a society. In particular, popular culture can refer to the types of cultural products we enjoy in our leisure time, including movies, music, TV shows, as well as social media sites like Twitter.
To complete your popular culture analysis, you will choose ONE of the following popular culture products: a song, a TV show episode, a movie clip, or a Twitter exchange. In your analysis you will explore the questions outlined below.
Guidelines for writing your analysis
These questions can be used as subheadings to structure your 2-3 page written analysis.
1. What is the surface message or goal?
• Briefly describe your popular culture example and explain why you selected it. You should clearly identify how it (on the surface) addresses/represents diversity and/or reproduces inequity. What is the obvious goal, outcome, consequence, or effect of this example?

2. What power structures, systemic forces, or mechanisms are at play?
• What hidden power structures and systemic forces are at play in your popular culture example? Here, you will move beyond the surface message or goal of your pop culture example and uncover relevant unseen mechanisms (at least 2) that are working in the background. Drawing on theoretical concepts from course readings and lectures will help you identify and explore these power structures.
3. Exploring the taken for granted and unquestioned. What else does the Pop Culture example do?
• Now, consider how you might go beyond naming hidden power structures and mechanisms at work. Put simply, extend your discussion to consider what ‘else’ might this popular culture example do? Question what might be taken for granted about the example you chose, including what misconceptions, stereotypes, or contradictions might be at work within it. For instance, a song or TV episode may on the surface seem to be challenging racism, sexism, homophobia, or classism, etc; however, when examined more closely it may also be reinforcing (through omission or through other stereotypes) different inequities. Therefore, consider what other inequities are also at play, but that may not be obvious on the surface. This is one way of accounting for intersectionality.

4. Educational relevance and classroom implications
• Taking into consideration your discussion and analysis up to this point, discuss the impact your pop culture example (and similar types of popular culture) might have on the classroom environment, including experiences, views, and expectations around learning. For example, you may wish to imagine a scenario in which a student (or even a teacher) has viewed or listened to your selected TV show, song, movie or Twitter exchange before entering the classroom. How might the messages within your pop culture artifact (hidden and obvious) impact on the everyday classroom environment?