alternative media analysis

1500-2000 words.

12pt font (Times New Roman or Arial), double-spaced, default margins and line spacing.

Meaningfully include at least two scholarly resources not on our syllabus.

o Please cite these references at the end of your essay (MLA or Chicago style).

o This will be helpful for scholarly resources:

Part 1: Explain and define your alternative medium.

Select a medium that is NOT television or film.

This section must explain in detail the formal qualities of your medium.

o You do not need to list every single formal quality of your medium, but please describe

some of the key ones

o Think of our chapter on film vocabulary (mise en scene, lighting, editing, etc.). What are

some of the vocabulary of your medium?

o You may define these in-text or you may list them like a glossary, but I will be looking for

your use of these terms in your paper.

You may, additionally, describe your topic is an alternative medium per other criteria.

o e.g. “Mosh pits are a kind of dance, but they are also their own medium because…”

o You must base your argument in the formal qualities of your medium.

o Scholarly resources and/or interviews will be needed to support these claims.

Part 2: Do a semiotic analysis of a text from your alternative medium.

You may do this analysis on a text from the medium itself OR of a representation of that medium.

o e.g. you may analyze a specific experience of being in a mosh pit OR a mosh pit as it’s

represented in a different medium, like the documentary The Decline of Western

Civilization

I expect your analysis to use the vocabulary we have learned in class.

o e.g. signifiers, connotation/denotation, codes, myths.

An example of a strong semiotic analysis can be found here:

Part 3: Do an ideological reading of your text.

Is your text ideologically dominant or radical? Or something else? (e.g. subversive,

propagandistic)

o Use your semiotic analysis to support your claim.

What power structures are being maintained or naturalized? Which ones are being challenged?

How?

. You may also connect your analysis to your own personal experiences.