- Identify the media that was prevalent in the year of your birth and 2005. List the media and briefly describe the content of each item. You will need to identify the popular television shows, important headlines, full-length feature films, popular products (clothing, food, cars, etc.) and books. Include world events in the headlines, not just those of U.S. interests. Include summaries of the TV shows, the songs' meanings or messages, a summary describing each headline, book, film, and popular product. You need at least 3 in each category (8 for the newspaper articles) to make an average grade. Extra credit: Add 5 popular songs and their meanings.
- Choose a parent or other adult over 40 years of age (please identify in your paper). Using the same criteria as above, identify those items from their year of birth and the year of their 18 th birthday.
- Now, compare and contrast the media events of the times. Answer questions such as:
- How do the headlines compare from your birth year to today? How do they change from the adult’s birth year to that of 18 years? How does the media in 2005 reflect the society you know? What media can you use that was not available in the time of your adult's span of birth to 18 years? How does your society compare to that of the adult’s when he or she was 18? How does popular media leave out various minority populations? Is this different for the two generations? If there are no minority representations, how can you find them? Is there a variety of voices being covered? Is there bias in what is captured in the timelines? What do you know about society when your adult was born by just looking at the media that was popular? Don’t just answer these questions… What other questions can you answer from the media items you chose (or didn’t find)?
- What significant changes in society can you infer from the media headlines and popular outlets (movie, book, etc.) from when your adult was born to now?
- And finally, write a short essay (one page) that answers the following question: Does media influence society or is it the other way around?
Due: February 3, 2006 |