Reading Popular Culture Choose a popular culture event or artifact that interests you enough to drive a careful analysis. You should select a topic that can be narrowed down to a clear thesis. Once you have your topic, you'll be asked to research it and draw conclusions from the trends you see over time.
Some sample topics follow: This project will examine Barbie advertisements from the 1970s to the present to show how the doll has moved from a fashion archetype to a more practical, career-oriented toy that encourages young girls.
The Simpsons has gone through many changes, but the most successful episodes are the ones that tackle current political events. However, is there a political bias that is present when one compares and contrasts a politically-driven episode from the Bush era with one from the Obama era? Reality TV is everywhere, but where did it come from? Some argue that the first reality show was MTV's The Real World from the 1990s; however, few remember that reality TV first captivated audiences in 1973 when PBS featured its show, The American Family.
The rhetoric of that landmark show will be contrasted with a reading of a modern family show in order to draw inferences about the changes to the genre.
You will present the results of your research in a 4-6-page, double-spaced paper in MLA format that includes a minimum of three external sources that discuss the future of the medium that you selected.