As You Write Your Essay

In Essays 1 and 2, you developed your analytical skills, first by focusing on a personal narrative and then by comparing two similar public spaces. For Essay 3, your job will be to combine the skills developed in both essays and construct a convincing argument concerning the depiction of stereotypes in a sitcom episode of your choosing.

Within the essay, your primary goal will be to describe the stereotype, analyze how that stereotype functions within the episode, and construct a convincing argument explaining the stereotype's cultural relevance. Why is the stereotype depicted in this way? How might that depiction affect the audience (positively or negatively)? What are the social implications of this "text"? Does it promote dominant ideology or question it?

Structuring your essay

After briefly introducing the show, you will then need to describe and analyze the scenes you are examining, including SPECIFIC details to support your claims and to connect back to your argument. These details may include:

Dialogue

Line delivery (tone, volume, pitch, timing)

Body language and blocking (the precise movement and positioning of the characters)

Physical appearance (clothing, hair styles, make up, etc.)

Camera angles

Background music/sounds

Setting (location, color, objects, etc.)

Props

Lighting

As you write your essay, avoid broad, cliché, or vague arguments. This assignment gives you quite a bit of freedom both in what you choose to examine and what you choose to argue - so choose wisely! It is recommended that you select a half-hour show (no soap operas or reality television allowed) and that you focus on two or three scenes. This essay should be at least four full pages in length (meaning somewhere on the fifth page).