For this assignment, you will assemble a qualitative annotated bibliography on the topic of subversives in contemporary film, literature, and other media forms. A broad topic, I know; your challenge is to find a productive way of paring it down, and hopefully this focus is one that genuinely interests you, because you are in fact performing preliminary research for the final project.
You
might take one of several strategies as you hone your research focus:
-
you could look at secondary sources surrounding one text in particular (say, a
collection of scholarly work about American Psycho);
- you could locate sources
that trace a particular theme through several primary texts (for instance, sources
that look at race or class or gender issues in cyberpunk fiction, or sources that
question how the psychological motivations of serial killers are depicted in slasher
films like Halloween and Friday the 13th);
- you could look at secondary sources
dealing with a particular author, director, or actor (for example, there’s
a theoretical approach in film studies called “star theory,” and I’ll
bet there’s lots of stuff out there that theorizes what it is about our popular
conception of Brad Pitt that has him always landing these crazy roles; or you
could find articles about George Orwell’s approach to raising political consciousness
across his entire body of writings);
- you could eat them in a box…you
could eat them with a fox;
- invent your own! It’s fun!
Specifications:
-
15 to 20 sources of scholarly merit;
- qualitative annotations—in other
words, you’ll assess the relevance of the article to your particular focus,
briefly describe the gist of the argument, and state whether or not you agree
with its conclusions, thesis, etc. (and be sure to say why); these annotations
should be models of productive brevity—short, punchy, but insightful
-
length will vary, but aim for the 3 – 5 page target area;
- adhere to
MLA citation guidelines (I’ll be more of a stickler about this than usual);
-
Don’t suck—surprise me…in the good way.
Due Date:
March 29; I would like a hard copy of the bibliography.