Reference no: EM133765072
Question 1) Analyze a personal viewing experience using bell hooks' oppositional gaze theory. Examining media with an opposition gaze means critically assessing constructions of gender, sexuality, race, nation, class, and ability, and refusing to identify with dominant readings of the text. You will choose a single work (film, TV episode, song, video game, etc.) and address how you applied the oppositional gaze to something you've seen/read/listened to/played. Your post should:
Identify the dominant reading of the media text. What primary interpretation does the film or show intend? How do you know?
Identify why this dominant interpretation is flawed. What ideas or realities does the dominant reading perpetuate? Why is this a problem?
Describe how you employed an oppositional gaze to challenge the media text. How did you view it with a critical eye? How did you shift your focus in viewing the work to find pleasure in it? Or, how did you focus on different aspects of the texts in order to find something positive in it? In other words, explain how you read it "against the grain" and what new meaning you were able to take from it as a result.
This post should be at least 300 words and should include a word count.
Question 2) For this option, you will perform a virtual ethnography of a media fan community. Your post should:
Choose a community and platform to observe (e.g., Star Wars fan forums on theforce.net)
Spend at least 1 hour examining the content of websites, social media pages, forums, or other activities online. Your post should address the themes you noticed in the fan community and provide an analysis of their broader significance.
Describe the fan site: What is the media property? Where is the site? Who are its regular contributors? What are the community norms and practices?
Describe and analyze themes, considering questions like: What topics regularly come up? How do fans describe their relationship to the media text? What types of fan practices did you notice?