construct your own analysis of the publicity campaign for a particular film or show.

Assignment #4: Television, Movies, and their Viewers Movies and TV shows are often the subjects of intense publicity campaigns. Lisa Kernan has suggested that publicity materials (trailers specifically), have proven to be an effective means for the film industry to encapsulate and promote the particular type of experience a given film will provide. This type of experience can be based on genre, on archetype/myth, or on some other category or association. Sometimes the various advertisements, packages, and trailers surrounding the film or show offer a strongly unified approach, a single appeal to a particular audience. Often, though, there are inconsistencies among different areas and the movie/show is represented differently in different contexts. For Assignment #4, you will again be working both with primary texts of your own selection and related secondary sources from Signs of Life. You will construct your own analysis of the publicity campaign for a particular film or show. Your thesis and analysis will engage with the following types of questions: What type of experience is being offered in the materials you see? How does the advertising use familiar, genre-based, or myth-based cues to tell the audience what to expect (i.e. this will be an action movie or this show is about an outlaw hero)? What are the central appeals and how (using specific analysis) do you see each text making them? How do the advertising or peripheral texts package or distort the movie or tv show in order to attract viewers? Primary Sources: For this paper, you will select a set of primary sources that will include, but are not limited to, at least three examples of publicity materials related to a particular movie or tv series. The movie/show itself can count for one of these sources. The other sources will be publicity materials for the movie, including the packaging of the DVD/Blu-ray disc or set, a movie trailer (or even multiple movie trailers that are edited significantly differently), publicity posters or cast photos, or any other movie-related tie-ins. If you choose a tv show, your primary source group can include a single episode or season of the show (specified by you) as your first primary source, and related publicity materials as your others. You must supply a list of the primary sources you are using along with all drafts of the paper. Secondary Sources: For secondary sources, you must cite (as in, refer directly to or quote from) at least two articles from this list as they are related to your analysis. Remember, these articles are here to allow YOU to use them to support your argument. Put yourself into conversation with these authors and let their ideas develop yours. Solomon, Masters of Desire (152-162)elitist/populist appeals in ad culture Ray, The Thematic Paradigm (303-310)characterization of heroes in American cinema Folch, “Why the West Loves Sci-fi and Fantasy” (311-314)–Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre’s popularity in America Seger, Creating the Myth (326-334)on the myth-stories or patterns that underlie movies Agresta, “How the Western Was Lost” (358-363)–history and symbolism of the Western genre Gabler, Social Networks (240-242)deals with tv shows based around appealing groups Kernan, Trailer Rhetoric (course file)links genre with movie trailer appeals Writing the Essay: An introduction that contextualizes your main primary text(s) and concludes with a statement of your main thesis/claim about what you think the publicity is trying to accomplish (and whether or not it succeeds in offering a unified message). Multiple paragraphs that organize the information you have gathered about the primary texts for your reader. These paragraphs should each be tied to the main thesis using a topic sentence and should be organized in such a way that they move from the simplest to the most complex. Refer to ideas from the secondary sources as they relate to the ideas you are trying to develop. A conclusion that attempts to answer the so what? question, placing the argument or the ideas from your analysis back in a wider cultural context. The most successful papers will include an insightful thesis that offers an interesting, complex idea about the primary text, detailed and clear analysis of various components of the primary text, a clear integration of and response to the secondary text and a title. They will be clearly organized, formatted correctly, and free of sentence-level errors. Length: 4-5 pages Formatting: 12-point font, 1-inch margins, MLA style heading at the top left of the first page that includes your name, your instructors name, the course, and the assignment.