You will write a 3-4 page (or longer) essay (double-spaced, 12pt font) comparing and contrasting the two documentaries we watched in class this week. (The first film is Sneakerheadz and the second film is Beyond the sole) To do this, you will apply concepts from lectures and the textbook readings from W1-W6. Do not refer to outside sources – use only class readings. Cite properly using any reference style, as long as you are consistent with the style of your choosing. The focus of this essay is on analyzing the two films and is not an analysis of sneaker culture per se. You may want to consider the following questions:
- What does each film say about sneaker culture?
- How are they different?
- What is the primary message, or thesis, of each film? How do you know this?
- How can the films’ messages be understood through an academic lens – ie. what concepts can help us analyze the significance of the films’ messages as a product of and commentary on sneaker culture’s social/cultural contexts?
This is an essay, so you are expected to follow proper essay format:
- Introduction paragraph. This should be roughly half a page long. You will want to loosely introduce what sneaker culture is and state that this paper examines two documentaries about this culture. Your introduction paragraph should end with a clearly articulated thesis statement (the main point you will argue in the essay): “This essay will argue that…”. Eg. “Using concepts of commodity fetishism and encoding/decoding, this essay will argue that….”
- Body paragraphs. You should always aim for at least
three body paragraphs for a short paper like this.
- Your first paragraph could be a brief summary of the two films. Perhaps you will want to invoke ideas of semiotics or encoding/decoding to extrapolate the messages of the films. How do these messages compare? This could be part of this first body paragraph.
- Then, you may want to use the remaining body paragraphs to analyze those messages by applying concepts from the textbook. Perhaps you will want to analyze the messages in the context of class identity (Marx): Eg. “Both films situate sneaker culture within a capitalist system, which Class identity is a term in Marxist theory that refers to…. The message in Film A implies that people who collect sneakers feel an affinity with one another, suggesting a sense of class identity. Film B, on the other hand… presents the collective of people who collect sneakers as ….”
Or, maybe you will want to analyze the films’ messages through the lens of subcultures. Eg. “Both films speak to sneaker culture as a subculture in an economic system of capitalism, which means a system in which…. A subculture is… Film A presents sneaker culture as a subculture that was once a form of resisting oppression that collectors experienced from Hegemonic Ideology A…”
Or, maybe you will want to analyze them using some other concepts. Whatever you think is most appropriate – we all see and understand things in our own way.
- Conclusion paragraph. Spend time on your conclusion – it’s the last thing your instructor reads. Summarize the main points you presented in each paragraph. State clearly how they support the thesis of your essay, which you should restate (but with slightly different wording) in your conclusion.
* Never make your reader work to understand what you are saying. Be explicit. If it takes you more words to explain a point, then use as many words as it takes.
Some concepts you may or may not want to use in your analysis. Mix and match the concepts as much as you want, as long as it makes sense to you and as long as you explain clearly how the concepts relate to the films. Use as many as you like, but you must use at least three:
- The subject/subject position
- Agents/agency
- Capitalism
- Ideology
- Commodity fetishism
- Hegemony
- Class identity
- False consciousness
- Class consciousness
- Semiotic system
- Signs, signifiers, signified
- Structuralism
- Myth
- Denotative/connotative
- Heteroglossia
- Dialogism
- Culture industry
- Aura
- Hot media/cold media
- Discourse
- Encoding/decoding
- Subculture
- Bricolage
- Postmodern
- Deconstruction
- Metanarratives
- Simulacra/hyperreal
