Transcript Document
THE ART OF BEING HUMAN HU300 John Ragan Pearson Longman © 2009 Our ninth and final chat • Our agenda: • Seminar questions for Unit 9 • The final project • What is Unit 10 all about? Unit 9 – Popular Culture Popular Culture In our previous units, we have studied various elements of the Humanities: literature, art, music, film, philosophy, etc. Now, the course concludes with the overall topic of popular culture. Items, lifestyles, products, etc, that are known, accepted by, and/or followed by much of the population. Origins of popular culture The makers of popular culture items: movies, TV shows, books, news media, online media. “Folklore” origins of popular culture (stories, jokes, slang, ideas, etc, which travel through the population by talking or communicating, not through products, shows, books) Your thoughts? What do you think are some of the elements of popular culture in America today (even if you personally are not interested in some of them)? ADVERTISING Think back over the course of the last few days. Consider where you went and what you did. Now, try to remember any advertising you may have seen. These might be on typical settings, such as billboards or television. They may also appear in less obvious places, such as logos on clothing or in the background of a movie. Advertising 1. What was advertised and where did you see it? Can you remember the images and the products being advertised? 2. Is advertising effective? Why or why not? What does the pervasiveness of advertising say about our culture? 3. The film discusses how marketers seek to appeal to consumers, specifically through creating loyalty and a sense of membership. Do you know anyone who feels this way about a product or a possession? What does this say about the product or possession? “Emotional Branding” How a consumer feels about a product – beyond just what that product does or what it costs. Different tastes… High culture and low culture? Unit 9 discussions • “The Gods Must Be Crazy” • An item from one culture could seem unusual and mysterious to other people who are not familiar with the popular culture in that country. Unit 9 - Final project A Time Capsule…but not a physical one! The goal of the capsule is to provide an overview of what you believe future generations will need to remember about the twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries. An actual time capsule, Flushing Meadows, NY Contents of your paper A letter of introduction to tell someone in the future about your day-to-day life: where you live, where you work, what your family and friends are like. An example of morality and decision-making in current culture (Unit 3 Discussion) Your definition of happiness (Unit 4 Discussion) Your definition of freedom (Unit 4 Discussion) You will also need to list each of the following, along with a paragraph detailing why its inclusion is critical: A significant literary work (poem, short story, or novel) A significant example of art or architecture A significant song or group of songs A significant film A significant item from popular culture (a toy, gadget, fad, etc.) Use regular paper format • Internal citations • Sources listed at the end. • Feel free to use the sample student essay in Doc Sharing as a general guide to good paper format. Avoid any plagiarism! • Properly cite any directly quoted material that you use, by placing it in quotation marks, with an internal citation at the end of the quoted sentence. Be sure to proofread… Before submitting your paper, go back over it one more time, just to check for clear, complete sentences. The late policy for final projects • A late final project must receive one letter grade reduction (a final project that normally would have received a B will be given a point total that is in the C category, etc) And…what about Unit 10? • What is Unit 10 about? • The discussion is not graded. But…it is a helpful wrap-up for the course, in which you can provide valuable input, and read the final observations from your classmates. And, thank you! • Thanks for your work in this course…