Choose between two following prompts:
1. It is the end of a grueling Fall Quarter, 2021, full of tough exams, annoying papers, difficult deadlines, and unexpected bills. Imagine that, finally as the pandemic seems to be waning a bit, you are attending a lively party with undergraduates from several prominent colleges and universities. During one conversation, various students are talking about what they have learned during the past term. One student, for example, discussed the value of her popular course on “Corporate Outsourcing and the Global World Order.” Another student spoke glowingly about her advanced zoology class and about her exciting research about the gigantic rat population of West Los Angeles. A third discussed his research into the emerging phenomenon of driverless automobiles. Finally, you mention your own recent course on “Criticism and the Public Arts,” indicating your study of artistic materials and their linkage to broader social, ethical, and political issues and problems. In the middle of your comments, another student looks at you, laughs heartily, and interrupts as follows: “You can’t be serious, can you? You get UCLA university credit for reading a story about some fictional plague in North Africa and looking at a bunch of movies?! That’s the kind of stuff you should do after class, when you’re just relaxing and hanging with friends. It’s recreation, nothing more! Get real! What possible value can you get from this stuff? What a ridiculous way to study communication. And your professor claims that this soft material can educate you about politics, ethics, and society! Ridiculous! At my school, Stankford (a university somewhere else in California), we do serious and rigorous work in the Communication Department, not this “artistic” fluff that you think passes for genuine intellectual work. We obtain real evidence for our conclusions and we do careful and controlled experimentation. Everything you just told us convinces me that my choice of Stankford over UCLA was the best decision I ever made. You’ll probably wind up at some lame junior managerial desk job at Wal-Mart or Widgets Incorporated while I go to Harvard or Yale Law School.”
Momentarily taken aback, you give some consideration to letting his comments pass without comment. After a few seconds, however, you decide to reply, making sure to use very specific course examples regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the Stankford student’s views (either view is acceptable as well as anyintermediate position you may select; do present a coherent argument)
2. And now it is late December, 2021. After a whirlwind trip to New York, you find yourself stranded in the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina because of extreme weather conditions. Airline officials offer you a small package of pretzels and a soft drink for only $8.00 and inform you that you will have at least a ten-hour delay before you leave for Los Angeles.
Settling in, you begin conversing with your fellow passenger, George Babbitt (GB), an affable man who has to wait out the delay with you. He tells you that he is 53 years old, lives in an affluent suburb of New York City, Oran Heights, and is a senior executive in a large manufacturing company. He mentions that he is on his way to Los Angeles to conclude a deal where many of his company’s manufacturing jobs will be outsourced to Bangladesh. He tells you that is a proud graduate of Torpor State University and makes generous contributions to its annual fund drive. He happily purchases the pretzels and soft drink for you. He also notes that he is not very interested in politics and social issues. He cares mostly about his family, his career, and his circle of friends. He admits that he doesn’t know much about Afghanistan or Syria or “really any foreign countries.” He just knows that labor is a lot cheaper in Bangladesh, even though he’s not really sure where it is, exactly. He notes that he hasn’t given much thought to health care, education, crime, race, immigration, or other issues that don’t affect him personally. He doesn’t usually bother to vote because he says he’s too busy. He expresses disappointment in his only son, 25-year old George, Jr., who has decided to take a few years off doing art instead of going for a law degree or some other advanced degree in “something practical.”
You tell him that you’re a UCLA student who just finished Communication course dealing, among other things, with socially and politically conscious films. During your conversation, you
mention that Night and Fog, Sophie Scholl, Eyes on the Prize: Awakenings, Do the Right Thing, and The Official Story are all films that you think are especially useful in getting viewers to think critically about major issues of politics, ethics, history, and society. Provocatively, you inform Mr. Babbitt that all these films could be useful in getting him to be a more active citizen in America in the early 21st century. Though he doubts it, he has the same long wait in the airport that you have and invites you to continue. You note that you can play all of these films on your phone or on your laptop.
You hope to persuade George Babbitt to reconsider his apathetic attitudes and become a more critical and active citizen (this can involveany specific political or ideological stance; the objective is togenerate interest rather than seek ideological conversion. Your task is not to get him to support or oppose or support or oppose President Biden’s legislative or other policies, the Black Lives Matter Movement, higher taxes for millionaires and billionaires, or anything else).Which ONE of the five socially critical films you have with you (Night and Fog; Sophie Scholl; Eyes on the Prize: Awakenings; Do the Right Thing; and The Official Story) would you select to show him during your long North Carolina interlude and discuss with Mr. Babbitt? Your task is to show why, in your judgment, one of them is the best work to encourage more critical attitudes to this particular audience (Mr. Babbitt). In composing your answer, it is useful to show the value of your choice by discussing it in some detail. In particular, you should explain why the film details you emphasize are likely to have an impact on Mr. Babbitt.
(EFFECTIVE, WELL-SUPPORTED, CLEARLY WRITTEN ESSAYS MAY BE CONSTRUCTED FROM A VARIETY OF PERSPECTIVES. PRESENT AND DEVELOP YOUR OWN VIEWS; ATTEMPTING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE INSTRUCTOR AND THE TEACHING ASSISTANTS BELIEVE IS A WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY. THE ASSIGNMENT REQUIRES NO OUTSIDE RESEARCH AND NO SPECIAL CREDIT IS AVAILABLE FOR ANY SUCH RESEARCH. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO ANALYZE THE PROBLEM CAREFULLY, SYNTHESIZE MATERIALS EFFECTIVELY, AND EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS AND CONCLUSIONS COHERENTLY. BE SURE TO MAKE APPROPRIATE REFERENCES TO COURSE READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS (AND ANY OR ALL FILMS, WHERE APPROPRIATE). THE ESSAY SHOULD BE TYPED AND BE APPROXIMATELY 6-7 PAGES IN LENGTH.)