Prompt:
For the first assignment, you are going to generate ideas for your research project. At later stages of this project, you will need to narrow down your research to one television series and one social issue, but at this point you’ll choose two of each:
Choose 2 television shows and write a 100-150 word paragraph on each, detailing why you think it’s significant and worth studying. When choosing your television shows, be mindful of shows that would pair well with the social issues you are interested in; eventually you’ll be analyzing one show and its relationship to one social issue. At any point during these assignments, you are able to change your television show or social issue. What you choose now doesn’t restrict you in future assignments.You can choose a television series from the syllabus OR a television series not on the syllabusYou can choose non-American television seriesThere are two ways to start: series first or topic firstIs there a television show that you really like or are fascinated by or troubled by or want to know more about? Start with that and then consider what might be a fitting key concept or social issue that is significant in that show. Browsing through IMDb or Wikipedia might be helpful at this stage. alternatively, is there a topic or key concept or social issue that you are interested in knowing more about? Start with that and find three television shows that depict that topic. Browsing through IMDb or Wikipedia might be helpful at this stage.Choose 2 key concepts/social issues from the Television: The Key Concepts textbook or the list below and write a 100-150 word paragraph on each, detailing why you’re interested in that concept. If you’d like, you could start applying that concept to either of your television shows.examples of social/cultural issues/themes/concepts: ability, access, affect, algorithm, appropriation, audience, authorship, body, brand, capitalism, celebrity, censorship, children, citizen, class, colorism, comedy, commercialization, commodification, community, convergence, crime, cultural imperialism, data, democracy, discourse, documentary, domesticity, drama, ecology, education, encoding and decoding, ethnicity, ethnography, family, fans, feminism, gaze, gender, genre, globalisation, hegemony, history, hybridity, identity, ideology, image, independence, industry, information, infrastructure, institutions, intertextuality, intersectionality, irony, justice, knowledge, labor, marxism, mass culture, melodrama, memory, mental health, narrative, nation, network, new media, nostalgia, ownership, other, pleasure, policing, policy, political economy, politics, postmodernism, power, production, public, race, realism, reflexivity, regulation/deregulation, religion, representation, resistance, science fiction, semiotics, sex/sexuality, sign, sound, space, sport, stereotypes, structuralism, surveillance, synergy, taste, technology, text, time/temporality, violence, warif you have an idea for a theme/issue/concept that isn’t listed above, you are welcome to write about it instead, just make sure that it is a significant social or cultural issue
Where to Watch Television Online
- free streaming services: Peacock, IMDbTV, Vudu, PlutoTV, Tubi, Roku, and Crackle
- library streaming services: Hoopla, Kanopy
- paid streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and Disney+
- Black film services: ALLBLK, BET+
- LGBTQ+ services: Here! TV, Revry, WOW Presents Plus
- Hispanic/Latinx services: Univision NOW, YipTV, Pantaya
- buy/rent television episodes from Apple, Google Play, and Amazon
- to find where specific television series are available to stream or rent, use the service JustWatch