For this final graded essay, your assignment is to “invent” a genre or trope inspired by a primary source. As we’ve discussed in class, you can coin a completely new term (i.e. beautiful people behaving badly by the sea) or modify an already existing genre (i.e. the existential sitcom, the slacker-striver romance) or even recontextualize a line of dialogue (i.e. “I choose me”). You can include judgment in your nomenclature (i.e. the “mediocre musical biopic” from the Bohemian Rhapsody article in Resources) if you’d like. The genre or trope should be named by the end of the beginning of your essay. As we’ve seen from the various examples, figure anywhere from 2-4 paragraphs.
Once you set up this new rubric or category, you should do a very close reading of the primary source in order to justify the new genre/trope. In your analysis, make sure to zoom in on specific parts (stylistic elements, particular scenes) in order to reveal something meaningful about the whole.
In your essay, you must also consider the why this/why now/why you factor. What is your occasion (besides the class) for analyzing this piece of media? Think about its current relevance and resonance — i.e. culturally, politically, historically, aesthetically, etc. Choose any context that seems logical.
While not required, you may bring in secondary sources (same or different mediums) to put your primary text into context since a new genre or trope isn’t usually based on only one thing.
If you think your chosen film etc. is a pioneer in starting a new trend, its innovations are still likely rooted in some kind of tradition, so you might wish to explore those roots. One move that we’ve seen most of the examples do is to try to locate a plausible origin of the trend.
Your final essay should be between 900-1200 words, not including the Works Cited.
For this final graded essay, your assignment is to “invent” a genre or trope ins
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