Final Project on the American dream

The Great Gatsby Final Project

This project could be used after students have read The Great Gatsby as a final unit project. With some modifications, it could also be used before students read The Great Gatsby to prepare them for the themes found in the novel.

Essential questions: Is there still such a thing as “the American Dream” in today’s world? How does the idea of an “American dream” affect modern American society?

Goals/objectives: Students will be able to understand the history of the American dream.

Students will be able to understand how “the American dream” has evolved in modern society.

Students will be able to decide whether the American dream is possible in modern society or whether it is impossible, and provide evidence to back up their argument.

One of the most prevalent themes of the novel is the impossibility of the “American dream.” Gatsby was the traditional “rags-to-riches” story that American society loves to tell. According to Meyer Wolfsheim, Gatsby showed up in New York after the war, decorated in metals, but he “hadn’t eaten anything for a couple of days.” Wolfsheim “raised him up out of nothing, right out of the gutter.” Gatsby eventually got everything that “the American dream” promised: money, mansions, flashy cars, “friends,” etc., however, he was never happy because he couldn’t have the one thing he wanted: Daisy. He died completely alone, without friends, very little family, and not even a note or message from the love of his life. Thus, the overarching message of The Great Gatsby has been widely taught to be that the American dream really is impossible. The idea that people can begin with nothing, work hard, and eventually achieve success and happiness is seen as completely untrue. In this unit, I want students to really look at the question of the “American dream.” Is it really impossible? Can hard work ever result in success and happiness? If success and happiness is attainable to certain people, then who can have it? Who cannot? Why does the “rags-to-riches” story resonate so loudly to Americans?

In order to begin answering these questions, I will have students look critically at how the American dream has been portrayed historically and then move on to studying the modern depiction of the American dream and how modern culture perceives it. Because this theme can be subjective, I want students to explore the theme of the “American dream” and make their own decisions regarding the impossibility of it. Thus, instead of providing them with the answer as to what the “American dream” is, I want students to think through and make their own definition of it by experiencing the different ways modern society deals with the “American dream.”

I would begin this unit by asking students what they think the American dream is. Are they working towards “the American dream?” How would they know if they have achieved it? Students would freewrite their ideas and keep them as a reference to guide them through the unit. They will continually look back to this writing, and edit it or revise it as needed after they have worked with examples of the “American dream” in modern culture.

After this, we would then work on trying to discover where the idea of the “American dream” first originated. I would have students look at land ads from the 19^th century that tried to entice immigrants from Europe as well as people from the east coast to move west and settle the land. Students would be divided into small groups, each group would get a chance to study and discuss each ad individually. They should look at the wording of the ads, what words are bigger than others, which ones are emphasized? Why do you think so?  Do they make any assumptions or promises? What do these ads say about America? What do the ads insinuate about the connection between America and success and happiness? Where can you see instances of Gatsby’s “American dream” in the ads?

After studying the ads and discussing them, students would be given Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus:" 

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Students should read the poem, looking for connections between the messages portrayed in the ads and the message in the poem. What does the poem say about America? What does it insinuate about the American people? Once students have discussed the poem, they should go back to their original writings on their idea of “the American dream.” They should look critically at their original ideas of the American dream and compare it to the American dream in the ads and in the poem. Are they different? Why? They should write down any new thoughts that they have after viewing the ads or revise their original thoughts with their new knowledge. However, their original writings should not be thrown away, just added to. Since “the American dream” is slightly subjective, once students have thoroughly written out their ideas, I would want them to discuss in small groups their individual definitions of the American dream to help get everyone on the same page and hear what their peers think the "American dream" is. While discussing, they could focus on questions such as: What does it mean to be working toward the American dream? How do you get it and how do you know that you have achieved it? Did Gatsby achieve it?

Once students have discussed their ideas, we can begin looking at how the idea of the “American dream” is still present in American society and how it affects American life. To do this, I will show them various instances of “the American dream” in modern media. In addition to the examples I have chosen, students are also encouraged to bring in examples of a depiction of the “American dream” that they find to share with the class.

I think that one of the best examples of the “American dream” in modern media is the use of it in advertising. Students can look at the way that advertising companies target Americans working towards the “American dream” to sell their products. These companies want Americans to think that they can buy happiness and success when they buy their product. Here are a few examples of ads that link their product to the achievement of the “American dream.”

Rice Krispies

JIF

Elecrolux

Students would view the commercials and discuss how the “American dream” is portrayed in each. How do the advertisements try to sell their products by promoting the “American dream?” If a consumer was to buy these products, would they have achieved the “American dream?” Do these commercials make you rethink your original definition of the “American dream?” After viewing the commercials, students should revisit their writings on the "American dream." Does the depiction of the dream in the commercial coincide with their original thought? How is it the same/different?

To help students further round out their ideas about the "American dream," they can view clips from recent television shows. Recently, there have been quite a few popular shows that depict the opposite of the “American dream.” These shows either depict the “American dream” on the surface and then dig deeper to show corruption underneath (such as the way home life is depicted in Mad Men) or they completely do away with the “American dream” and show families living in complete chaos.

A good example of this is The Middle:

In The Middle the comedic effect comes from the fact that this family is not living the life that is sketched out in the “American dream.” They are the complete opposite. The show asks the viewer to recall the idea of the perfect “American dream” life, an idea that is instilled in every American, and then compare this idea to the depiction of the dysfunctional family. Students can compare this clip to the commercials seen earlier that depicted “super moms” with perfect kids. Has the “American dream” completely shattered in “The Middle”? Or is this a modified version of the “American dream?” Is the family in “The Middle” exaggerated or is this really how Americans live today? What does it say about the state of the “American dream” in modern culture when in its perfect form it is used to force us to buy things, but when it breaks down, it is used as comedy? Overall, I want students to see how both sides of the “American dream” argument – that the American dream is possible on one side and impossible on the other – is surrounding them every day and affecting their lives. Once again, after viewing the clip, students should reexamine their writings on the American dream and see if they should be changed, revised, or added to. 

Finally, to help students gain a larger view of the American dream and how it affects not only their own lives and the lives of their fellow Americans, students can news clips that depict immigration to America to explore the way that others view America and the reasons why people immigrate to America. This is a good example:

Why did the family immigrate to America? What is available to them in America that isn’t available in Mexico? Were they able to achieve the “American dream?” Why or why not? 

Compare this video to the “free land” ads we viewed earlier. How are they different? How are they similar? Does this mean that the “American dream” is only reachable for certain people?

Here once again students can go back again to their original writing of what they think the American dream is and reevaluate it to see if any of their ideas have changed. They can then use their writings to open discussion of what they think the "American dream" is and why.  

For a final project, students should use their original and revised writings on their ideas of the “American dream” to decide what exactly the “American dream” is and what it means to Americans. They will then use their interpretation of the American dream to decide if achieving the “American dream” in modern culture really is impossible as Fitzgerald would have us believe in The Great Gatsby or if he was wrong and it is possible to achieve the “American dream.” Or they can claim that neither side is right and the “American dream” is possible for some, but not others or even that it doesn’t exist at all. Overall, I want students to explore their individual beliefs on the “American dream.” Once students have made their decision, they should collect evidence that supports their claim. They can use anything in modern culture: music videos, film clips, advertisements, commercials, etc., that supports their decision. They will then compile their evidence (at least 5 pieces) into either a VoiceThread or a video presentation to share with the class. The presentation should state explicitly the student’s views on the “American dream” and then use the collected evidence to back up his claim. 

(The images of the land/home ads are from the Library of Congress's digital collection. All video clips are from youtube.com.)

The Birds

I think that using films adaptations of novels or short stories in an English classroom can present many challenges. There are many film adaptations that take so many liberties with a text and seem to only keep the names of the main characters intact. Then there are the adaptations that take every excruciating detail and put it on screen. Because of the differences in adaptations, either between the adaptation and written text or differences between adaptations themselves, I think that using film would be a great way to teach students about author intent and the impact that context and culture can have on a film or written text. For example, students could read a novel or short story and then watch a film adaptation of that same story that had been made in a different time era or culture or that is almost completely different than the novel. For example, Daphne Du Maurier wrote the short story on which Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds was based. The short story focuses on a farmer and his family who get attacked by birds. Through radio communications, they find out that everywhere has been attacked and they are some of the last people to survive. It ends bleakly, with the family waiting for one more bird attack. It is theorized that the story was written to protest war. The film is much less serious. It focuses on an heiress who visits a small town that gets attacked by birds. It ends with the heiress and her love interest escaping the town as it is the only place to be attacked by the birds. Clearly, the film takes very little from the short story and deals with a completely different theme that that of the short story. With this adaptation, students could compare the theme, setting, characters, and ending of the short story to that of the film. They could do research on the contexts of both the film and the short story, as well as find out more about du Maurier and Hitchcock, the audiences they were writing for, etc. Since it could be a large project, I think that this would work well to do in groups. For example, one group could focus on the story, one on the film, one on du Maurier, one Hitchcock, one the audience for the film, one the audience for the story, etc. Each group’s goal would be to become “experts” on their part of the project and then to teach the rest of their classmates about their topic. Then, once students have a thorough understanding of each aspect of the film and the short story, in their groups, they could work on their own adaptations of The Birds using either their community or the school as an audience. Each group would need write a new adaptation of The Birds to make, taking into account the context in which it will be set, a message they want their audience to leave with, and the audience who will be viewing the film, etc. I would like if students were actually able to film their story ideas with digital cameras and then edit them using iMovie or Windows movie maker. However, if that doesn’t work, students could also create digital comic books of their adaptations and then distribute them around school or the community. I think that this activity would be a good way to show students how film and print texts differ in the way that they make meaning and how an audience experiences each text differently. This project could also be done with other films and novels such as Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and the 1995 Demi Moore version of the novel, Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones’ Diary, or Emma and Clueless. However, with longer works, students would need to choose a specific scene or section to adapt.

All These Things That I've Done

I chose to analyze the Killers’ video for their song, “All These Things That I’ve Done.” I chose this video because it has always been interesting to me. I had to view it a couple times to figure out what exactly is going on. Part of the reason that this video is so confusing is that it’s not linear at all. Most music videos aren’t linear in the first place, but this video takes scenes from a linear story and mixes them up. They then try to give the viewer clues as to what is going on by numbering all of the scenes. That way, when you put the numbers in order, the scenes fall into place as well. In addition to this, the video is confusing because at first, it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the song at all. It shows the band members in a trailer park dressed as cowboys and being chased by a group of women called “The Killer Sluts” while the message of the song is about taking inventory of your life, seeing things that could be different, and trying to change them. However, the concept of the music video seems to make more sense when this meaning of the song is brought out. The video begins with scene zero, which shows the lead singer lying face down in a puddle after he and the other band members have been beaten by The Killer Sluts. The video then goes into a jumble of other scenes that happened either before or after he lands in the puddle: he cheats on his wife, rides a donkey, lands in the trailer park, etc. After it shows all of these scenes out of order, the video ends with him once again face down in the puddle, this scene now numbered as seven. The fact that the two scenes are the same but numbered differently serve as a warning to the viewer of what would happen if you don’t stop and take inventory of your life or make changes. Everything that went wrong in the past will go wrong in the future: you will make the same mistakes twice if you don’t do anything to stop them from happening. I think that they way that the scenes are jumbled show that the series of events in one’s life doesn’t have to remain static. They’re changeable and movable; just because one’s life starts out one way doesn’t mean it’s changeable. This gives some hope to the video, despite the fact that it begins and ends in the same way.

As for a way of selling the Killers’ music, I think that the video does a good job of intriguing the viewer enough to make him pay attention to the video and the song. The way that the video is jumbled makes viewers want to keep watching it to figure it out. It pulls the viewer in, forcing him to listen to the song and probably get the catchy “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier” like stuck in their head, which could propel viewers to buy the music.

The songs have got to have soul, have real meaning . . .

Even though I listen to a lot of different kinds of music from many different genres, anything from Michael Buble, The Killers, and Phoenix, the one music genre that I will always know the most about and be the most partial to is country. This may be because of the fact that I’m from the relative middle of nowhere or maybe because the only radio stations my parents listened to (or possibly the only ones that came in clearly at home) were country. I think country music is a bit of an acquired taste. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who can really admit that they are a “new” country music fan; you have to grow up with it or spend some time getting used to it before you can honestly say you like it. You almost have to learn to like it. I know my boyfriend, Ryan, who didn’t grow up with it, has a hard time even listening to country, citing the “twang” in the singer’s voice and the steel guitar in the background as “unlistenable.” But I don’t even notice these things anymore.  Ryan had to point them out to me and then I had to listen super carefully to even hear them individually; for me, they just blended together into a whole, complete song. 

The one country artist that I would say that I am the biggest fan of is Gary Allan. I have listened to Gary Allan’s music for about ten years, been to two of his concerts, met him once, and own all of his albums. Gary Allan has never been afraid to make music that he wants to make. He doesn’t “sell out” and make music just because it will be popular and it will get played on the radio. He’s made a point of staying “true” to his idea of country music when so many other country artists have crossed over into pop or rock to get more air play. However, this being said, Gary Allan’s music over his career is very eclectic and a little difficult to pin down to an exact subgenre. He started out like many country artists singing country songs that were similar to those popular at the time (i.e. like songs by Garth Brooks, George Strait, Brooks and Dunn, etc.), most likely because he wouldn’t have gotten a record label otherwise. (Country labels, at least in the mid-90s, were famous for finding singers they would sign, but then tell them they have to fit into the cowboy hat and boots wearing mold or they won’t sell music.) However, by his third album he strayed closer to making “country rock” or “Bakersfield country” that uses more electric instruments and is more sharp and edgy than traditional country. However, after the release of his fourth album, Gary’s wife committed suicide and he transformed again, his fifth album staying closer to traditional country with fiddle, steel guitar, and lyrics about losing everything. After this, his albums became a blend of the many subgenres of country, with a few songs fitting under “traditional country,” a few under “country rock,” and then a couple under “Bakersfield country.” 

I think part of the reason for Gary’s eclectic mix of subgenre’s in his music can be found in his definition of country music: “the songs have got to have soul, have real meaning....Country music is...what happens during the week. Rock 'n roll is about what happens at the weekend." I would agree. Country music prides itself in being about everyday life and being relatable to every person because it can incorporate so much of the human experience in just one song. Allan allows his own feelings and emotions dictate what he will sing. He doesn’t depend on the country genre to shape his music and push him into a preset form. So, given this, I have decided to talk about a song off of Allan’s sixth album, Living Hard, called “Learning How to Bend.” This is the second album to come out after the death of Allan’s wife. The first album to come out after her death, Tough All Over showed Allan still in shock and trying to deal with his loss, as evident in songs such as “Best I Ever Had,” “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful,” “Puttin’ My Misery on Display,” and “Puttin’ Memories Away.” However, Living Hard and especially “Learning How to Bend,” show Allan moving on with his life and getting over, but not forgetting, the loss of his wife. The song opens with the lyrics, “I’m still learning how to pray/ Trying hard not to stray/ Try to see things your way” and then a few lines later, “I’m still learning how to trust/It’s so hard to open up/And I’d do anything for us.” It’s as if Allan is saying that even though he was hurt by his wife’s death, he’s working on how to deal with her loss, how to be human again for those still in his life. He needs to relearn how to trust people and get close to them without running away in fear of losing them. Later in the song some the lines “I'm just trying to understand/It's all in someone else's hands/There's always been a bigger plan/But I don't need to understand.” Here he seems to be coming to terms with her death and realizing that it wasn’t his fault.

Even though there seems to be so much of Allan’s own feelings in the song, like I said earlier, country music incorporates so much of the human experience that I think it would be difficult for everyone not to be able to relate to some part of the song. Because of this, to teach this song and the country music genre in general, I would play “Learning How to Bend” through once for my students, with copies of the lyrics so they could follow along. Then, I would have them do a free write, picking out at least one line of the song (or the whole song) that they can relate to especially well to and find meaning in and describe why, stating an experience, memory, person, etc. Then, once done writing, I would have students who feel comfortable share what they wrote about and have them think about their peers’ responses and how they fit into the song as they listen to the song again. I would then share with them the history of the song and how Allan wrote it after his wife died. Then, after this, I would like to discuss with my students how even though the song has a definite history and meaning for the artist, it still can relate to everyone because it focuses on a subject that everyone can relate to.

Presentation

Documentary Analysis

I recently watched the documentary China’s Lost Girls¸ with Lisa Ling. Ling followed American families as they traveled to China to adopt Chinese girls who were abandoned by their parents. Chinese parents give up daughters because of China’s policy that allows families only one child. Boys are more valued in China because they can carry on the family name and work for the family and thus, parents would rather have their one child to be a boy. If they get a girl, they may give her up and keep trying for a boy. 

The main message of the documentary was that the one child policy that the Chinese government enforced is doing the Chinese people more harm than good. To get this point across, Ling interviewed many Chinese people, whose lives were affected by the policy, starting relatively small and showing the effects that that policy has on mothers and then moving on to showing the effects the policy has on society and the country as a whole. For example, Ling interviewed a mother who paid a large fine to keep the daughter she had after she already had a son. The mother said that when she was pregnant with her son, her husband told her that if she didn’t have a son, he would send her away. The documentary then moved on to interviewing a Chinese official in family planning who said that by 2020, there will be such a shortage of females that 40 million marriage-age males will not be able to find women to marry. This shortage could cause prostitution and abductions of women or even riots or uprisings. Ling then moved on to interviewing a detective who worked on finding women who had been abducted and sold as wives. Ling then interviewed a woman how had been sold as a wife who was then found and brought back home. She said that she was repeatedly raped and beaten if she tried to escape. She had a son who was not allowed to come back with her. All of these interviews work to show the negative effects that this policy has brought about to the Chinese people as well as the even worse problems they could cause in the future. 

Once these negative effects were presented, the documentary reported on Chinese citizens’ thoughts on the policy. They said that they were ashamed and disgraced by the fact that they cannot take care of their own children. Instead they rely on people (such as American families who adopt Chinese girls) to raise their girls. They also worry that these adopted girls will not be proud of their country. All of this works to show the viewer how far-reaching the policy can be and how the consequences may outweigh the positive effects it could have on population control. By beginning to focus on mothers and families and then moving to larger issues such as a negative world view of China and the possibility of uprisings, the documentary was able to effectively show how dire the situation in China is and how more work needs to be done to raise awareness about the policy and its effects. 

However, the documentary seemed to have a bit of a hidden agenda. All of the interviews that highlighted the negative effects of the policy were interspersed with footage of American couples traveling to Beijing to adopt a Chinese girl as well as interviews with young Chinese girls who had already been adopted by Americans. The girls talked about how lucky they were to be adopted and how they never could have the life they do if they had not come to America. The American couples who adopted these girls were portrayed almost in a saintly manner. They were looked at as being the only ones capable of saving the young abandoned girls and giving them a better life. For example, when footage was being shown of the girls with their new parents, a voiceover highlighted the fact that only a week ago, the little girls were “among the most rejected in Chinese society,” but now they were being accepted in American society. I think that this footage was unnecessary. It seemed to be promoting American supremacy by portraying Americans as the only people who could help the little girls who were abandoned. No people or organizations in other countries were mentioned, nor were any Chinese organizations besides the orphanages where the girls lived before being adopted. Thus, the documentary seemed to be a little biased towards Americans and their ways of living. The way that the stories alternated between the interviews with the Chinese people and the footage of Americans adopting Chinese babies almost forced the viewer to choose a side, ultimately making the Chinese culture and policy that brought about the abandonment of girls look truly evil and corrupt, even more than it actually is. 

In order to teach students about a documentary and how it communicates it message, I would have students watch a documentary in class. They would then be asked to decide as a class on a main message that the documentary was trying to communicate and cite evidence as to why they think so. Evidence would include whose story was being told, who was interviewed and why (what is their position, what makes them an authority?), how scenes and shots were linked together, what do the voiceovers say, etc. Students would then be split up into groups and each group would be assigned a specific topic related to the documentary that they would do research on. For example, students could research the organization that produced the documentary, organizations or people mentioned in the documentary, opposite sides to those presented, or even get more information on what was presented in the documentary. Students would then present their research to the class. Finally, students would watch the documentary again, comparing the information presented in the documentary to the information they researched. Given what they learned in their research, students could then discuss what information the documentary leaves out and speculate as to why. They could also discuss the information included in the documentary, how it was arranged to create meaning, and speculate more deeply on how that included information works to portray a certain message.

Analysis of KARE 11 News

For this activity, I analyzed a KARE 11 10 O’clock news program. The program broke down as following:

                National News: 2 mins 20 sec.

                Local News: 3 mins 48 sec.

                National National: 1 min

                “Coming up next”: 5 sec

                Commercial Break: 3 mins

                Financial interest piece: 3 mins 20 sec

                “Coming up tomorrow”: 8 sec

                Local interest piece: 1 min 45 sec

                Chatting at news desk: 13 sec

                Local weather: 3 min 15 sec

                “Coming up next”: 8 sec

                Commercial break: 3 mins

                Local sports: 5 mins 15 sec

                “Coming up next”: 5 sec

                Commercial break: 4 mins

                National interest piece: 1 min 20 sec

                Chatting at news desk: 20 sec

                Commercial break:  3 mins

This adds up to:

                3: 40 on national news

                3:48 on local news

                13:00 on commercials

                0:26 on “coming up next” segments

                6:25 on national and local interest pieces

                3:15 on weather

                5:15 on sports

                0:33 at chatting at the news desk

The news program started off with a controversial story about a book on pedophilia being sold on Amazon.com. It interviewed a couple “experts” on the topic as well as some citizens to get a variety of opinions on the subject. Next, the program switched to local news, spending a great deal of time describing the Wadena girls’ volleyball team going to state after a tornado went through the town earlier this summer. They interviewed the coach, who lost everything in the tornado and a few of the players. After this, less than a minute was spent on more serious news and stories about the Dayton/Emmer recount, Michelle Bachman, a race for mayor of Austin, MN, and news about Target Field were breezed through. Next came about 1 minute for a couple national headlines such as news on NASA’s Discovery launch the stalled cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean. The program then aired a “coming up next segment” and went to break. When it returned, a news story about 401K’s was shown for about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. It detailed what people should do with the money in their 401K’s and interviewing various experts. Following this, a preview to the next day’s segment on a soldier finding a long lost comrade was shown followed by the anchors talking about it being the anniversary of the sinking of the ship Edmond Fitzgerald. This transitioned into weather and eventually another commercial break. Sports was talked about next, focusing on local high school and professional teams. The program aired another “coming up next” segment that talked about the Jersey Shore and went to commercial. It ended with an interest piece about a girl who caught a giant fish in New Jersey.

              

  Overall, I was very surprised about how little news was actually reported on. The program was mostly consumer interest pieces and ads. It seemed like the main agenda of the program was to keep viewers watching rather than reporting the news. For example, the broadcast started off with a highly controversial national story about a book on pedophilia being sold on Amazon. I feel that this story was placed at the beginning of the broadcast not because it was newsworthy, but rather because it is controversial and will get viewers’ attention. Following this, local news began with a “rags to riches” type story about the Wadena volleyball team. A lot of time was devoted to interviews with the coach, who lost her whole farm in a tornado and how the team pulled together after the tragedy to get to where they are now.  Finally, after these two stories, more important stories were touched on, such as a local woman being charged with child abuse, a woman killed by a hit and run driver in St. Paul, and news about the Minnesota governor race. After this, it switched to national news, highlighting news about NASA and a stalled cruise ship. However, all of this more important news was squished into about 1 minute and barely any of it was elaborated on. By doing this, the program is shying away from spending too much time on news that might bore or upset viewers. It goes through these stories quickly and then moves on to more feel-good or consumer interest stories that would hold the average viewer’s attention more.

To keep viewers watching, the news program also used a great deal of anticipatory transitions, showing what was coming up next on the program to ensure that viewers would not change the channel during the commercial break. These transitions play to consumers interests or concerns, such as the one previewing an upcoming segment on 401K’s that told the viewer the information in the segment was “everything you should know” about the money in “your 401K.” This makes the viewer feel that if he doesn’t watch the segment, he will miss out on extremely important information and thus lose great amounts of money. This segment was also sponsored by a financial institution, US Bank, which might explain the longer amount of time devoted to this segment than other seemingly more important news stories. The program also used a transition like this before it did its last interest piece on a girl from New Jersey who caught a big fish. The segment played to the audience’s interest and addiction to pop culture, telling the viewer that “news from the Jersey Shore” was coming up next, alluding to the popular reality show Jersey Shore.

In order to help teach students about news programs, I would have each student watch a ½ hour news program and record the order and types of news stories shown. Then, each student would look at a local news paper from that same day (ideally, the news paper would be from the same city that the news broadcast was from). Students would scan through the news paper to find news about the same subjects that was in the news broadcast. Students would record the placement of the news stories in the news paper (i.e. front page, back page, etc) and the amount of space devoted to each story. Students would then write an analysis comparing the most prominent stories and amount of time or space devoted to each story in the newspaper and the news broadcast. I would want them to comment on what they conclude to be the most important news to the broadcast and what news is most important to the newspaper and then speculate on why this is so. Why might a news story make a front page headline when it is buried in a news broadcast? Why would a news broadcast begin with a story that appears below the fold of a newspaper? Overall, I want students to think about what news program’s other agendas might be besides reporting the news.

Cooking Shows!!

One of my favorite channels to watch on TV is the Food Network. Most of the time, I have it on as background noise or on mute if I’m doing homework. I think that the thing that appeals to me the most about cooking shows is their predictability and familiarity. There are almost no plot lines to keep up with (or if there are plot lines, their simple ones like, “my sister is coming for dinner and I’m going to make her something wonderful.”) Plus, there are never any plot twists or dramatic moments in a cooking show, nothing to keep me on the edge of my seat. I don’t have to piece together plot lines or delve into the motivation of the character; I can actually relax when I watch them.  If I miss ten minutes of the middle of the show, it doesn’t matter because I can jump right back into the show and not be confused about what’s going on. In addition, I really like watching people cook and seeing what kinds of food people come up with to make. Most of the time, the dishes they make are never something I would make and/or eat, but it’s intriguing to see how people make them and the kinds of techniques they use. 

A lot of the predictability and familiarity of cooking shows stems from the fact that almost all of them use the exact same format and just switch out ingredients and “chefs.” There is always at least one chef (sometimes there is two, but that gets kind of crowded and annoying.) The chef never really seems to be overly qualified to be a cooking show host; some have no culinary education and others have only finished part of culinary school. However, the chef is almost always somewhat attractive and has an engaging, bubbly personality (all of them are always super excited to be making whatever it is they are making.) Most shows have some kind of premise or category they specialize in, for example, 30-minute Meals centers on complete meals that can be made in 30 minutes or less and Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee focuses on making complete meals with store-bought food mixed with fresh ingredients. In addition to the over-arching premise of the show, each individual episode usually has a theme that is carried throughout the episode, such as an episode of Giada at Home where Giada makes three different dishes that she will serve to her aunt who is coming to visit. Despite these different themes, almost every show works with the assumption that its audience is somewhat inexperienced in the kitchen. The show then tries to show its viewers that cooking really is easy and that anyone can do it if they simply follow the recipes, techniques, and tips that the chefs describe.

I think one of the biggest assumptions that cooking shows have about the world is that cooking is solely a woman’s job, or more specifically, it is a stay-at-home mother’s job. The majority of cooking shows have a female host and are set in a mock kitchen. The host tries to relate to a busy or working mother, often giving her tips on how to make a “quick and easy meal that the whole family will love” or how to get your kids to eat healthily. A perfect example of this is Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals where she gives countless easy recipes that can easily be made in the 30 minutes between the time that a working mother gets home and dinner time. Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa also works toward this assumption. Although she doesn’t have kids, her show always focuses on her cooking for her husband or any one of her male friends. In addition to this, cooking shows seem to portray their women hosts as sex objects; their bodies are focused on just as much as the food they make. For example, Giada de Laurentis and Sandra Lee are always perfectly made up for their shows, often wearing low-cut tops or tight-fitting clothes, lending themselves to the idea of a “perfect woman” (not only can she cook, but she’s sexy too!) If there happens to be a male host, he is depicted doing super masculine things, perhaps to off-set the perception that cooking is a woman’s job. For example, on Grill It with Bobby Flay, Flay leaves behind the “feminine” space of the kitchen completely and takes his cooking show outside, focusing on barbequing and grilling, ultimately more masculine forms of cooking. When a male host doesn’t opt to go outside, he instead makes the kitchen as masculine as possible. For example, on Guy’s Big Bite with Guy Fieri, the kitchen is decorated with a variety of essentially masculine things, such as a pool table, car parts, and a drum set. Even his refrigerator is “masculinized”: it is painted and stuck with decals to look like a race car. 

To help teach students about the cooking show genre, I would focus on how the cooking show has evolved from highly trained chefs cooking exotic foods to be more focused on everyday people and common ingredients.  To do this, I would show a clip from an older cooking show (such as this one from The Frugal Gourmet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkjcUc8ekRY&feature=related). I would contrast this with a clip from a modern cooking show (such as Rachel Ray http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHgvkq3aCqQ). Students would then discuss how the cooking shows differ. To get them thinking about this, they could answer questions such as: How is each chef dressed? What kinds of ingredients does each chef use? Who prepares the ingredients? What techniques do each use? Eventually I want students to be able to think about the audiences for each show and how cooking shows have changed their format to cater to their audience. I also want them to think about societal changes have affected the focus of the cooking shows (for example, how has the emergence of working mothers changed the agendas of cooking shows?)

Here's a link to my powerpoint presentation. (You may have to download it. Google Docs isn't letting me view it.)