What shaped Western culture in the period 1300-1550 more: the Black Death’s emphasis on the afterlife (the hereafter) or the Renaissance’s emphasis on human achievement (the here and now)?
Choose one of these and explain your perspective.Start with a statement identifying your choice; this is your thesis. Then, support your choice with specific examples from at least three of the following categories:significant individuals (e.g., political or religious leaders, innovators, explorers); characteristics of worldview (e.g., philosophy, religion); social institutions (e.g., social mores, practices, hierarchies); patronage (discuss the patrons, their motives, influence, and resulting products or artifacts); the economies (e.g., changes, different economic systems, impact); and politics (e.g., forms of governance, power distributions, contests).
This assignment provides you with an opportunity to practice prioritizing and using specific data to support your choice. Your example may touch on several of the above categories at once, but there should be at minimum three separate examples for which their connection to your choice is explained. Your essay must be a minimum of 500 words.
Be sure to include an introduction; if necessary, review the Unit III Scholarly Activity instructions, which explain how to draft an introduction.You must use two sources written by historians in history books or journals from the CSU Online Library in addition to the textbook and the study guide.
All content must follow APA guidelines, including all sources used, which must be cited and referenced according to APA standards.
Your final paper for Introduction to Popular Culture is an 8-10 page paper dealing with the subject of popular culture and the theory(s) that we have studied in popular culture. Specifically, you will be using one (or more) of the theories that we have studied as a critical approach in order to help you analyze a cultural text (a film, television show, or song, fashion design etc…). Your paper could take any of the following forms and deal with any of the following topics:
You could analyze a film [or a series of related films – such as films in a particular genre] using one or more of the theories that we have studied–as your critical approach-as you try to discover (on a deep level) just what the television show or film is truly communicating to us. This process is similar to what you did in your first paper. Now, you have learned about several additional theories that you can use as a critical approach.
One note of caution: Do not try to analyze your cultural text using more than two different theories. Your paper will be better if you use one theory (or two at the most) as your critical approach.
In this way, you can perform a more thorough analysis of your cultural text, as you seek to find what messages the film/TV show/song are truly communicating to our society.
You could analyze popular music, t-shirts, choices in food, current styles in clothing, etc., using the method(s) described above.
On either of the above papers, you could also take a confrontational stance, and demonstrate how your subject resists easy categorization, or disagree with an analysis of a popular culture text. If you choose to do this, then go on to demonstrate, theorize, or postulate just how your subject relates to a theory of popular culture.
Your paper should be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, minimum 8 to around a maximum of 10 pages [excluding title and reference page]. Be certain that your name appears on the title page of your paper.
Your paper should be in APA format, with a minimum of five (5) sources that you cite within your paper. At least two [2] of your sources should be academic articles [not your text]. Be sure to include the film you analyze as a source.
References should be cited within the text of your paper, and listed on the Reference page in APA format. For help with APA formatting questions, go to
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. You cannot afford a grade of zero [0] and/or class failure that automatically result from a plagiarized paper. Please refer to the Academic Honesty Policy in the syllabus.
At the bottom of the title page, please include the following paragraph and sign and date: I hereby confirm that I have written the following paper. I utilized sources in forming my thoughts and opinions, and I have cited those sources where I used them, and the resulting paper is my own work. [Signed] [Date]
You may quote small parts from an academic article [properly cited], but use small ‘chunks’ and lots of your own thinking and analysis.
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