AMS 130 Creative Assignment

In this course, we’ve been looking at the production, circulation, and consumption of pop cultural products, tensions around the term “popular,” and the potential subversive meanings and uses of popular culture. In this assignment, I’d like you to creatively take on some of the themes we’ve discussed in course so far. You’ll then write a 500-word project explanation linking your creative project to the themes (and readings) in this course. I recognize some of you may be more inclined towards the arts than others, so for this reason I’ll be grading you primarily for your concepts and your efforts. But, as we’ve been arguing for the entire class, culture is a terrain of struggle in which different ideas can be articulated, disrupted, engaged, etc. To this end, I’m asking you to take seriously the role of art and creative expression as it relates to any of the themes we’ve discussed:

• Branding and Brand Cultures
• Various meanings of the word “Popular”
• Contestations around expressions of gender and gender difference through popular mediums
• The commercial nature of popular productions

Artists have long used different mediums to communicate contrasting ideas, to remix old forms into new, and to express theoretically sophisticated ideas. You’ll chose any medium of expression (visual, sonic, literary, etc) and craft a piece that best expresses your ideas: illustration, collage, graphic design, song, poem, script, etc. If you’d like to make a video (i.e. montage or another moving image project), please keep the length to under 4 minutes. I’d like you to then write a 500-word accompanying Project Explanation (description) that explains how your piece engages the themes of this course.

I’ll be looking to see you’ve made the arguments/articulations of your piece clear in your Project Explanation. This written portion is the place to show your stuff, to show how you’re creatively engaging the ideas of this class (and the readings) through your piece. Think of this as you would a paper; you’re showing your ability to take our course materials and creatively apply them to an analysis of the world around you. I’d like you to effectively engage two of the readings from the course (or one reading and one film) in this discussion.

Grading Structure:

There will only be three possible grades for this assignment: Pass, No Pass, and Pass+.

These are elaborated below.

Pass (17 points) – A student work that meets all requirements for the assignment will receive a Pass grade. This means the creative project is well conceived and the Project Explanation is well edited and thoughtful.

No Pass (10 points) – A student work that fails to meet passing standards shall receive a No Pass grade. This includes work that shows little student effort the creative project, minimum reflection on the readings, poorly composed Project Explanation.

Pass+ (20 points) – A student work that is truly exemplary will receive a Pass+ grade. This means that the students show exceptional analytic depth in the crafting of their project responses and a unique mastery over course themes.