This fall I took Eng 212 with Marc Bosquet for my continued writing requirement. This class was not at all what I expected, but in a good way. The first part of the course focused on melodrama. Before this course, I thought that melodrama simply meant to be very dramatic and over the top. After identifying and discussing themes of melodrama in Harry Potter, the Communist Manifesto, the Poor of New York, and The People’s Lawyer, my perception quickly changed. I soon realized that melodrama is integrated into almost every form of media. I began to make connections between what I learned during class and things outside of the classroom, even things I learned in other classes.
After identifying themes of melodrama, we screened Birth of the Nation at home. The movie was a very good precursor to the next part of the course because it really showed me melodrama in action. By watching the film and analyzing its message, I learned how melodrama could be used in different ways to take a clear side and create a powerful message. After understanding the use of melodrama, we chose a contemporary issue to which we felt melodramatic rhetoric could be applied. I chose to focus on the melodramatic rhetoric involving homophobia in fraternities and created a literature review as well as a 2000 word linear paper. In addition, we created a presentation involving stories or issues where we thought melodramatic approach to journalism might be justified.
Each of these practices in application prepared us for our main research project in which we created our own website and used tactical media to present our original research. We screened Battleship Potemkin and read poems by Langston Hughes as means of inspiration for choosing our own focus for research and ultimately creating a research proposal. I eventually chose to focus on the melodramatic rhetoric involving the adjustment and experience of Chinese international students in America. As someone who is not very skilled at technology, I was intimidated at first by the thought of having to create my own website. Thankfully, Weebly is very user friendly and I was able to learn quickly. In the end I composed 17 web pages on my research website and also created my own personal sight. I must admit there is a large sense of pride in being able to create in this way because my work can be personalized much than more this way than in a standard essay.
Overall, I am very happy that this course was not at all what I expected. The skills I have learned during this course will definitely be applied to other courses I take in the future and I will always be grateful to have learned these skills.
After identifying themes of melodrama, we screened Birth of the Nation at home. The movie was a very good precursor to the next part of the course because it really showed me melodrama in action. By watching the film and analyzing its message, I learned how melodrama could be used in different ways to take a clear side and create a powerful message. After understanding the use of melodrama, we chose a contemporary issue to which we felt melodramatic rhetoric could be applied. I chose to focus on the melodramatic rhetoric involving homophobia in fraternities and created a literature review as well as a 2000 word linear paper. In addition, we created a presentation involving stories or issues where we thought melodramatic approach to journalism might be justified.
Each of these practices in application prepared us for our main research project in which we created our own website and used tactical media to present our original research. We screened Battleship Potemkin and read poems by Langston Hughes as means of inspiration for choosing our own focus for research and ultimately creating a research proposal. I eventually chose to focus on the melodramatic rhetoric involving the adjustment and experience of Chinese international students in America. As someone who is not very skilled at technology, I was intimidated at first by the thought of having to create my own website. Thankfully, Weebly is very user friendly and I was able to learn quickly. In the end I composed 17 web pages on my research website and also created my own personal sight. I must admit there is a large sense of pride in being able to create in this way because my work can be personalized much than more this way than in a standard essay.
Overall, I am very happy that this course was not at all what I expected. The skills I have learned during this course will definitely be applied to other courses I take in the future and I will always be grateful to have learned these skills.