Merry Xmas & A Happy New Year!

Seminars resume on 14th January. Happy Holidays!
Richard

Portfolio Task 4- Essay Ideas

Propose a topic and working title for your Level 5 essays. Your proposal should include-

5 bullet points explaining the main thrust of your argument.
Your chosen methodological approach
At least 5 texts (referenced using Harvard) from the library that you think will be useful for this essay, with a comment next to each explaining why.
A .jpeg of a relevant image that you may discuss in the essay, again briefly explaining why.

Portfolio Task 3- Semiotic Analysis

Write a 300-400 word semiotic analysis of this Sun front cover. Make sure that your analysis highlights all of the key signifiers, and what they denote and connote. Also, try to highlight any examples of myth that you can see- what ideologies or cultural prejudices are naturalised by the text?. Also, pay attention to paradigmatic and syntagmatic structures and suggest how these shape our reading. Try to outline who the text is trying to communicate, and what cultural codes it relies on to do this. Pay attention to the interrelation of text and image. Pay close attention to the language used in both headline and text.

If you are struggling refer to the leading questions posed on this D.I.Y. semiotic analysis by Daniel Chandler-
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem12.htmlhttp://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Document/S4B/sem12.html

N.B. this text refers to the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano by British Forces during the Falklands war, May 2, 1982. See wikipedia for background info.

Portfolio Task 2- On Popular Music

Quickly read Adorno's (1941) article 'On Popular Music' (links below). In no more than a few paragraphs, summarise his ideas on pop music, concentrating on highlighting key points such as 'standardisation' etc.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Post a link to a YouTube pop video that, in your opinion, epitomises adorno's sentiments. explain why, trying to emphasise the links to the wider 'culture industry' in general.

If you are struggling, here's an example I found to get you thinking...

Portfolio Task 1- Panopticism

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.

Welcome to Level 5

Portfolio Task 3

Choose one of the essay questions below and produce a preliminary bibliography (in Harvard) of 5 books, from the Leeds College of Art library, that you think may be useful. Include a library reference also (e.g. MIL 709.12)

1. Focussing on specific examples, describe the way that Modernist art & design was a response to the forces of modernity
2. Choosing a particular period from 1800 to the present, in what ways has art or design responded to the changing social and cultural forces of that period? (2 specific examples)
3. Is it possible to describe any aspect of visual communication today as post-modern(ist)?
4. Could it be argued that fine art ought to be assigned more 'value' than visual communication?
5. 'Advertising doesn't sell things; all advertising does is change the way people think or feel' (Jeremy Bullmore). Evaluate this statement with reference to selected critical theories