Assignment 2: Multimedia Cultural Analysis (with Cover Letter)

Proposal Due: Tuesday, July 12

Rough Draft Due: Friday, July 15
Final Draft Due: Monday, July 18
Overview: In the Rhetorical Analysis you studied a rhetors rhetorical situation and
analyzed whether his/her response to situations exigence was fitting or not. You will use
these same skills when conducting a Cultural Analysis, however, instead of determining
effectiveness, you will investigate how a current viral trend achieved mass success and
what that success says about society.
A cultural analysis allows you to examine a slice of your own current culture. In todays
society pretty much anyone has the ability to go viral. This assignment will allow you
to explore exactly what about a current trend makes it so popular. You should gain an idea
about how to reach your own rhetorical audience by examining how a viral trend gains
uber popularity and reaches and connects with mass audiences.
Prompt: In this assignment you are going to teach an audience about a current trend and
the trends effects on society. You will achieve this by first, discovering a current trend,
investigating its formation and evolution, and formulating a claim about what this trend
means to modern society. Analyze how and why this trend might have achieved virality.
What is it about this trend that appeals to the audience it reached? Speculate what the
popularity achieved by this trend says about modern society and form an argument: why
and how has this trend become so popular? What attitudes/beliefs/interests of the
audience did the originator appeal to and what does this say about the current
attitudes/beliefs/interests of modern society?
Write to a specific audience (of your choice) who can act upon, react to, or respond to
your analysis/investigation. And write with a specific purpose in mind: to explain why
and how a trend massively appealed to the intended audience and to encourage your own
audience to understand your chosen trend and how it became as successful as it did in
todays society.
Process: As you are brainstorming, you might start on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook
trending sidebar, Buzzfeed, Vine, Know Your Meme, or Reddit. Out of what is currently
trending (or has been trending in the last year) stands out to you? As a part of your
proposal, include an annotated list of five sources you might consult for information
about your topic. What scholarly or popular publications address this topic? What pop
culture sources might address this topic? Think about how you might conduct field
research or survey your peers.
As you are drafting consider the main audience of the trend as well as your own audience
(who might be interested in knowing this information? Who could use this information?).
Who has the trend specifically appealed to and how and why has that trend reached the

viral level it has? What is it about this trend that enabled it to reach virality? Youll want
to examine the audience, evolution, and positive and negative effects of the trend on
modern society. What does the outrageous popularity of this particular topic say about
todays society?
As you revise and edit, consider carefully how you should refer to your viewers and your
topic. Consider the tone you should establish, background choices, prop choices, costume
choices, sound effects, music, lighting, camera angles, pictures, etc.
Format: Your final project should be created as a 3- to- 5-minute video made in
(preferably) iMovie
plus
a 1-2 page (12 pt, TNM, double-spaced, 1 margins) cover letter.
The cover letter should include:
A brief overview (a few sentences, at most) summarizing the project and your
trends rhetorical situation;
A discussion of how your video approach suits your own audience and purpose;
Examples and an explanation of how you employed rhetorical decision making
and the outcomes of those rhetorical choices; and
A clear and detailed explanation of any attributes of the project your instructor
may need more context to understand. (For instance, maybe a musical choice you
made will make better sense to your audience than your instructor, or maybe you
faced a particular challenge with iMovie that you were unable to overcome and
you want to describe the steps you took to try to resolve it).
Grading Criteria: Your video should (1) Identify and describe a current trend clearly; (2)
Distinguish the main audience the trend has reached; (3) Explain trends purpose; (4) and
how it appealed to current audience to achieve such virality; (5) Examine why the trend
has reached popularity it has; (6) Fully explore the evolution of the trend you have
identified; (7) Formulate a single argument about the effects of and/or evolution of the
trend on society.