For your essay, you will conduct a rhetorical analysis of gender roles on a television series. To further our discussion of popular culture and gender ideology, this assignment asks you to begin looking at and critically analyzing a popular television series. You are going to write a 4-5 page critical essay evaluating how your show represents gender through the lens of one character. Most importantly, you should make a critical evaluation of the text— that is, you should come to some conclusion about the character’s representation of gender and/or sexuality. You can focus on anything you want in terms of gender issues—how gender is represented in a traditional way, a more subversive or challenging way, a stereotypical way, etc. The key to crafting a good critical essay is to make a specific claim in your thesis and to narrow your focus. The support for your claims will come from your particular show, so you must watch the episode(s) closely in order to highlight specific instances that challenge or adhere to stereotypes of gender and /or sexuality. You should also work to build context by connecting your text to the current ideologies, social movements, and/or sociopolitical issues to which it speaks to/reflects. There is no limit to the number of episodes you can watch; however, you must cite examples from at least 3 episodes of your series.
To successfully complete this assignment, your paper should:
• Offer an in-depth rhetorical analysis of the character that provides specific and
carefully chosen support for your position
• Present a concise, well-supported thesis statement
• Include references to specific actions, dialogue, plot lines, visuals, relationships, etc.
• Address how this character reflects dominant values/ideologies/social movements
Choosing a TV Show: I will not restrict the type of television show you can choose; however, I have to approve your series and character in class on March 10th. Although it is not required, I strongly recommend that you choose a current show (you won’t have a ton of space to build in era-specific context).
Basic Guidelines: 4-5 pages, Times New Roman, 12pt. font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, proper citations using MLA, Chicago or APA, uploaded to ICON Dropbox as a .doc or .docx file (no PDF or Notes files please), cite at least 3 episodes from your series, try to incorporate course readings as evidence, and no plagiarism of any kind will be tolerated.
Deadlines:
Topic Approval: Friday, March 10th (in class) I want to know what show, character, and episodes you have selected and WHY.
Workshop Day: Monday, March 27th (Bring a hard copy of your fully drafted essay to class for peer reviews).
Final Essay Due: Friday, March 31st (By 5:00pm on ICON—No late submissions!)

Gender Analysis Tips
NOTE: You do NOT have to answer any or all of these questions in your paper; however, if you’re looking for advice on where to start or what to include, these may help spark some ideas.
Things
• How do other characters react to your character? Is he or she popular, well-liked,
despised, secretly made fun of? (This tells you if your character is “normal,” and,
therefore, if the audience is supposed to admire/act like your character)
• How does your character dress? What is her/his job? What are her/his hobbies? Figure
out your character’s personality.
• Does the character ever talk about his/her gender or sexuality?
• What does the show present as normal male/female/sexual behavior? (Does anyone in
your show ever say, “Men are supposed to _____,” or, “Women do ______?” Or, “Here’s
how love/attraction/dating works…”)
• Look at anything about sex—is your character having any? Does he/she talk about it? Is
she/he good at it? Are your character’s sex scenes shown or implied? Is your character
scared of sex? Is he/she always looking for it?
• Is your character happy? Does your character like herself/himself? (This also helps you
figure out if your character’s a role model)
• Does your character’s presentation of gender or sexuality change over time? Is it fluid?
• Is your character ever disciplined? For what? (This can come in the form of being yelled
at, made fun of, ostracized, perpetually single, etc. What does your character do that
makes other people not like them?)
• Who is attracted to your character? Anyone?
• If you’re looking at a female character: Does she have female friends that she genuinely
loves? (Female friendships are typically portrayed as competitive and full of back-
stabbing, so well-developed female friendships can be huge!)
• And the biggest questions of all, which will probably turn into your thesis: In what ways
does the media text produce or resist stereotypes? How does the media text reflect the presiding values, ideologies, and/or social movements of our current political and cultural era?