Final

Some ideas for the final
I was thinking of perhaps finding a way to explore the intersection of race, specifically Blackness, with the discourse of teenagers. Certainly there are ways I would be able to make an argument that at the intersection  some of the discourses/ideas about teenagers are multiplied exponentially (off the top of my head the "wilding" from the conversation surrounding the Central Park 5 and the discourse of social problem). I don't know what I'd use for the media text itself but I suspect it wouldn't be terribly difficult to find one that would allow me to draw on the texts from class as well as a few others. For this topic I would certainly utilize the "Report on the Extrajudicial Killings of 110 Black People" from Malcolm X Grass Movement, primarily to supplement my usage of Jackie Wang's article "Against Innocence: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Safety". Potentially the week that we discuss "Hip Hop Controversies" would unearth some great material for me to use as well. I could also probably get some inspiration from Byron Hurt's Hip Hop:Beyond Beats and Rhymes depending on the Tricia Rose texts that we use.

A couple of weeks ago I finally broke down and watched Pretty Little Liars after MANY people suggested I watched it (surprisingly, the average age of the people suggesting it? Mid-late twenties. Perhaps no the target audience but they are definitely lapping it up!). I finished the two seasons in a couple of weeks, and have had to use all of the will power within me to not start the third season. This show revolves around teenagers (although if some of the scenes didn't occur in a high school you'd probably think they were college students) and definitely plays on the discourses put forth by Raby. It'd be easy to incorporate "Media and Ideology" with this text as well (the capitalism/conflict theory portion especially. And pleasurable consumption from Raby. One of the character's LOVES to shop [steal..], they're all generally rich, and have amazing wardrobes).