Final Assignment Option 1: Re-Write a Fairy Tale for Today
Please re-write a fairy tale for the 21st century. You can choose any fairy tale you like, whether it's one we covered in class, or not. However, if it is a tale we did not cover in class, please run it by your professor for approval first (and please note that stories like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland are not fairy tales). A good rule of thumb for whether or not a story is a fairy tale is whether or not it's been re-told many times throughout the centuries, in various cultures around the world.
While you are encouraged to use your imagination and change the tale however suits you, please keep the "tale type" the same. The tale type is the basic plot points of the tale that remain the same throughout every retelling.
This assignment has three components: a creative component that is a short story; a critical, research-based analysis paper; and an in-class presentation where you share both your creative and critical components.
Creative Component: The short story should be the fairy tale re-written, in 5-10 pages, double-spaced and typed. You should feel free to alter the title of the story to suit your update, but please indicate somewhere on the paper which fairy tale it is you are updating. Make sure the story takes place in our world today—do not set it in the “old fashioned fairy tale time.”
You will want to update the major themes of the story to represent the cultural values of our world today. For example (and please do not steal this idea), a Little Red Riding Hood story could take place in Hollywood and could have Little Red as an actress and alleged rapist Harvey Weinstein as the wolf. Little Red might take him to court, along with a bunch of other Little Reds.
You will want to consider the following areas for updating: the setting, the characters’ job or life situation, their motives and actions, and the moral or theme of the story. Each of these elements should reflect the current cultural values that the story represents and is updating. Get creative and think outside the box!
Critical Component: The analysis should be 4-6 pages, typed and double-spaced. In your analysis, you need to talk about the updates you have made to the tale, and why you have made them. How do your updates serve a 21st century audience? What cultural values do they explore, and how do they explore them? Make sure to provide examples from your own fairy tale to support your ideas, just as you would in any other paper you write in this class. You are analyzing your own work just as you would analyze the work of the artists/writers you've encountered in this class.
In addition, you can talk about what aspects of the tale you have decided to keep the same. Why did you keep those aspects the same? Do you see them as serving some kind of continuing cultural need?
Use MLA formatting and include a Works Cited page. Choose a strong title.
For this assignment, you may use the personal pronoun, but still keep your language appropriate for an academic audience throughout.
For this assignment, you may use the personal pronoun, but still keep your language appropriate for an academic audience throughout.
Please incorporate your notes from this course on fairy tales into your analysis. You also need to incorporate at least three outside research sources from the library.
Presentation: Guidelines for your presentation will be covered separately on another blog post.
Presentation: Guidelines for your presentation will be covered separately on another blog post.
Please note that the day on which you present is the day on which your assignment is due.
Good luck and have fun!
Final Assignment Option 2: Create a Monster
Create a monster for the 21st century, to be presented in a creative form as well as analyzed in a critical, research-based essay. You will present both your critical research and your creative component to the class in a presentation.
Pay careful attention to your monster's physical attributes, living environment, prey, attitude, etc. Make sure these directly represent cultural fears and desires.
Creative Component:
Your monster's physical body needs to represent contemporary, USA cultural fears and desires. You will put together a creative representation of your monster, which can take a number of forms. These forms are:
1) Short story of 5-10 pages, double-spaced
2) Video of at least 5 minutes in length
3) Website or social media account that is fully utilized (nothing too quickly slapped together)
4) Drawing or comic (should be full color and show demonstrated detail; if a comic should be at least 20 frames)
5) Short play of at least 5 pages, to be acted out in class
You may also propose a creative form other than these if you like, provided you run it by me first. No poems, please.
When grading your creative component I will be looking for ingenuity, creativity, and effort. I will be looking to see if the form meshes well with the content (for example, if your monster has to do with social media, then a social media account for a creative form makes a lot of sense). Quickly slapped together work will receive a score of zero.
Please do not use images that do not belong to you or are copyrighted; you are expected to produce your own content. If you have questions around which images are appropriate to use, please ask.
Critical Component:
Additionally, please answer the following questions in an essay format, 4-6 pages in length. Being able to critically analyze your monster, as we've critically analyzed the monsters in this course, is imperative to your success on this assignment. Failure to do so, even if you have a cool looking monster, will result in a non-passing score on the assignment.
Here are the questions:
What cultural fears does your monster represent?
What cultural desires does it represent?
You will want to choose something specific to the culture. For example, just as Frankenstein's monster represented a fear of scientific advancement in the Romantic era, your monster will need to express a particular desire that relates to our cultural moment as Americans in this country, today, in the era of Facebook, the internet, climate change, political strife, student loan debt, etc (those are just a few specific examples, it can really be anything). Whatever you do, don't just say that the desires (or fears, for that matter) are something generic. You won't want to say that your monster represents a "fear of the unknown" or "fear of change" or "fear of death" --these are too broad and generic. Pick something related to what's going on in the world today. "Fear of being buried under a mountain of student loan debt" is a specific fear, related to what is going on in the world today. (Don't copy the fears I've put here--come up with your own).
How is the monster's body a physical manifestation of these cultural fears and desires? For example, if it is a vampire that can walk out in sunlight, does it represent our changing attitude toward difference--the fact that we now are more tolerant of those who are not "the norm"?
How does your monster "fit in" to the lineage of the monsters we have learned about this semester? Does your monster have anything in common with those monsters? How does your monster differ from them, as a representation of this particular cultural moment and place?
Are there any other monsters that you took inspiration from? How did they inspire you?
Apply at least six quotes from the in-class monster thesis notes to your monster. How does your monster represent these quotes?
Additionally, you need three outside resources from the library's database to support your ideas. You may choose various angles to research; likely, however, your research will relate to the cultural fears and desires your monster represents.
Make sure to use MLA formatting and to include a Works Cited page.
Presentation:
Presentation guidelines will be shared in another blog post. Please note that your creative component and critical essay are due the day your presentation is due.
Please note that you may not use terrorism as your cultural fear for this assignment.
Pay careful attention to your monster's physical attributes, living environment, prey, attitude, etc. Make sure these directly represent cultural fears and desires.
Creative Component:
Your monster's physical body needs to represent contemporary, USA cultural fears and desires. You will put together a creative representation of your monster, which can take a number of forms. These forms are:
1) Short story of 5-10 pages, double-spaced
2) Video of at least 5 minutes in length
3) Website or social media account that is fully utilized (nothing too quickly slapped together)
4) Drawing or comic (should be full color and show demonstrated detail; if a comic should be at least 20 frames)
5) Short play of at least 5 pages, to be acted out in class
You may also propose a creative form other than these if you like, provided you run it by me first. No poems, please.
When grading your creative component I will be looking for ingenuity, creativity, and effort. I will be looking to see if the form meshes well with the content (for example, if your monster has to do with social media, then a social media account for a creative form makes a lot of sense). Quickly slapped together work will receive a score of zero.
Please do not use images that do not belong to you or are copyrighted; you are expected to produce your own content. If you have questions around which images are appropriate to use, please ask.
Critical Component:
Additionally, please answer the following questions in an essay format, 4-6 pages in length. Being able to critically analyze your monster, as we've critically analyzed the monsters in this course, is imperative to your success on this assignment. Failure to do so, even if you have a cool looking monster, will result in a non-passing score on the assignment.
Here are the questions:
What cultural fears does your monster represent?
What cultural desires does it represent?
You will want to choose something specific to the culture. For example, just as Frankenstein's monster represented a fear of scientific advancement in the Romantic era, your monster will need to express a particular desire that relates to our cultural moment as Americans in this country, today, in the era of Facebook, the internet, climate change, political strife, student loan debt, etc (those are just a few specific examples, it can really be anything). Whatever you do, don't just say that the desires (or fears, for that matter) are something generic. You won't want to say that your monster represents a "fear of the unknown" or "fear of change" or "fear of death" --these are too broad and generic. Pick something related to what's going on in the world today. "Fear of being buried under a mountain of student loan debt" is a specific fear, related to what is going on in the world today. (Don't copy the fears I've put here--come up with your own).
How is the monster's body a physical manifestation of these cultural fears and desires? For example, if it is a vampire that can walk out in sunlight, does it represent our changing attitude toward difference--the fact that we now are more tolerant of those who are not "the norm"?
How does your monster "fit in" to the lineage of the monsters we have learned about this semester? Does your monster have anything in common with those monsters? How does your monster differ from them, as a representation of this particular cultural moment and place?
Are there any other monsters that you took inspiration from? How did they inspire you?
Apply at least six quotes from the in-class monster thesis notes to your monster. How does your monster represent these quotes?
Additionally, you need three outside resources from the library's database to support your ideas. You may choose various angles to research; likely, however, your research will relate to the cultural fears and desires your monster represents.
Make sure to use MLA formatting and to include a Works Cited page.
Presentation:
Presentation guidelines will be shared in another blog post. Please note that your creative component and critical essay are due the day your presentation is due.
Please note that you may not use terrorism as your cultural fear for this assignment.
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