Reference no: EM133392684

Assignment Instructions: "Community" - An Interdisciplinary Perspective.

You are asked to write a critical analysis of a specific piece of art, e.g., a documentary film, a play, or a song, and discuss and analyze how the artist / director / songwriter perceives and presents the concept of "Community" through their particular work.

For example, as mentioned in your textbook, John Mellencamp, in his song "Small Town", sings about the positive virtues of living in a small town, while Paul Simon, in his song "My Little Town," takes a darker view (Beaulieu and Israel, pg 170). Note, do not use these previous examples for your selected work.

The intent of this paper is to use the critical thinking skills you've developed from writing your Thought Stances and applying them to an analysis of how the artists' view "Community."

Here are some examples of how to approach and begin this project--these are only suggestions, as you may approach this as you see fit, within the parameters of the guidance below:

Question 1. Google the term artivism. Research a particular art activist, briefly study his or her background and then locate a work that you believe represents their perspective of "Community". Discuss and analyze the work of art from what you've learned about community. Do you agree or disagree with the artist's interpretation? Why or why not?

Question 2. Go to youtube.com. Search for short documentaries using terms such as "rural America", "inner city" or "poor America." View the documentary and then write a critical analysis discussing how the director/writer approaches the topic. Do you agree or disagree with their interpretation or stand? Why or why not?

Question 3. Go to youtube.com and do the same as above, but for a song (any genre). You could also compare two songs or two musical groups and how they approach the idea of "Community." You should keep your focus here on "Community" themes and not analyze a purely "political / protest" song for your paper; although, you could use a political/protest song, IF AND ONLY IF, it has a "Community" theme and you discuss it in this context. Do you agree or disagree with their interpretation or stand? Why or why not?

Directions:

Contextual Thinking is "the ability to view a subject from a broad perspective by placing it in the fabric of time, culture, and personal experience " (Repko, 2020, pg.8). In using an interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving, students need to be able to apply contextual thinking to complex problems, such as those found in community development. As you have studied the concept of Community Development through numerous lens this semester, this assignment will ask you to take an interdisciplinary perspective and analyze the broader concept of "Community" through another lens, specifically, that of the arts. i.e., Art or Music. I will be looking for contextual content in your submission...for example, don''t just repeat lyrics from the works; I want to know what your thoughts are concerning the creators'' view(s) of the concept and ideal of Community.

You are being asked to submit a critical analysis of a specific work of art., e.g., this may be an actual artwork (such as a mural), or a song, and discuss how the artist and/or songwriter perceives and presents the concept of "Community" through their particular work, in your own words. For example, John Mellencamp, in his song "Small Town", sings about the positive virtues of living in a small town, while Paul Simon, in his song "My Little Town," takes a darker view (Beaulieu and Israel, pg 170). Note, do not use these examples for your selected work.

The intent of this paper is to "creatively" use the critical thinking skills you developed from writing your Thought Stances and applying them to an analysis of how the artists' uniquely express the idea / concept of "Community." In addition to creativity, assessment will be made on your clearly presented understanding of course concepts, as applied in your critical analysis.

LENGTH and CONTENT requirements:

The expectation of this assignment is that your analysis be original, thorough and conceptually solid, well-written and representative of a senior-level submission. With that said, your paper should be between 4-5 pages. Also, you should include section Headers (and sub-headers, as needed) to ensure proper organizational structure. Proper grammar and syntax is, of course, expected.