Thinking Critically About Pop
Culture: Representations of Women
and LGBT People
Quickwrite #5
• Using a the quote sandwich method and a
template from They Say, I Say, get ready for
class discussion by responding to a quotation
you find to be significant from the readings for
today. (“Why the Odds are Still Stacked
Against Women in Hollywood” and “More
Representation for LGBT People of Color.”)
Some Questions that Will Help You on
Essay #2
• As you analyze the pieces of media that you
have chosen in order to support a claim you
are making about pop culture and diversity,
ask yourself:
– What are the main values that are being put
forward as “correct” or “normal” by this piece of
media? Are these values particular to any one
group? Are there any groups whose values/ideas
are poorly or unfairly represented?
Some Questions that Will Help You on
Essay #2
• Do you notice any patterns in the representation
of diverse groups in the media you chose, or
patterns in the representation of the one
minority group you chose? If so, what do you
think those patterns mean? Why are they
important?
• Is there anything missing from the portrayals you
are researching? Is there anything complicated
that is made simple? Any subtle differences that
are glossed over? What are the consequences of
this over-simplification?
Portrayals of Women and LGBT People
in the Media
• What is the “larger conversation” that each of these
authors is a part of? What are some of the
assumptions that these authors respond to?
• What are some of the “big claims” that each of these
authors makes? Identify one “big claim” and be ready
to talk about it and your reaction to it.
• How do these authors support those claims? Was their
support convincing?
• What were your reactions to these articles? Did you
find places where you agreed? Disagreed? A little of
both? Why?
Thesis Statement Review
• A thesis is the claim about your topic/issue
that you are making in the introduction of
your essay and supporting in the body of your
essay.
• Every paragraph in your essay should work
together with all of the other paragraphs to
support/explain your thesis.
• This means that your thesis is one of the most
important sentences in your essay.
Finding a Thesis for Essay 2
• What do you think about what have you learned about
the issue you set out to explore? You might consider
questions like…
• Why are things the way they are when it comes to
representation/diversity in the area of the media you
researched?
• What are the consequences of things being this way?
• What should be done differently in your area of pop
culture?
• If you are researching a controversial issue/portrayal,
do you agree with the criticism of the piece/genre of
pop culture? Why or why not?
A strong thesis will…
• Make a claim that invites further discussion.
– A thesis should not be a statement of indisputable fact.
– If your thesis puts forwards reasons for or consequences of an
indisputable fact, that is acceptable. You claim is not that the
fact itself is true. Instead, your claim is about some aspect of the
“hows and whys” surrounding that fact.
• Be clear and explicit.
– Do not make your reader guess what you are trying to prove.
State what you will prove clearly and specifically in your thesis.
• Be found near the end of your introduction paragraph.
– In US academic writing, you are expected to place your thesis
near the end of your introduction. Some of the writers we read
may place their thesis statements differently, but remember
that they are writing for different audiences in different
situations. Your situation requires you to place your thesis in the
introduction.
Examples of Thesis Statements from
Readings:
• “More Representation for LGBT People of
Color,” because it is a news/magazine opinion
piece, states its thesis in the very first
sentence: “A lack of diversity on TV and in
Hollywood…” and re-states the claim in the
last sentence of the 5th full paragraph: “The
lack of visibility is also pronounced…”
Thesis FAQ
• Can my thesis be a question?
– Answer: Absolutely not. A thesis is a thesis statement. It is a
claim that reflects your informed point of view about the issue.
That means that a thesis might be the answer to a question you
ask in your introduction, but it is not a question itself.
• My thesis seems very long. Is that ok?
– Because thesis statements are trying to shrink down the
argument of an essay into one sentence, they tend to get long.
If you think your thesis is too long, ask me or your peers for a
second opinion.
– Thesis statements often contain the skeleton of an outline for
your essay. This type of thesis briefly lists the major points that
will be discussed more fully in the essay.
Rewritten Thesis Example:
• If I were to re-write “TV Diversity: Whose Job Is It Anyway?”
as a academic essay, the thesis might look something like this:
• African Americans are often represented poorly or not at all
on television for two reasons: first, while there may be
notable exceptions, there is a general lack of diversity among
the people who make decisions about which stories to tell
and which actors to cast; second, there are misconceptions
about the profitability of shows with diverse or primarily
black casts that make networks unwilling to take chances on
these shows.
• There will probably be at least two or three paragraphs
supporting and explaining the blue section, and at least two
or three paragraphs supporting and explaining the green
section.
• Notice that this thesis is tackling the “why” question when it
comes to lack of representation.
Do I have to write my thesis today?
• No. If you are still researching and deciding
what claim you want to make about your
issue, you aren’t ready to write your thesis.
After you do the in-class activity, keep
researching/reading/brainstorming/drafting
so that you can get ready.