A 10:002 or 10:003 Unit ~ Rhetorics of Portraits: Controversies of Representation

Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay about Benetton’s “We on Death Row” campaign provides a compelling model of an essay in which the author offers not one, but several, seemingly incompatible positions on an issue. In your first essay, you have the opportunity to engage in a similar writing endeavor: describing and analyzing your own conflicted relationship with a piece of media such as an advertisement, a film, a television show, a photograph, etc. Your goal will be to illustrate to your reader what two contradictory positions you hold, why you hold each position, and how you manage or resolve the tension. Your essay will be strongest if you really dig deeply into the question of why the media is able to move you in each of the ways that it does. Try to avoid simplistic answers, and pick a text that really engages you.

The Details:

            Your mission is to craft a 3-5 page essay in which you do the following:

• Briefly describe the media in question to situate your reader
• Describe and analyze each of your positions vis a vis the media, using specific details as evidence to support your claims
• Conclude by describing how you resolve the tension: for example, do you continue to watch the show or display the photograph, or is the conflict so great that you excise it from your life despite its partial appeal to you? Or, if the tension remains unresolved for you, conclude by exploring what is at stake for you in maintaining both positions.

The Evaluation Criteria:

• Clarity of Ideas: Does the author succeed in presenting the content clearly enough for the reader to understand? Are the two positions thoroughly explicated?
• Depth of Analysis: Does the author rely on simplistic and expected formulations? Or is the analysis thorough, insightful, and thought provoking?
• Structure: Does the essay have a clear organizational structure? Are points presented in an order that the reader can follow and understand? Are central ideas introduced early on in the essay and reiterated in the conclusion?
• Mechanics: Is the essay free of grammatical and other mechanical errors?
• Style and Voice: Does the author choose words precisely and order them carefully? Does the author succeed in conveying their unique voice?
• Does the essay meet all criteria for formal assignments generally and this assignment specifically?