Essay Assignment: Art Argument Analysis

Overview

Assignment -- Analyze an argument that a work of art seems to be making.

Length: 5-7 pages and a works cited.

Sources -- 1. One work of art. 2. One academic article. 3. One critical source about the art work.

(You may also use other sources, including other works of art, but you don't have to.)

Art Options: The word art is being used here to refer not only to visual art (painting, sculpture, etc.) but also movies, music, television, literature, photography, architecture, etc. (You may not use anything "nonfictional," such as a documentary, reality show, essay, etc.) Make sure you give full (properly-formatted) titles, artist names, etc.

Argument: The argument you find within your art work will be an implicit argument. That means that the argument will not be stated directly (as you would find in an essay or a documentary) but will be implied. Therefore, it is up to you to discover this implicit argument.

Sources: The academic article you use should be about the subject matter the art work is arguing about. The critical source will be an analysis of the art work itself. (The critical work does not have to be scholarly, but it can be. Also, the word "critical" does not mean "to attack." It is more about being analytical.) Please note that you should, early on, see if your artistic source is actually researchable (have people written about it?), since some works of art are not.

Thesis: Although the art's argument will be implicit, your own argument/thesis should be stated explicitly, meaning that it is stated clearly and directly in your essay as a "thesis." Below are some examples of possible theses from different genres of art. (Note that these sentences wouldn't necessarily be written within the essay itself, though they could be.)

FILM -- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by director Peter Jackson uses images of peaceful but angry trees fighting back against war and industry in order to promote a message of environmental sustainability.

TELEVISION -- The Sopranos by creator David Chase argues that glorified representations of criminal behavior in film is detrimental and that this lifestyle actually can lead to serious psychological disorders.

FICTION -- Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick symbolically demonstrates that obsession and revenge can never result in a positive outcome but is, instead, destructive to the self.

POETRY -- William Cullen Bryant's poem "Thanatopsis" argues that death is not frightening or morbid but instead is natural, peaceful, and an equalizer of persons.

MUSIC -- Marvin Gaye's song "What's Going On" argues that the government and others in authority do not have the best interests of the people of the USA, especially the youth, who are being exploited.

PAINTING -- Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Dora Maar argues that portraits can demonstrate subjective views of reality by demonstrating faces in space and time.

ARCHITECTURE -- The Empire State Building, designed by William F. Lamb, argued not only that New York City was the most important city in the world (through the height of the skyscraper), but also that it was the center of the art world (through its Art Deco style).

Your Opinion: You are mostly concerned with finding the art work's implicit argument and stating this argument in your essay. You do not necessarily have to agree or disagree with this argument within the essay, though you can if you want to.

Audience: You should assume that your audience is already familiar with the art work you are writing about. You should also assume that your audience consists of educated and intelligent adults. Beyond that, you may decide upon an even more specific audience, remembering that your audience is not necessarily me or your classmates.

Format: Follow the MLA and "Formatting" guidelines, paying special attention to the pages in your textbook concerning works of art, scholarly articles, and sources found in databases. Remember to format your artwork titles properly (italics, quotation marks, etc.).

Notes

Reading Responses: Your reading is posted in the "Readings" link and is titled "Postmodern Repetitions: Parody, Trauma, and the Case of Kara Walker" by Amy Tang. As a warning, the first portion of the reading is dense and potentially difficult, but once Tang begins writing directly about the art work, it becomes easier to read and more enjoyable.

Proposal: The proposal for Essay 3 should contain the following:

1. The work of art you have chosen. Use specific titles, artist names, etc.

2. The implicit argument you feel the artwork is making.

3. Optional -- You can include any other ideas that will help us understand your topic, including a potential thesis or the kinds of sources you may have found already or plan to find.

Example:

1. Charlotte Perkins Gillman's "The Yellow Wallpaper."

2. This short story argues that women are often treated as children by husbands and other men.

3. Although "The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a specific time period and a specific topic (the "rest cure" used for what we now know is post-partum depression), I think that the ideas in the story concerning men's treatment of women as children who can't take care of themselves still applies to contemporary society, and I will include this as part of my thesis. I plan to find an academic article on the "infantilizing" of wives within marriage.