Reflective learning essay
Coming into this English 212W, I was unsure of what to expect. Quite frankly, I was unclear about what constitutes melodrama and the role of melodrama in culture and media. After browsing through the course syllabus, I was intimidated and intrigued at the same time. I knew that this class would require a lot of hard work when I saw the unconventional writing assignments planned for the year. This work turned out to be well-worth my efforts.
The very first assignment in this course entailed reading a piece by Marc Bousquet on melodrama and Harry Potter. From the article, I grasped that at the core of melodrama is an emotionally-charged struggle between a "victim hero" and a villain. The article provided me with the insight that said “victim hero” is often misunderstood by figures of authority despite his or her actions being for the benefit of the greater good. In conjunction with this assignment, we had the task of re-writing a passage from a Harry Potter novel without the use of melodrama. Not only did this task include recognizing melodrama, but it also involved demonstrating my understanding of melodrama in popular literature.
Reading an article written by Ben Singer furthered my understand of melodrama as it pertains to modernity. Through this piece, I learned how people used melodrama to cope with the hallmarks of modernity and changes brought about by the establisment of capitalism. We were then assigned to read The Communist Manifesto and identify the document's melodramatic elements. By viewing the Manifesto through a melodramatic lens, I learned that Marx and Engel employed tragic melodrama to make their point that the bourgeoisie was doomed to fail.
Our next important course reading was of Playing the Race Card: Melodramas of Black and White from Uncle Tom to O. J. Simpson by Linda Williams. Through this text I gained a clear understanding of the tenets of melodrama and about its widespread use as a cultural mode in both film and television. I personally found this text to be the most engaging (and consequently integral to my understanding of melodrama) because it was provides detailed examples of melodrama in popular culture. On the course blog, we were instructed to craft three questions about melodrama based on the readings we had completed. Our next task was to answer three of our classmates' questions, referencing course texts in our answers.
After starting out with these smaller, more informal writing assignments, we delved into larger efforts. Our first formal assignment entailed screening Birth of Nation and publishing a critical diary narrating our reaction to the film in the form of a Storify story. After this assignment, we read an article by Elizabeth Anker about the use of melodrama in the media coverage of 9/11. We created a presentation that explored the common use of melodrama in journalism and media stories. I learned that in media, melodrama is often used to create a call for state action and to create a collective identity for victimized groups.
Soon, we began brainstorming ideas for a social issue that can be viewed through a melodramatic lens. This issue would serve as the topic for a project website. In terms of my topic, I ultimately settled on limiting dining options for first-year college students, especially those who are not financially secure. After developing a manifesto for my project site and developing my personal hub site, we were assigned to read a selection of melodramatic poems by Langston Hughes. After reading these poems, I wrote an imitation of his poem Good Morning Revolution that relates to my project topic. We also read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and created a collaborative Wiki page about the novel.
Our next assignment was to view the Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein and use it as a model for a film of my own that shows the resolution of my topic issue. I then completed in-depth research on my topic in order to write both a comic and formal review of the existing literature on college dining. This was followed by conduction of my own personal research, which I completed by sending out a dining survey to students at three universities. These efforts culminated in the completion of my research hypertext. The last formal effort completed in this class was my tactical media project, in which I created a spoof advertisement for meal plans designed to call college students to action against unreasonable meal plans.
I feel that an important takeaway from this class is how pervasive a medium melodrama is in bringing out social change and mobilizing people to action. From journalism and political discourse to popular movies and Harry Potter, melodrama has an immense influence. Every time I watch a new movie or televised court trial, I’m sure that I will find myself analyzing it through a melodramatic lens.
The unconventional writing tasks in this class, while they sometimes took a lot of effort to complete, helped me learn a great deal. Prior to this class, I had never created my own social action video, website, Prezi, Storify, or comic strip – but now I’ve had valuable experience with so many forms of digital publication. Overall, I learned that writing extends beyond formal five-paragraph essays written to defend a one-sided thesis. It’s about adding to an existing conversation that other writers around the world are still contributing to.
The very first assignment in this course entailed reading a piece by Marc Bousquet on melodrama and Harry Potter. From the article, I grasped that at the core of melodrama is an emotionally-charged struggle between a "victim hero" and a villain. The article provided me with the insight that said “victim hero” is often misunderstood by figures of authority despite his or her actions being for the benefit of the greater good. In conjunction with this assignment, we had the task of re-writing a passage from a Harry Potter novel without the use of melodrama. Not only did this task include recognizing melodrama, but it also involved demonstrating my understanding of melodrama in popular literature.
Reading an article written by Ben Singer furthered my understand of melodrama as it pertains to modernity. Through this piece, I learned how people used melodrama to cope with the hallmarks of modernity and changes brought about by the establisment of capitalism. We were then assigned to read The Communist Manifesto and identify the document's melodramatic elements. By viewing the Manifesto through a melodramatic lens, I learned that Marx and Engel employed tragic melodrama to make their point that the bourgeoisie was doomed to fail.
Our next important course reading was of Playing the Race Card: Melodramas of Black and White from Uncle Tom to O. J. Simpson by Linda Williams. Through this text I gained a clear understanding of the tenets of melodrama and about its widespread use as a cultural mode in both film and television. I personally found this text to be the most engaging (and consequently integral to my understanding of melodrama) because it was provides detailed examples of melodrama in popular culture. On the course blog, we were instructed to craft three questions about melodrama based on the readings we had completed. Our next task was to answer three of our classmates' questions, referencing course texts in our answers.
After starting out with these smaller, more informal writing assignments, we delved into larger efforts. Our first formal assignment entailed screening Birth of Nation and publishing a critical diary narrating our reaction to the film in the form of a Storify story. After this assignment, we read an article by Elizabeth Anker about the use of melodrama in the media coverage of 9/11. We created a presentation that explored the common use of melodrama in journalism and media stories. I learned that in media, melodrama is often used to create a call for state action and to create a collective identity for victimized groups.
Soon, we began brainstorming ideas for a social issue that can be viewed through a melodramatic lens. This issue would serve as the topic for a project website. In terms of my topic, I ultimately settled on limiting dining options for first-year college students, especially those who are not financially secure. After developing a manifesto for my project site and developing my personal hub site, we were assigned to read a selection of melodramatic poems by Langston Hughes. After reading these poems, I wrote an imitation of his poem Good Morning Revolution that relates to my project topic. We also read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and created a collaborative Wiki page about the novel.
Our next assignment was to view the Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein and use it as a model for a film of my own that shows the resolution of my topic issue. I then completed in-depth research on my topic in order to write both a comic and formal review of the existing literature on college dining. This was followed by conduction of my own personal research, which I completed by sending out a dining survey to students at three universities. These efforts culminated in the completion of my research hypertext. The last formal effort completed in this class was my tactical media project, in which I created a spoof advertisement for meal plans designed to call college students to action against unreasonable meal plans.
I feel that an important takeaway from this class is how pervasive a medium melodrama is in bringing out social change and mobilizing people to action. From journalism and political discourse to popular movies and Harry Potter, melodrama has an immense influence. Every time I watch a new movie or televised court trial, I’m sure that I will find myself analyzing it through a melodramatic lens.
The unconventional writing tasks in this class, while they sometimes took a lot of effort to complete, helped me learn a great deal. Prior to this class, I had never created my own social action video, website, Prezi, Storify, or comic strip – but now I’ve had valuable experience with so many forms of digital publication. Overall, I learned that writing extends beyond formal five-paragraph essays written to defend a one-sided thesis. It’s about adding to an existing conversation that other writers around the world are still contributing to.