Art often imitates life. Indeed, many works of fiction can provide commentary on or mirror aspects of the social world. For this assignment, you are to pick a work of fiction that you feel engages strongly with topics relevant to sociology. It can be a film, book, television show (though, please focus on certain episodes), or video game, as long as it engages strongly with one or more relevant course concepts. I will provide a list of suggested works to use, but you are free to use any piece of media you choose. I only ask that you run it by me first, and please do not use a documentary or non-fiction book. The goal here is to learn something about how fiction can comment on the world around us.

Your assignment is to do the following:

1. Provide a short summary about the work of fiction in question (approx. 1 page). You
   don’t have to go overboard on detail, but include enough so that someone who is not
   familiar with the work can understand what you’re talking about. (15 points)

2. Explain what is sociologically interesting about this piece of media. What sociological concepts are at work in this book/film/show, etc.? Describe the concepts or theories in
   question and explain how they play out in the work you chose. (1-3 pages, 30 points),

3. What is this work of fiction trying to tell us about the social world? Go beyond just
   listing how the work connects to sociological theory- what point is this work trying to make about social life, if any? How can we as sociologists benefit from viewing art and media using a sociological imagination? (3-4 pages, 45 points).

Be sure that your paper is free of grammar and spelling errors and follows all formatting requirements (10 points) provide examples to support your claims throughout the paper. You are free to utilize any external sources (other than class notes) you choose to support your arguments (books, research articles, commentary, etc.), but it is not required to do so. If you utilize any external sources, please cite these in a bibliography (lecture notes need not be cited, but course readings, [if you choose to use them] and the media you are referencing should be).

Format:

5-7 double spaced pages, Times New Roman (or similar) font, 1 inch margins. You are free to write more than 7 pages, but please do not write more than 10 pages. If you include citations in your paper, you are free to use any citation style you choose, but please keep the style consistent throughout.

Suggested Topics:

These are some possible suggestions to get you thinking. This list is by no means exhaustive, and you are free to suggest a topic outside of this list. Many of these media engage with social issues or provide some form of social commentary on a social phenomena or trend, often in ways we would not necessarily expect, so I highly encourage you to think outside of the box. Note: If you are considering writing about a topic outside of this list, I ask that when you send me your topic, you include a brief description of the topics you are considering writing about, in addition to the media in question.

Film/Television:

Black Mirror, 2011-Present

V for Vendetta, 2005 (also a graphic novel)

Dear White People, 2014 film or 2017 television show

Love, Simon (also in literature- Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda), 2018 City of God, 2002

Literature:

Animal Farm, George Orwell

1984, George Orwell

To Kill a Mockingbird (also in film), Harper Lee The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Visual Art:

The work of the artist known as Banksy

Potential Sources:

These are some prominent sociology journals that might assist you in writing your papers. (There are many more than these- this is only intended as a starting point).

American Socioloigcal Review American Journal of Sociology Social Forces

Gender and Society

Social Problems

Media, Culture & Society

Information, Communication & Society