Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 (Power and Responsibility) by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

Shitty First Draft Due Date #1: see the calendar (bring a hardcopy to class)
Shitty First Draft Due Date #2: see the calendar (bring a hardcopy to class)
1st Instructor Review Date: see the calendar (bring a hardcopy to class and POST a copy in the appropriate ONLINE dropbox by 11:59pm)

“Camp” is popular because it gives people a sense of reality to see a replay of their lives.
-Marshall McLuhan

Assignment:
The purpose of this, approximately, 3-5 page essay, is for you to look critically and analytically at how identity is explored in Bendis and Bagley’s Ultimate Spider-Man.

Consider how the text (the comicbook) functions as a representative artifact of its society (contemporary America). Pay close attention to the idea of “identity” within this society’s context. Your analysis of this text should explore a specific aspect of its society. Consider any and all critical theories (sexuality, feminism, racism, classism, etc.) as fair game.

• Develop a specific thesis (whether implicit or explicit) that invites the reader to read the text in the same way that you do. Focus is key.
• Integrate textual evidence to support your analysis (both pictures and words).

Helpful Hints:
• The most difficult part of this essay is going beyond just summarizing the narrative. You need to analyze this text. Analysis means to examine a subject closely and from many different angles, to be skeptical, and to draw universal meaning from your subject. It involves making connections.
• This is not the last draft of your paper. Work hard. Think hard. Write harder. But remember, this paper will not be graded. You can always revise, revise, and revise later.

Freewriting Ideas:

1. Are any aspects of Peter Parker’s life similar to your own? Can you relate to being raised in a non-traditional home, or being the ostracized member of your peer group? Freewrite on similarities you may have with Parker to generate ideas regarding your analysis of society, and, quite possibly, they may apply to this text as well.

2. Use the art of the comicbook to explore the text. Choose your favorite panel or page of panels and respond to it. How does that image or images enhance the telling of the narrative? For example look at the fourth- and fifth-to-last pages of section four, describe the use of line.

3. With the rise of the image culture (television, film, YouTube) Marshall McLuhan has argued that roles have surpassed goals. He argues that, while young, we no longer set goals and dedicate our lives to fulfilling them, but rather we emulate the characters media force-feeds us and thus we dedicate our lives only to fulfilling a stereotypical “role”. What does Spider-Man say about one’s sense of self in society since the rise of the image culture?

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