Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies

This is a critical analysis of a recent popular cultural artefact of your choice using Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies. You can use the same artefact you analysed in your original paper, if appropriate. Consider what political discourses are articulated and HOW this is done. Use our ‘analytical toolkit’ we used throughout this module. Your artefact should be current and relevant – not an uncritical examination of the aesthetics of 19702 films, 1950s jazz music, or the likes. Instead, a critical examination of Brexit memes, Boris Johnson mash ups, music videos about the environment, or tabloid press stories about immigrants are more in the spirit of this paper.
Possible paper outline:
Introduction: Make this short and snappy. Set the scene in the first paragraph maybe with a bit of context before you ease your reader into an explanation of what you are looking at and why this is important.
Context: This may be historical, political, consumption, theoretical, or any combination of these. Tell us what other studies say about your topic. Include some ideas about some of the scholars we have examined. You need to tell us what is relevant to your artefact. If you are looking at memes about Brexit, you could/ should include theories about audiences and meanings in popular culture, studies on how people interact with social media, the impact of memes, the political context of Brexit, and what other studies say about memes on Brexit. This is very important to make your analysis meaningful.
Sample and Methodology: This will be short. You need to explain why you chose your artefact and how it represents a larger trend in popular culture. You then need to explain what exactly you will analyse and why. Refer to (M)CDS readings.
Analysis: This is the most important part of the paper. This should be close to 1000 words of a close reading of your artefact. Do not just describe, but analyse. Be critical. Show readers not just what discourses are articulated, but HOW this is done. Include in the main body of your text not only dialogue/ lyrics/ written text, but also screen grabs and images from your artefact. Make this interesting for us readers.
Conclusion: In a paragraph or two, explain how your analysis reveals the discourses articulated in your artefact. Try to link this back to your introduction.
References: Follow the Harvard referencing style – I have put a short PPP on Canvas and the Library Referencing page: http://libguides.liverpool.ac.uk/referencing