Select a topic of particular interest to you using at least one of the works we have covered in class since February 3. This should be a topic with some relation to themes important to the texts we have read. Consider revising a response paper or mining for connections between the works. Look back over our reading questions.

We began the second section of this class by listening to Orson Welles's famous 1938 War of the Worlds panic broadcast. This broadcast provokes questions about the influence of the media in individual lives, a topic that recurs often in our class (Feed, Watchmen, "The Girl Who Was Plugged In," Horkheimer and Adorno's article on "The Culture Industry,:" Stuart Hall's "Encoding/Decoding" etc.). Write a paper examining the role that the media plays, for good or for ill, in one or more of these texts. How powerful is the media? What is it used for? Are some mediums more influential than others? What kind of resistance or cross-reading is possible?

Along with a focus on the media, the works we have read this quarter have had a good deal to say about consumption. Horkheimer and Adorno represent the consumer as somewhat helpless in the face of a culture industry which conspires to manipulate desire and consumption, while Stuart Hall offers a more hopeful interpretation. Meanwhile, Benjamin's article on the aura questions the meaning and impact of mass produced items. Consider the rampant consumerism in Feed and Adrian Veidt's careful marketing in Watchmen. Examine how consumption is represented in one or more of the works we have read or seen. How is individual or cultural identity formation linked to consumption?

In both Feed and The Thirteenth Floor characters's lives are lived in both the "real world" and the networked world of the feed or the simulation. How does living in the spaces between these two kinds of realities impact the identities of the characters? Which world is more real to them? How do networked lives impact interpersonal relationships? How does one construct a solid individual identity in a simulated environment? Can one? Consider Julian Dibbel's article about LambdaMoo.

In Watchmen our characters had complex relationships to the costumes they wore as vigilante heroes. These costumes and masks preserved the anonymity of the heroes and added excitement to their daily lives, but also served to transform their identities. Characters in other works we have read/seen also wear masks and costumes of a sort (avatars in The Thirteenth Floor, high fashion in Feed). How does disguise function in these works? What does it hide? what does it reveal? How does wearing a disguise change the person wearing it?

In "Politics and the English Language" George Orwell argues that vague and imprecise language can serve as a political tool to hide reality and quell dissent. He also links a lack of clarity in language to a imprecision and a lack of depth in thought. Feed is narrated by Titus in the language common to teenagers (and others) in M. T. Anderson's imagined future. How does Titus's narration influence the reading of the novel and help to contribute to an understanding of the state of his world?

Consider how the texts we are read are linked to their place in history. You might also consider how history is represented in these works, examining the alternative history of Watchmen and the future history of Feed. How do the characters in these works relate to history. Consider the use of RiotGear in Feed.

In many of our works since the middle of the quarter, the role of the visible has been extremely important. In McCloud's Understanding Comics and in the articles by Timothy Corrigan and John Storey we have examined the component characteristics of visual media. How does visual media influence the telling of the stories we have read/seen? What tools and techniques are brought to bear? Perform a reading of one of our works with careful attention to its visual dimension.

Our class has continued to examine the relationship between humanity and technology. Consider the complications of this relationship as represented in at least one of the works we have read since February 3.What is technology for? How do we use technology to express ourselves? At what point does technology cease to be a tool that we can use and threaten to become a device to control us? How are such dangers averted? What is our new Frankenstein's monster?