Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:
Fiction Media Analysis
Choose any discrete chunk of fiction media you are interested in analyzing. You could choose a movie, a
season of a TV show, a single episode of a TV show, a novel, a comic book, or some other fiction narrative. You
may also choose to analyze sexuality in audible media, such as music lyrics on a single music album. You can
choose media aimed at kids, teens or adults. The only media that is off-limits are documentaries, other non-fiction
sources, and porn, because in this assignment you will be analyzing the ways that mainstream media give us all
subtle (not overt) messages about sexuality.
Using 500 words or more, analyze the subtle messages about sexuality you find in the chunk of media you chose. Here are some questions you could answer to help you get started with your analysis:
What sexual orientation are characters assumed to have? How are the sex drives of different characters portrayed? Do asexual, 4 bisexual, homosexual, or pansexual characters appear in the media you chose? Are characters’ sexualities portrayed as matching up with stereotypes about people of different genders, ages, races, or classes? Does the media you chose parrot myths about sexuality which you have learned are incorrect based on class material? Is
sexuality portrayed as intersecting with other social institutions, such as family, politics, healthcare systems, employment, religion, education, or some other institution? What does this media subtly teach viewers (or readers or listeners) about their own sexuality and the sexuality of other people? What does the media you viewed teach viewers about the sexual norms of their culture? How do you think the media you viewed would be different if it had been presented in a different time or place globally? Does the media you chose present certain bodies as sexy, others as unsexy, and others as neither? How do the clothing, lighting, and camera angles used for different actors change the viewers’ perception of sexiness? (If analyzing non-visual media, focus on how the creator’s descriptions emphasize sexiness.) How do you think the sexiness of different actors would be portrayed differently if this media was created in a different time or place?
You do not have to answer all of these questions. In Fact, if you simply answer all these questions in order, your paper will probably be disjointed and difficult to read. This list of questions is only to help give you ideas about how to analyze fiction media through the lens of sociology of sexuality
