Blog Assignment #7: Metaphors in Media/Creating Reality

For this assignment, you may choose to answer ONE of the two following prompts:

(1) Discuss the usage of an Analogy or Metaphor in a film or song that we have NOT discussed in class.

• Music = Please post the lyrics and a link to the song


• Film = Please post either still images from the film or a link to a clip from the film

(2) If you were to incorporate Forrest Gump's fictional character into an historical event from the 21st century, which event would you choose and why? Would you alter the event in order to incorporate Forrest into it and how? What would Forrest's reaction to the event be?

• Images = Please post a minimum of 3 still images or 1 video link

Minimum Requirements: 300 words; images, audio, or video (see above); fully develop and support all claims made; due by 5:00 pm Friday 10/29/10.

Blog Assignment #6: Iconic Images as Tropes

This week we have been discussing different types of tropes used in visual representation. Specifically, we talked about the difference between metaphors and metonyms.

We screened Munich (2005) to analyze the ways in which Spielberg used the metonym "Munich" (representative of the terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympic games) to create a new metonym (Israeli retaliation) and to make connections between "Munich" and another metonym familiar to us all, "9/11," changing it also to reflect moral questions about the American government's revenge acts against Al Qaeda.

In addition, we talked about how different iconic images can be utilized to create metonyms in new media formats. Now it is your turn to analyze an iconic image of your choice and reflect on the ways it acts as a visual trope. For this blog assignment, you should:

(1) Find an iconic image that relates to your major field of study (or future career)

(2) Analyze that image (What was the origin and history of the original image? In what medium was it originally produced? How has it been altered over the years to take on new meanings?)

(3) Discuss how this iconic image works as a trope (metaphor, metonym, analogy, irony, etc.) in new media formats.

Requirements: 300 words minimum, 1 image minimum, fully develop ALL CLAIMS you make.

(minimum requirements receive minimum points -- you can write longer, more developed analyses for higher grades).