CA Cultural Values From Superheroes and Black Panther Essay

ASSIGNMENT:

How do superheroes reflect the cultural values important to our society today?  In our current superheroes in film and TV today, we see the importance of a variety of cultural values, such as:

• justice
• freedom / independence
• responsibility and duty
• team building
• multiculturalism / diversity
• feminism / female strength
• leadership
• honor
• friendship / family
• materialism

For this investigation, select ONE film, TV show, or comic book based on a superhero.  In your paper, explain how the superhero in the text reflects and illustrates ONE cultural value that is important to American society today.   You may choose from the list above, or identify a different cultural value.

To be more specific, using Superheroes Decoded: American Rebels and our discussion of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Falcon and the Winter Soldier as models, construct your own essay in which you create a clear thesis statement that shows your understanding of how a superhero in a film, TV show, or comic book demonstrates the importance of ONE specific American cultural value or belief in today’s society.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Your investigation into superheroes should be a direct response to the prompt outlined above.  Your essay should be in MLA format and style, including a Works Cited page; a minimum of 5-6 pages in length (1,500 words); and it should include at least 4 sources.  You are required to use ONE film, TV show, or comic book as your primary source that represents a superhero and at least three secondary sources (outside research that might include the historical or biographical context for the text; critics of the film or TV show, etc).  

***You may not use Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as your primary source since we have used these as model texts.

REQUIREMENTS:

***Also view the attached rubric.

• 5-6 pages (at least 1,500 words)
• MLA format. 12-point font, Times New Roman.
• Works Cited page. The Works Cited page should include all of the sources used in the essay. You must provide the links to all of the sources.
• A creative title that hints at the subject matter. ?
• Indicate a clear focus in a well-written thesis statement that includes a focus on how the superhero reflects ONE cultural value.
• Your essay should be well-structured with a clear beginning (to catch your reader’s attention, provide necessary background information, and present your thesis), middle (to support your thesis), and end (to wrap up loose ends, remind your reader where you have taken them throughout the essay, and any additional reflection on the idea as it may pertain to our lives).
• Concrete evidence properly cited and integrated.
• Include at least 4 sources (1 primary source and 3 secondary sources). The evidence should clearly support the topic sentence and the overall thesis statement.
• Each body paragraph should have at least 2-3 quoted passages.  The quoted passages should come from the primary source plus at least one of the secondary sources. (1 primary source + 1 to 2 secondary sources)
• Essays that include no quoted passages will earn a maximum of 50% on the assignment.
• Provide a conclusion which states why your argument is significant?
• Implement proper stylistic conventions to include: sentence variation, college-level vocabulary, complex sentence structure.
• Write the paper as if addressing a scholarly audience.
• Demonstrate thoughtful revision and editing/proofreading
• Essays that use APA or any other format other than MLA will earn a maximum of 50% on the assignment. 
• To write well-developed body paragraphs, they should be no less than 250 words each.

GOALS: 

This assignment will help students meet the following Student Learning Objectives, as stated on the course syllabus:

• Utilize the writing process to produce complex, high-quality work.
• Evaluate the validity and soundness of arguments and the evidence within them.
• Synthesize ideas of two or more writers to create a broader understanding of an issue
• Utilize critical reading strategies to pull meaning from complex texts.

APPROVED FILM/TV LIST:

The following is a list of films or TV shows you should consider; however, you are not restricted to the list. At the same time, if you choose a film or TV show that is not here (or a comic book), please run it by me for approval (send me an e-mail). I will not accept papers on films, TV shows, or a comic book not listed here if you do not run it by me first. When choosing a film, please make sure the focus of the film is on a superhero, and the movie is “current” (produced within the last 10 years).

For summaries of these films, consult the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) found at www.imdb.com (Links to an external site.).

Approved Film/TV List

Aquaman

The Avengers

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: End Game

Black Adam

Black Panther

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Widow

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: Civil War

Captain Marvel

Dr. Strange

Deadpool

Once Upon a Deadpool

Fantastic Four

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume II

Iron Man

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 3

Elektra

Birds of Prey

Big Hero 6

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice

Justice League

Wonder Woman (2017)

Wonder Woman 1984

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight Rises

Joker (2019)

Kick-Ass

Shazam!

Thor

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Ragnarok

Man of Steel

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Far from Home

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Apocalypse

Dark Phoenix

Logan

The Watchmen (Movie)

TV Shows

Daredevil (TV show)

The Flash (TV show)

Arrow (TV show)

Marvel’s Agents of Shield (TV show)

The Boys (TV Show)

Daredevil (TV Show)

Doom Patrol (TV Show)

Jessica Jones (TV Show)

Krypton (TV Show)

Legion (TV Show)

Luke Cage (TV Show)

Shadow and Bone (TV Show)

She-Hulk

Supergirl (TV Show)

Stargirl (TV Show)

Superman and Lois (TV Show)

The Watchmen (TV Show)

WandaVision (TV Show)