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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What message does the phenomenon, Democracy of Goods, refer to?

2. What are consumer interests encoded in?

3. Fill-in the blank. The issue of "More Factor" dates back to the ___________.

4. What does Nina Leen's selection, "Just What Do You Do All Day?" showcase?

5. What is schadenfreude?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the paradigm presented by Robert Ray in the "The Thematic Paradigm?"

2. What is one addiction that all businesses really like their customers to keep?

3. What is the image projected by an American mall? What is the real image?

4. Which businesses represent the current day version of American accumulation of land? What is the phenomenon associated with it?

5. What archetype does the movie Pretty Woman represent? What are the archetypes for the hero (Richard Gere) and the heroine (Julia Roberts)?

6. How are Asian women represented in American movies? How does it reinforce the image held by society?

7. Why is it important to do a semiotic analysis of American film?

8. How does Jack Solomon employ semiotic analysis to study the culture of American advertising?

9. What is an archetype? Give two examples.

10. What is commodification of desire?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the impact of reality TV shows on children? Take a reality show as an example to do a semiotic analysis of its potential impact on middle school children watching it.

Essay Topic 2

How do news programs promote popular culture and the concept of the American dream? Support your arguments based on the semiotic analysis of a news telecast or a weekly news program.

Essay Topic 3

How does inferential racism and sexism affect student athletes? Taking black athletes--both men and women--as well as white women as examples, do a semiotic analysis of the image they project and its connection to inferential racism and sexism that is prevalent in the society.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 873 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample