PERTINENT INFO: The exam is composed of three questions. You must select TWO questions and compose two short essays (4-5 double-spaced pages each) The exam requires you to apply knowledge garnered through class lectures, discussions and readings in analyzing the materials discussed below You will be required to screen materials for each question, so please plan ahead in tracking down resources You are expected to demonstrate comprehension and engagement with class readings that go beyond what has been recapped in class lectures You must CITE your sources (both classroom and extraneous readings). When citing articles or books, page #’s must be provided that indicate where quotations or paraphrased materials are coming from. When citing web-based materials, you must provide the URL and date accessed. All citations should be on a separate “works cited” page. In the essays, I only require (AUTHOR, PAGE #) or (WEBSITE, DATE [03/02/11]) listed next to cited materials You should DEFINE your terms (don’t assume that I know that you know what “political economy” means) and follow definitions up with examples that demonstrate your comprehension. Please include the terms: Regulation/Deregulation, Branded entertainment, Texts/paratexts. You should construct each response in an essay format, meaning that there should be both an introductory paragraph that explains how you plan to answer the question and a concluding paragraph that summarizes your findings. Please make sure that you are answering all aspects of the question. A brilliant response to parts A & B, but an omission of part C will result in significant grade reductions (at least 1/3 of your grade for that question) Make certain that your name appears in the header of each page and that you # your pages in the footer (do NOT waste page space with this info) I do not count title pages or works cited pages as part of the actual essay At the end of the day, quality will always count above quantity, so please stop worrying about page length and focus on composing well-crafted responses QUESTION #1 Please screen Season 2 Episode 12 (“Phoenix”) of Breaking Bad (available for streaming on Netflix). After screening the episode, please visit and explore the websites: http://www.savewalterwhite.com/ http://www.amc.com/shows/better-call-saul/saul-goodman-esq/ http://www.amc.com/shows/breaking-bad/exclusives/dea-evidence-board http://www.amc.com/shows/breaking-bad/exclusives/cost-of-doing-business http://www.amc.com/shows/breaking-bad/exclusives/the-interrogation Consider the relationships between all of these texts. Then answer the following questions: How does Breaking Bad exemplify Will Brooker’s notion of “Overflow” as well asnotions of “transmedia storytelling,” “additive comprehension,” and “storyworlds”? What value do these materials serve for audiences? For the industry? How do these materials complicate our understanding of what “television” is; where it starts and stops? What might Postman, Newcomb & Hirsch, and Hartley each say about the Breaking Bad experience (make certain to use the Breaking Bad materials as a means of comparing and contrasting these scholars’ arguments)? QUESTION #2 Please screen Season 1, Episode 13 (“The Wheel”) of Mad Men (available for streaming on Netflix). After screening the episode, please visit and explore the websites: 2009 Kodak Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpwNghvOjaE 1960 Kodak TV Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWVWjdNWC0 Kodak slide projector ad 1950s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4V4qhWoNRU Business Weekly blog on Mad Men: http://www.businessinsider.com/mad-men-v-reality-compare-don-drapers-ads-with-those-that-actually-ran-in-the-1960s-2012-3?op=1 Newsweek critique of ads that run during Mad Men: http://www.newsweek.com/don-draper-would-hate-ads-during-mad-men-73723 Teaser for The Pitch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN4cqX92MWM Article about The Pitch: http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/05/01/the-pitch-mad-men/ Consider the relationships between all of these texts. Then answer the following questions: How does Mad Men evoke the concepts of “branded entertainment” and “product integration” discussed in class? What might Englehart have to say about the series? Recalling the concepts of “Flow” and “Paratexts,” as described by Williams and Gray, how might each view the relationship between Mad Men, The Pitch and the actual commercials airing around the series? How does the fictional retelling of the creation of a real ad campaign on Mad Men evoke Mittell’s ideas about “narrative complexity?” How is Mad Men’s version of complexity similar to or different from the kinds of complexity encountered on the episodes of The Vampire Diaries and LOST screened in class? What factors account for these emerging narrative strategies? QUESTION #3 Please screen the following three clips from The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC: Rachel Maddow Show = http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show# Also, please read through the following articles about MSNBC’s approach to news coverage: Cable Channel Nods to Ratings and Leans Left: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/business/media/06msnb.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin& MSNBC, Leaning Left And Getting Flak From Both Sides: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052703047_pf.html With Tagline, MSNBC Embraces a Political Identity: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/business/media/05adco.html HOW DIFFERENT MEDIA HAVE COVERED THE GENERAL ELECTION: http://www.journalism.org/node/13436 Demographics and Political Views of News Audiences: http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/section-4-demographics-and-political-views-of-news-audiences/ Yet Another Survey: Fox News Viewers Worst-Informed, NPR Listeners Best-Informed: http://www.mediaite.com/online/yet-another-survey-fox-news-viewers-worst-informed-npr-listeners-best-informed/ The Perils Of Corporate Media: MSNBC Makes Few Mentions Of Tax Avoidance By Parent Company GE: http://thinkprogress.org/media/2011/03/29/153971/corporate-media-msnbc-ge/ Consider the relationships between all of these texts. Then answer the following questions: How does the business of news at MSNBC evoke McChesney’s myriad concerns over the changing functions of contemporary journalism? What would a political economic approach suggest as the root causes of these changes? How might McChesney and Perlman’s discussion of the Fairness Doctrine and its undoing (as well as our in-class discussion about it) illuminate some of the shifts that have occurred in TV news over the past two decades? Why is this a concern? How do these materials compare with the documentary Outfoxed that we watched in class?