ENGL 1102

Dr. Insenga

Essay Project Two Assignment Sheet

Assigned: February 17

Complete, anonymous draft for take-home Peer Review One due: March 31

Completed take-home Peer Review due back in class:  April 5

Final Essay Project One packet due:  April 12

Conferencing possibilities:  February 24 through March 15 and March 31 through April 10 during office hours and/or by appointment

Choose one option from the list below.  After annotating the texts and completing your brainstorming, compose a 4-5 page document, complete with textual evidence and analysis of that evidence.  MLA format and documentation applies, and students must submit a Works Cited page, which is not included in the 4-5 page requirement.  For several of these options, research that illuminates your understanding of the assigned audience will be necessary.

1. In the New York Times review of District 9 assigned for class reading, A.O. Scott writes, “At its core the film tells the story of how a member of the socially dominant group becomes aware of the injustice that keeps him in his place and the others, his designated inferiors, in theirs. The cost he pays for this knowledge is severe, as it must be, given the dreadful contours of the system. But if the film’s view of the world is bleak, it is not quite nihilistic. It suggests that sometimes the only way to become fully human is to be completely alienated.” Referring to this quotation and the article from which it comes, argue what the severe “cost” that Wikus pays is and identify the “knowledge” he gains. The audience for this option is a group of viewers who simply saw this film as entertainment, who did not at all examine the theme of alienation and resulting knowledge for the protagonist. They are not familiar with the A.O. Scott article.

2. In both Feed and District 9, readers observe characters that struggle against larger social forces. For this option, discuss how one character from each text challenges a larger system that s/he fights against and whether that challenge is successful in creating any lasting changes in the system you identify. The audience for this option is a group of readers who are looking for ways to change the world through their own activism.

3. Choose a central sign from either Feed or District 9. First, discuss the sign as it exists out of context. Then, create an argument for how that sign is reread by the text in some way. The audience for this option is a group of people who are well aware of what the sign means in larger cultural contexts but are unprepared for the way that the text rereads the sign.

4. In September of last year, Nigeria's Information Minister, Dora Akunyili, told the BBC's Network Africa show that District 9 is not welcomed in the country. She said, “We feel very bad about this because the film clearly denigrated Nigeria's image by portraying us as if we are cannibals, we are criminals." She went on to say that the name of the former Nigerian “president was clearly spelt out as the head of the criminal gang and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings.” Should you choose this option, you should compose a letter to the Information Minister in which you argue that the film should be shown in Nigeria, that it is not, as she sees it, an “unwarranted attack on Nigeria.” Remember to assess your audience’s cultural values, beliefs, and point of view when it comes to this matter.

5. For this option, your task is to write an argumentative letter to a high school principal in which you seek to convince him/her that teaching Feed to commemorate Earth Day and to instruct students about ecology is a good idea. Consider the complications of your goal, here, as you assess the audience.