After some thought, I have chosen the Anthropologie catalogs as my primary source, though I had a difficult time choosing between the catalogs and the John Williams soundtracks. I feel that I would be able to extract a lot more analysis out of the catalogs because there are images and text to work with. On the other hand, I would probably have a much more difficult time writing a 12-page paper on soundtracks that don't even have lyrics. However, I'm much more interested in the music because my musical background will allow me to understand the styles within the pieces and how those styles complement a particular scene in the movie. I'm just not sure if I can write the entire paper without being too technical with musical terms/lingos. So, I have decided to use the catalogs as my cultural text and focus on the company's view on the female image and the advertising styles it uses to attract customers.
With that said, I am quite clueless as to how I can find secondary sources to support my argument. Someone suggested that I could search for books about the history of fashion, but I'm not sure if I want my paper to be too focused on the fashion aspect of the catalog. I may want to have one on the side to see if the clothing style shares any similarities with styles of different time periods. Other than this, I don't have any other solid ideas for possible secondary sources. I did come across some articles that talked about the unique aspects of Anthropologie, but none of them seem very scholarly. I will probably meet with Ms. Bates again to discuss this in detail.
2 comments:
You could probably examine feminist texts that respond to women in advertisements--I'm sure there are many such articles. Sounds like a cool topic!
Diane--how technical might you become in a paper about the music? The "reading" of Brokeback Mountain that we heard on NPR was able to offer an accessible analysis of the score. Would you be able to do the same? I don't want to you to discount the primary source that you may be most interested in because the jargon-factor seems like a stumbling block.
As you work with the fashion magazine, consider it within the genre of the clothing catalog. That is, any catalog will seek to display an appealing change in fashion trends. Or appeal to folks by showing a world that might be within or beyond their financial means on the whole but at least purchasable in part. Let me put that another way--I can't buy a Pottery Barn living room, but I can at least afford the expensive candle sticks, and so feel like I'm some part of that aesthetic world.
As Alex suggests, there's a good deal of secondary conversation on women and fashion, so you need not worry about that too much now.
I'd like to here more about the music sticking-point you're having. Overall, however, look ahead to Part II of the Rhetorical Analysis Essay. What small part of the primary source might you work with? The Synthesis Essay (with secondary sources) is still some time away.
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